How to Lower Home Insurance Prices

Paying a huge amount of money for the right home insurance policy can be considered by many to be something of a necessary evil. Nobody likes cutting that massive check to the insurance company month after month. However, you also don’t want to be caught without coverage in the event that you suffer a total loss and need to replace not just your home but all of your possessions that were inside of it. Sending a large portion of your income to an insurance company can feel bad, but paying out of pocket to replace everything you’ve ever owned after something like a fire definitely feels worse.

It is important to realize, however, that there are a wide variety of different steps that you can start taking today to lower the overall price that you’re paying for home insurance. Home insurance rates are affected by a number of different things, all of which go into determining how much of a “risk” you are to the insurance company. People who are considered “low risk” can expect reduced prices. By making yourself more attractive to a home insurance company, you can therefore save a great deal of money on your overall policy in both the short term and the long term.

The Location of Nearby Emergency Services

One important factor that many people don’t realize affects the overall price of home insurance is the distance and location of nearby emergency services. In practice, the logic of insurance companies actually makes perfect sense. If you live very close to the nearest fire station, for example, it will take less time for first responders to reach your home in the event of a fire. As a result, there will be less of a chance of a total loss with regards to both your home and the valuables inside. If the nearest fire station is an hour away, the chances that they won’t be able to reach your home in enough time to save it are unfortunately very high.

If you’re looking to purchase a new home, always keep the location of nearby emergency services in mind. If you can find a home that you love for a price you can pay that is close to nearby emergency services, you can expect savings with regards to your home insurance prices.

Home Security

Many home insurance companies provide discounts if you have a home security system installed in your home. Break-ins are unfortunate, but they do happen from time to time. As a result, taking a proactive approach and installing things like security windows, specific types of locks and even a full-fledged electronic security system on your property will go a long way towards lowering your overall home insurance prices and making you a much more attractive customer to the companies themselves.

Home Sprinklers

Installing a home sprinkler system can definitely be expensive, but you should always look at it as an investment. Many insurance providers offer discounts for homes with sprinkler systems that have been professionally installed. Additionally, you’ll stand a much better chance at actually saving both the items in your home and the home itself if you have a sprinkler system that kicks on automatically at the first sign of a fire. You’ll be less likely to file these types of expensive claims, which in turn can lower your overall prices quite a bit.

Improve Your Credit

A person with low credit is considered to be a “high risk” customer, while a person with high credit is considered to be “low risk” by insurance providers. As a result, one thing that you can do to start lowering your home insurance prices immediately is improve your credit. Though increasing your credit score isn’t something that will lower your prices overnight, it will definitely pay off in the long run both with regards to your overall insurance prices and your life situation. Having high credit carries with it a wide variety of different benefits in other parts of life, too.

Take Care of Your Home

One final thing that can lower your home insurance prices is actually very simple – take care of both your home and the property that it’s on. A poorly kept-up home is another sign that someone is a “high risk” customer in the eyes of an insurance company. By making sure that you take care of your home the insurance company will in turn take care of you in the way of reduced rates.

Sam Jones recommends that readers visit the price comparison website, uSwitch if you want to compare home insurance prices.