What Affects My Home Insurance Rates?

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Many factors go into finding an affordable homeowners insurance quote. Here are some of the biggest factors that affect rates.

What You Base Your Home's Value On

One big determiner in your insurance quote is how much value you claim for your home's structure. Some people insure their home for the value they paid for it. Others take a more detailed look at how much it will actually cost to rebuild the home if there is an accident that destroys it. So, you may be insuring more or less than the value you paid for the home. This is a personal decision that depends on how much risk you want to take on personally, and how much risk you want to pass on to the insurance company.

How Much Liability Insurance You Get

Your liability insurance may be set for you at $100,000; this is a fairly standard amount. You could raise this amount if you want to be sure that you don't have to pay out of pocket for a claim. People who may want to raise their liability include babysitters and other individuals who work out of their home or have other people over to the property frequently.

Whether or Not You Need Flood Insurance

If you are in an area that's prone to flooding, it's a great idea to get flood insurance added to your home insurance plan. A homeowners insurance plan covers certain common natural disasters, such as storms and fires. But it doesn't cover flooding unless you specifically add this coverage.

How You Plan to Handle Disruptions

If you should ever have a home disaster, what would you plan to do? Where would you live while your home was being repaired? You can purchase coverage so that your home insurance company pays for your hotel or rental while you are waiting for your home to be repaired. This can give some peace of mind since you'll always be housed. But you could also plan to foot this cost yourself and save yourself a little money on your home insurance premiums.

As you can see, there are a lot of things that can be added or subtracted from your home insurance plan. Make sure that you read the fine print carefully with your home insurance broker to see what's covered; you will probably want to change the policy so that it best meets your needs while saving you money.

For more information, contact local professionals like Kuresman Insurance.


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