Home Insurance is Just As Important Regardless of the Market
Author: Mark Alison
Source: ezinearticles.com
While real estate values have pretty much bottomed out it seems as though the insurance industry has not gotten the word.There is not an insurance company out there that is offering rebates on your house insurance for this year.It is not very easy to find cheap house insurance either.There are a number of things that you can do to make your premium for house insurance a little easier to stomach, but every single company that offers house insurance will not give you a discount unless you come right out and ask for it.It is the same thing every year.When the new house insurance bill comes it has at least a ten percent increase on it even though you never made a claim.The only way to see if you are getting the best deal is to call around and get quotes to see if you can find cheap house insurance.
Esurance.com, Insure.com and Insureweb.com are all excellent aggregate sites that allow you to compare insurance quotes on auto, life, home, boat or business needs.To find cheap house insurance you need some basic information to enter into the quote systems.Knowing which choices affect your premium will help you get the lowest possible quotes from the various aggregate sites.The first thing you need is your property address or the address of the property that you are looking at buying.This will be the full street address including zip code.Areas are rated based on geocoding and what the actuarial tables say is the likelihood of a claim being made in a certain area.
The next amount of information you need for your quote is what kind of property you are looking to insure.Is it a detached single family residence, co-operative, town home, multi family dwelling, or a condominium with either four or less floors or more than four floors?Condo buyers note that the average premium is twenty percent higher on buildings with more than four floors.Your next drop down choice on the quote will be how many smokers live on the property.Keep in mind that you need to be honest because the insurance company can deny your claim for fire damage if you do not disclose smokers when you buy your policy.
Another factor that will drive your premium up is whether you have dogs.In most cases, this actually has no effect at all, but if you keep any kind of the following breeds expect your premium to be about twenty percent higher (liability) – German Shepherd, Doberman, Rottweiler, Chow, Wolf Hybrid or any mix of these.The next questions are typical real estate questions – square footage, year house was built, number of bedrooms, number of baths, garage and type of garage, what kind of basement and what percentage is finished.You will also get questions on the type of home heating (oil heat is a greater liability due to the storage tanks necessary).
What kind of roof and exterior walls all affect your premium as well as how close to a fire hydrant the home is and how far away from the nearest fire station is the property.
Click here for information on House Insurance Quotes and getting the lowest cost House Insurance Coverage.