Are you wondering how to lower homeowners’ insurance for you and your family? Do you wonder how things such as filing a claim or your credit score will affect your home insurance policy’s premium?
If so, you should look into several different home insurance tips and tricks to lower your monthly premium. Doing so can give you and your family a bit more financial freedom in your monthly budget.
Fortunately, there are several ways you can go about getting insurance discounts and more favorable insurance rates. See below for an in-depth guide on how to lower the amount you pay on your homeowners’ insurance.
1. Maintain or Improve Your Credit Score
For some of you, this might be a bit of a sore subject. Your current credit score might not be where you want it to be.
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Perhaps you’ve been putting it off to the side, thinking you can never improve it. Maybe you’ve had a streak of bad luck that’s lead to not catching up on your bills. Whatever the case, it’s never too late to improve your credit score.
You can do so by paying your bills on time (starting now), paying off your debt, cutting ties with your credit cards, or search for inaccuracies in your credit report (which happens more often than you’d think).
Having a good credit score will help you lower your homeowners’ insurance premium. Companies that offer home insurance view it as a sign that you’re less of a risk.
For those who already have an outstanding credit score, do everything you can to maintain it. Don’t take on any unnecessary debts, keep up with your credit card charges, and so forth. You’ll be glad that you did!
2. Increase Your Deductible
Most people don’t realize about homeowners’ insurance (or any insurance, for that matter) is that it’s all about the give and take.
If you want a lot of coverage, you’ll have to pay a larger premium. If you want to have a lower monthly premium, you lower the total amount of coverage or raise the deductible that you would pay before your homeowners’ insurance kicks in.
Neither method is right or wrong. It’s all about your situation and what you need at the moment.
For example, say you’ve just moved into a new home. Money is tight right now, but you know that you need homeowners’ insurance to protect you in the case of an emergency.
In that instance, it’s all about finding a monthly premium that fits your budget. Any amount of homeowners’ insurance is better than not having any at all. You could increase your deductible to lower the homeowners’ insurance premium on your policy.
The good news is that you can always switch things up. Using the previous example, you could lower your deductible once your monthly budget starts to gain a bit more wiggle room.
Be sure to talk with trusted home insurance agents to get yourself squared away. You can explain your situation, and then they’ll make a few recommendations to fit your needs.
3. Review Your Coverage Yearly
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that one calendar year can make all the difference in the world.
It’s vitally important that you take the time each year to review your homeowners’ insurance coverage and make sure that all of your needs are being met.
Are you protected from the risk of fire? Do you have flood insurance in place? Do you have the right amount of coverage that’s needed for older homes (if your house fits that description)?
By taking the time to review your coverage each year, you might find a few areas that you no longer need. Maybe you’re paying the same amount of coverage after moving to a house that’s much smaller than your previous one.
Do you qualify for any more discounts than you did last year? Perhaps you can save more money by bundling your coverage (more on that in a bit). Maybe you’ve made some home improvements that reduce the risk of an emergency and, therefore, can lower your rates.
Always take the time to check. Give your trusty homeowners’ insurance agent a call to learn more about ways you could potentially save some money.
4. Bundle Your Policies
Are you someone that likes to stick with one insurance provider for all of your insurance needs? If so, your provider is willing to reward you for that.
For those unfamiliar with the term, “bundling” is when you purchase several different types of insurance from the same provider. This could be any combination of homeowners’ insurance, car insurance, landlord insurance, motorcycle insurance, and so on.
By bundling your insurance policies, you can save a significant amount of money on your coverage overall. Even if it’s only a small percentage off each policy, that can lead to you saving hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each year (depending on your coverage).
Not only will this help you save a significant amount of cash, but it’s also less hassle for you as a customer. Instead of dealing with several different insurance companies, you’ve got coverage with an insurance provider you can trust.
If this will be your first time investing in homeowners’ insurance or first time away from a company you’ve primarily used, you have nothing to fear. LoPriore Insurance prides itself on giving its customers the insurance they need at a price they can afford.
5. Upgrade Your Home to be More Disaster-Resistant and Secure
Try saying that five times fast. No matter how you phrase it, it’s important to know that the home improvements you make play a vital role in your homeowners’ insurance coverage.
Many homeowners go through years of perfecting their homes and countless renovations before learning that the repairs/improvements can save them on their policy.
