Money Saving Tips for Homeowners Insurance

Home Insurance Discounts – Amongst so many ways to discount and credit your homeowners insurance policy, mortgage companies require your house (collateral) to be insured.  You deserve every available discount but must take a little time to assure that you are receiving all the credits available for the particular insurance company that you select.  The following are some tips to help you save money on your homeowners insurance policy.

• Purchase the correct Homeowners Insurance Form
  Property insurance policies come in a variety of forms. Homeowners Insurance will usually offer a Single Family Homeowners Policy,  a Condo or Townhome Owners Policy, and a Renters Insurance Policy which may be used for a tenant of a home, condo or apartment.  For 1 – 4 unit dwellings which are tenant occupied,  you will need to purchase a Dwelling Fire Policy, Landlords Policy or appropriate Hazard Insurance for the current use of the property.
• Insure the Home not including the Land
  Without the proper advice, many homeowners simply ask for a Dwelling Limit to cover the purchase price of the home, the balance of the mortgage loan, or simply another figure irrelevant to the current reconstruction cost of the dwelling.  Fire Insurance has the primary purpose of reconstructing the insured dwelling in the event of a total loss; thus, if the home were to burn to the ground, the insurance company would provide funds to rebuild the home to the same specifications as the home prior to the covered loss.  The loan amount or sales value are in no way indicative of the reconstruction value of a home.  Insurance companies used software provided by industry approved vendors to calculate the reconstruction value of the insured home and use that figure as their Dwelling Coverage.
• Select the Highest Deductible that you are willing to accept There is a significant discount for selecting a higher deductible when buying home insurance; insurance companies are inundated with small claims; clients who select higher deductibles simply don’t present small claims thereby being rewarding by paying substantially lower premium.  In many States, financial astute clients have been weighing the benefits during policy purchase and have been seeking $5,000 which is now more commonplace as compared to 20 – 30 years ago.  In many States, $5,000 deductible premium is 1/2 of the $1,000 deductible premium.
• Ask about Discounts That Apply To You
  Ask your insurance company representative to go over all available discounts for the policy which you are buying.  Depending on the State and Insurance Company, discounts may include, Mature Age Credit, Non-Smoker Credit, Central Station Alarm Monitoring, Claims Free Credit, Newer Home Credit, New Purchase Credit and a few others.

In most States (excluding California), a credit scoring system is in place where insurance companies offer favorable rates for those with a better insurance credit score; however, those with less than desirable credit may end up paying a surcharge with less payment options.