True Real Estate Guide: Choosing Your Homeowners Insurance
As Exclusive Buyers Agents for home buyers in Sarasota real estate, we help home buyers through the entire home buying process, including decisions on homeowners insurance. When the time comes to purchase homeowners insurance, ask your Exclusive Buyers Agent and your friends for recommendations. Once you start your research, you’ll quickly learn which companies offer lower prices, but don’t make a choice based solely on price. You want an insurer with excellent service. Inquire with several to get a feel for their service. Ask how they can reduce your costs. Narrow your field to three, then get precise price quotes to review.
Reduce Your Homeowners Insurance Cost with Discounts
Depending on the company and the state, prices on homeowners insurance can vary greatly, as well as discounts offered. We highly recommend that you ask about all the discounts available to you when purchasing your homeowners insurance. Here are some tips to reduce the cost of your homeowners insurance.
1. Raise your deductible. Your deductible is the amount you have to pay on a loss before your insurance company begins to pay. On homeowners policies, deductibles usually start at $250. By increasing your deductible to $500, you could save up to 12%; $1,000, up to 24%, and so forth (depending on the company).
2. Insure your house, not your land. Unless your land impacts your income, you generally won’t need to insure your land, or include its value when calculating which insurance to buy.
3. Home / Area Discounts. Discounts may be available based on your home’s age, repair history, and construction. Because a new home’s plumbing, electrical, heating, and overall structure will probably be better than an older home’s, insurers may offer you a discount of 8 to 15%. Don’t forget to check the construction. Brick is better in tornado and hurricane zones because of its wind resistance, but frame construction is better in earthquake zones. Homeowners insurance usually does not cover flood damage, so avoiding flood-prone areas can save you $400 or more a year on flood insurance. Is your home near a hydrant or fire station? The closer you are to firefighters and hydrants, the lower your premium (usually).
4. Security Discount. Most home insurers offer discounts of at least 5% for burglar alarms, smoke detectors, or dead-bolts. Some will cut your premium by 15 or 20% if you install a sprinkler system and a fire and burglar alarm that notifies the police or another monitoring agency. Not every system qualifies for the discount. Find out what your insurer suggests, its cost, and what you will save on premiums.
5. Loyalty Discount. When you buy your homeowners and auto policies from the same insurer, you’ll often qualify for a discount. If you’ve kept coverage with the same company for several years, you may receive special consideration. Some insurers cut premiums by 5% if you stay with them three to five years, and they’ll offer bigger reductions if you remain a long-term policyholder.
6. Group Discount. Alumni and business associations often arrange insurance plans which include discounts for members. Ask your alumni or business association if there’s an insurer offering a discount on homeowners insurance to you and your fellow graduates or colleagues.
7. Retiree Discount. Since retirees stay at home more, they often spot problems sooner and have more time for home improvements. If you’re retired and at least 55, you may qualify for a discount