Interested in lowering your homeowners insurance costs? Here is how:
Look for the best homeowners insurance deals
Just like with everything your shop for, homeowners insurance comes at different prices and conditions.
Don’t settle for the first offer you can get, do some shopping. Ask around, look in the Yellow Pages, search online. Write down the prices and conditions and then make an educated choice.
Improve your home’s security
If you are like me, then you hate all alarms and smoke detectors, especially when they make a lot of noise especially when not needed (such as our gas detector that goes off when I cook with wine or clean the house).
Your prospective insurance company loves security though and, by installing home security systems you can get some pretty sweet discounts.
Make sure you find out exactly what’s needed and how much of a discount you can get, so that you don’t overspend on these security systems for no gain.
Replace your old roof or properly repair it
Roofs get damaged over the time and, when this happens, other house parts fall apart as well, because of the water infiltration.
Try to repair the roof, replace what’s broken and use new quality materials. This helps you house stay safe during rainy days and lower your homeowners insurance premiums. Not to mention your home’s value also raises.
Improve your credit rating
If you have poor rating, this can also affect your homeowners insurance costs. Insurers are using your credit history information to price their policies.
Related article:
Improve Your Bad Credit Score in 5 Simple Steps
As soon as your credit rating goes from bad to good or excellent, you can get a better deal on your homeowners insurance premiums.
Quit smoking
If you want to enjoy a long and happy retirement and also save money, quit smoking. If your home is no longer a place people smoke in, this can allow you to access some better homeowners insurance costs.
Related article:
100 Ways to Save Money
Stay with the same homeowners insurance company
Switching companies every year might not be the best way to get them to give you some discounts. During time, you’ll notice they treat long-term clients differently.
By staying with a company for several years might get you some discounts, from 5% to 10%, depending on their policies.
Of course, you should keep your eyes peeled for better options, and, when finding them, ask for a discount or leave.
Bundle your insurance policies
Homeowners insurance is not the only type of insurance you need to pay, so you can actually bundle your auto insurance for instance and get a better deals. Your insurance company might be willing to provide you with some good discounts if you also purchase other policies with them. It’s worth trying, anyway.
Raise your deductible
Deductibles are the money you have to pay towards a loss, before your insurer pays your claim. If you have a higher deductible, it means you need to pay more yourself, before the policy kicks in.
While it looks like a bad deal, in this case your premiums are lowered, so it might make sense to increase your deductible from $500 for instance to $1000 and already get a steep discount.
These are just few hacks to lower your homeowners insurance costs and still get a great coverage for your home. What else would you add?
