Home Insurance -- 7 Proven Tips

Contrary to what you might have thought, it's a lot easy to position yourself for an affordable rate. All you need to achieve this feat are little bits of information (that you'd have to put to use, though). Below is a list of things that will help you get to this goal...

1. Make sure you don't forget to deduct the land's worth from the home's value while applying for a home insurance policy. Folks do this ignorantly. You have made the same mistake if you insured your house for the price you purchased it without checking the cost of the land it's built on and deducting it.

If you did such ignorantly, you'll have to re-evaluate your home insurance coverage and check it again with your agent. Lower your coverage to the cost of your house and its contents minus the land's cost.

This implies that you will pay far less on home insurance. Bearing in mind that insurance is for things that can be lost or damaged, insuring the land which can neither get lost or damaged isn't right.

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2. You will spend more or less depending on your credit history. People who have very good ratings pay far less than those who have poor ratings. What your credit rating shows is how you have handled your bills and it speaks badly about you if it's a poor one. This is a behavior that most insurers believe will be exhibited in the way you handle your premiums. This makes you a higher risk to them and you, therefore, are made to pay higher than some other person with similar profile that has an excellent rating.

Therefore, it will do you much good to pay all your bills once they are due. You will get cheaper premiums if you do.

3. Electing to pay your premiums on a monthly basis results in higher premiums than you would pay if you decide to pay annually. This is because posting twelve payment notices by mail each month costs your insurer much.

The cost shoots up if you add the fact that they pay transaction charges for processing each check you give them monthly as payment. They pay transaction charges twelve times instead of once annually for monthly payments. These and other costs so incurred by your insurance company are eventually paid by you, the insured..

Therefore, you will get lower rates if you opt to pay your rates annually. The actual amount you could save may differ but expect to save up to a month's premium worth with most insurance companies if you choose this option.

4. Make the exterior of your house fire-safe and you'll reduce your home insurance rate. Having things that are very inflammable or that aid combustion around your building will make you pay higher rates. Bushes near your home should be cut and maintained at not less than ten feet from your structure. This is because how fire-safe a house is goes a long way in affecting what it will cost to insure that home.

5. You will get cheaper rates if you have motion-sensitive lighting in your home. Thieves understandably don't like to operate in any environment they could be easily seen or caught. The risk of burglary is a strong factor in calculating a home's risk to an insurance company and, consequently, your premium.

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6. Dead-bolt locks on all doors to the exterior will help you attract a more affordable rate. It's harder for thieves to break into homes that have such locks. The more fortified your home is against burglary, the less the risk taken in insuring it.

7. Do you have locks on all your windows? If you do NOT you'll be paying more because of that. You can take this to another level by building in burglary-proof bars on them all. Although some folks do not like this because it makes them feel imprisoned in their own home, it really does lower your rate by a good amount. Therefore, if you don't mind having burglary-proof bars in your home, have them fixed and you will pay a lot less in your home insurance premium.
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