As far as what type of home improvements can lower your homeowners’ insurance, it’s essentially anything that would lower the risk of your home from an emergency. An emergency that would prompt you to file a claim and seek coverage for a financial loss.
That can be installing a new security system in your home to protect from a break-in or adding smoke detectors and sensors to alert you to a fire.
One thing to note, you shouldn’t expect to lower your homeowners’ insurance by remodeling your home. In fact, as you remodel your home, you might consider purchasing renovation insurance to protect you from any damage during the construction.
You can also save by replacing (not repairing) your roof or purchasing and installing a generator to make sure that things like your AC and kitchen appliances will continue to run if the power goes out.
Lastly, any major repairs you make to your home’s plumbing system, water system, HVAC unit, or electrical system can help you save. These improvements lower the chance of a fire, burst pipe, water damage, flooding, mold growth, and so on.
6. Stay With a Company for Several Years
This should be preceded by saying that you shouldn’t stay with the same homeowners’ insurance provider just to hopefully save money if you aren’t happy with their service/coverage.
If that fits your situation, then be sure to look for a new homeowners’ insurance provider that you can see yourself with for the long haul.
A reputable insurance company looks to reward its longest tenured clients. You might even inquire about what discounts and savings the company has for clients that stay under their coverage for several years. When would you start to see those savings take place?
Finding the right insurance company shouldn’t just be about the money you can save. It should be about finding a provider that you can trust in an emergency.
Sometimes some situations can flip your world upside-down. It’s important to know that, in those moments of need, your insurance provider is going to come through for you.
Find a company that you feel you can trust, bundle insurance policies with them, and get yourself protected from some of life’s biggest curveballs.
7. Invest in Flood Insurance
Sometimes, to save money over the long term, you need to cover all of your bases as a homeowner. The same can be said for car insurance, renters’ insurance, landlord insurance, etc.
In this case, investing in a flood insurance policy can help protect you from the most common and most destructive emergencies that you could experience. Most home insurance policies don’t cover flood damage, so you need to be protected.
If you live in a flood zone, then you’ll most likely be required to buy the company that lends you your mortgage.
However, even if you’re not and a flood has never occurred in your area, you still need to invest in it. Heaven forbid if you experience a burst pipe in your home or a leak that leads to detrimental damage.
Since your homeowners’ insurance doesn’t cover flood damage, you could be saving yourself thousands of dollars down the line. Without flood insurance, that could be a life-altering setback for you and your family.
8. Analyze the Details
You wouldn’t pay for something you didn’t eat at a restaurant. You wouldn’t willingly spend money on a movie you didn’t go to the theaters to see. Why should you do any different for your homeowners’ insurance?
You’d be astounded at how many homeowners end up paying hundreds of more dollars on their insurance over the years simply because they don’t look at the terms. You might be paying extra for coverage that you don’t need or a risk that doesn’t apply to you.
For example, some home insurance policies might have coverage for pets when you don’t have any.
On the flip side of that, make sure you’re getting all the coverage that you need. There are times where a national provider won’t cover emergencies that are heightened in your area (such as tornadoes, hurricanes, hail storms, and so on).
Give LoPriore a call. We will be happy to help you find coverage for all the things you need and none of the things you don’t. We’re here to help homeowners in any way that we can.
9. Monitor Your Trees
Believe it or not, trees on your land do not increase your home insurance rates. Although if the tree is dying, dead, or has traces of dry rot, it may fall and cause damage to your home, which may increase your insurance premiums.
As the tree dies, it becomes more and more likely to cause damage to your house. A large branch could fall off, debris could weigh down your gutters and cause your gutters to sag, or the entire tree could fall on your house during a storm.
This could result in roof damage, broken windows, water damage, pest infestations, damage to your siding, etc. It even poses a significant threat to any cars that you keep parked on your driveway.
Be sure to have a tree removal service come out to take a look. They can check for signs that the tree is nearing the end of its life. If it is, they’ll help you remove that risk from the equation and, in turn, lower your homeowners’ insurance.
How to Lower Homeowners Insurance: Take These Steps
Now that you have seen an in-depth guide on lowering homeowners’ insurance for you and your family, it’s time to find the right provider for your needs.
Be sure to read this article and educate yourself on some of the most common home insurance myths that you need to be aware of.
For more inquiries, please be sure to reach out via our contact us page, and we will be happy to assist you further.
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