Getting home insurance isn’t always an easy task. It can feel overwhelming and stressful, especially when you end up having more and more questions as you go through the process of trying to get your house covered. If it’s any consolation, you’re not alone – lots of people have lots of questions about home insurance. We’re going to tackle five home insurance FAQs to help demystify the often confusing thing that is home insurance.
5 home insurance FAQs.
Here’s a list of the questions we’re going to answer:
- How much home insurance do I need?
- What affects my home insurance rates?
- How can I save money on home insurance?
- Does my deductible affect my home insurance rates?
- Does home insurance cover flooding?
Let’s dive in!
How much home insurance do I need?
One question you might have about home insurance is how much coverage do you need. And that’s a great question because it’s crucial that you have high enough limits of coverage to truly protect your home.
Ideally, you would want enough home insurance to do these three things:
1. Rebuild your home from the ground up if it were destroyed.
Imagine that your home was burned to the ground by a fire. You’d need to have enough home insurance to completely rebuild your house, right? That means you’d need to insure your home for its replacement cost, which is the amount it would cost to rebuild it from the ground up. (Note that your home’s replacement cost is not the same as its market value.)
2. Replace all your belongings.
It’s also important to make sure that you have enough home insurance to replace your possessions. Chances are you have a lot of treasures in your home, and taking a home inventory is a good way to know exactly what you need to insure. You also need to make sure that you have enough insurance to cover your jewelry and valuables.
3. Cover your liability.
Your home insurance also needs to protect you from liability claims of bodily injury or property damage. If you feel that you need coverage that goes above and beyond the liability coverage offered by your home insurance policy, you may want to consider personal umbrella insurance.
What affects my home insurance rates?
There are lots of details about you and your house that can affect your home insurance premium. It’s not just a random, magic number that the insurance company pulled out of thin air (because nothing in insurance is random.)
The insurance company is going to look at things like the following to set your rates:
- What your home is made of
- How much it would cost to rebuild your home
- Your claims history
- Your credit score
- How close you are to a fire station
- The crime rate in your area
- Where you live
- Your deductible
- The discounts you qualify for
- And more.
The best way to get an accurate idea of how much you should be paying for home insurance is to get home insurance quotes – and we can help with that. You can get started with your homeowners insurance quotes by filling out our online quote form or giving us a call. (How much home insurance costs is another popular one on the list of home insurance FAQs.)
Get a quick homeowners insurance quote today.
How can I save money on home insurance?
You’re also probably wondering how you can lower your home insurance premium – it might be on the top of your list of home insurance FAQs. Home insurance isn’t always cheap, after all, and you’re looking to get quality coverage at the best rate possible. There are a few things you can do to reduce your home insurance premium.
- Consider bundling your home and auto insurance.
- Boost your credit score.
- Ask about home insurance discounts.
- Raise your deductible if possible.
- Take steps to make your home safer (Ex. Installing a home security system, updating your wiring system, etc.)
- Review your insurance policy and coverages regularly.
- Stay in touch with your agent and update them on major changes to your house or your life.
- Get multiple quotes for home insurance.
Does my deductible affect my home insurance rates?
Your deductible can affect your home insurance rates, yes. If you have a higher deductible, you could see lower home insurance premiums because you’re less likely to file a claim. So, if you’re able to raise your deductible by setting a little more money aside in case of emergencies, you could see lower rates.
However, it’s a bit of a balancing act because you don’t want to set your deductible so high that it would be a big problem to have to pay if you did ever have a claim. Consider how much you could comfortably afford to pay in the event of a loss to your home when you’re setting your deductible.
Does home insurance cover flooding?
This one makes the list because it’s a really important thing to know.
Home insurance generally does not cover flooding.
(By flooding, we mean that there’s a lot of water on land that’s usually dry, such as from heavy rain or from a coastal or inland body of water rising.)
To protect your home against flooding, you would need to get a flood insurance policy. You’ll probably have to go through an agent and get your flood insurance policy from the National Flood Insurance Program. So long as your community participates in the NFIP, you can get flood insurance – even if you’re not technically in a “high-risk” flooding area. Just remember that flood insurance policies take 30 days to become effective with very few exceptions.
Many homeowners only find out too late that flooding isn’t covered by their home insurance policy, so it’s important to be prepared. And that’s why this one makes our list of home insurance FAQs.
So, those are five common home insurance questions answered. If you need to get home insurance quotes, we can help. Our agents are here to help you get great coverage at a great rate. To get started with your quick quotes, give us a call or fill out our online quote form.