Before we discuss what you need to know when getting homeowners insurance quote in the US. Let us first explain what homeowners insurance quote is.
What Is Homeowner Insurance Quote
Homeowner insurance quote also known as home insurance quote is a valued estimate of the price you will need to pay to insure your home. There are several factors that determine the price of your quote which include;
- Where your house is located
- The size of your home
- If there is a fire station close to you.
These and other factors is taken into considering when calculating a home insurance quote. Each insurance company comes up with their criteria that best suit them in determining the estimate a homeowner will pay to insure their home.
Despite an insurance company’s right to determine it’s formula to calculate home insurance quote. The home insurance policy dictates the standard elements and cost an insurer will cover. See Things You Must Know About Home Insurance Policy for more details.
When preparing a home insurance quote there are some things the insurance company will take into account that would determine the amount you will be paying. Here are some basic things that are considered when preparing a homeowner insurance quote.
Basic Things That Determine Your Home Insurance Quote
Aside from the basic ones that was mentioned earlier on like the location and size of your house. These other criteria listed below are used in calculating your quote:
- Security Feature: The type of security feature you have in your home goes a long way in reducing the insurance quote you will be given. This is because with features like smoke detector, security camera, alarm system, deadbolt locks, the likelihood of theft, fire outbreak or other damage is reduced.
- Age Of Your Home: The older your house the more you will pay for insurance. Insurance companies usually consider the cost of rebuilding for you at the present rate which would be more expensive than when your house was built.
- Rebuilding Cost: Here the insurer will consider rebuilding cost in a situation where your house is damaged. The size of the house would be put into consideration as well as the type of material used in building your home. For example houses that were built with brick is cheaper to insure than houses built with wood or other inflammable materials.
- Local Fire Protection: There is what they call local fire protection when calculating home insurance quote. If your house is close to a fire station or hydrant, you qualify for a cheaper home insurance quote than a person who like outside those areas.
- High Crime Neighborhood: If your home is located in a high crime neighborhood where lots of burglaries take place, you will be inclined to pay more for insurance.
- Natural Disaster Risk Area: The more prone your environment is to natural disaster like flood, earthquakes, wildfire and others the more your insurance quote will cost.
- Home Upgrade: If there is an upgrade done in your home that increases the cost to rebuild, your insurance quote would go up as well.
- Work From Home: If you are a homeowner who works from home and have your work equipment in the house, you would need to have more coverage for those equipment. This would increase your insurance quote or you can buy a separate business owner coverage to protect your equipment.
- Your Possessions: A home owner who owns costly belongings like expensive jewelries, antics, artwork and paintings, musical instruments and other designer things would need extra coverage for these items. This will in turn increase the insurance quote.
- Your Pets: If you have pets like dogs especially if their breed is considered aggressive, you might pay higher insurance cover. This is because your liability insurance would be made to pay if the dog bites someone and is sued.
- Your Previous Claim: In a case where you have filed several claims prior to dealing with this insurance company, you would be required to pay more insurance quote simply because they consider you a risk.
- Your Credit Score: This is considered in most states in the US aside from Maryland, California and Massachusetts. The insurance company charge higher insurance quote to those with bad credit score because they believe those with poor credit score are more likely to file insurance claim. The law in California and the other states listed above do not allow insurance company to use this criteria.
Based on the criteria listed above your insurance company would compile a homeowner insurance quote that best suit your specific category. In order to completely determine the category you belong to your insurance company would also ask you some questions.
These information needed are not things you won’t know. In order to get you well prepared here is an insight to some of the questions you will be asked.
Questions Asked By You Insurance Company When Preparing Homeowner Insurance Quote
- About Your Insurance History: You would be asked about your insurance history. If you already have insurance on your home or if this is your first time. It is good to get details about your previous insurance coverage ready in order to give appropriate answers.
- Description of Your Home: The insurance company will ask you detailed questions about your home. You would be made to describe your house, from the interior to the exterior finishing. When the house was built to all the compartment that makes up your home. These questions would help them determine the cost to rebuild your house if there is a damage and the cost of coverage.
- The Occupants Of Your Home: Your insurance company would want to know information about the people the live in your home. If you are married and living with your spouse and their contact information. If you have kids and pets or other relatives living with you. They would also want to know if you work from home and have your work equipment in your house.
- What Security System You Have: As the security device you have in your house will determine the cost of your insurance cover, the insurance company will ask about it.
- The Location Of Your Home: Of course the location of your home determines the cost of your insurance cover therefore the insurer will want details of this. If your house is located close to a fire station, if it is in a high crime neighborhood or in a natural disaster risk area. All these criteria would determine if your insurance quote would be higher or lower.
- Mortgage Payment: The insurance company would want to know if there is a mortgage on your home and how much you pay for your mortgage. This will go a long way to determine your quote.
It is also important to know that the type of insurance cover you will be getting is determined by you. The homeowner insurance quote would be made according to the coverage you decide to go for. There are basically six type of coverage in the standard homeowner insurance coverage.
These six type of coverage consist of dwelling coverage which covers destruction to the home’s interior and exterior. This coverage is suitable to cover repairs and rebuilding of your home if it is needed.
There is also the Personal property cover that pays to repair or in the place of theft replace your personal belongings. This can be used to insure your priced collections like jewelries and art collection.
Another standard coverage is the other structure cover that is not listed in the dwelling coverage. This can cover things like fence and sheds you might have attached to the house.
The liability is another coverage that cover fee you pay if you accidentally injure someone or cause their property to be damaged.
There is also the Medical payment coverage which pays the medical bill of someone injured in your home. This also works if your pet or kids causes the injury of a neighbor or friend outside your home.
The Additional Living expenses gives the insured temporary fund for living expenses while your home is being repaired by the insurance company.
Before you accept any quote from an insurance company make sure you find out your deductibles, about coverage from disaster like earthquake and the type of replacement cost coverage they have for your personal property. Knowing this information will help you make the right decision about the best homeowner insurance company to use.
The above information are the major things you need to know when getting homeowner insurance quote in the United States.