HOME insurance can be very expensive. By following a few simple tips you can save hundreds of dollars on your home insurance payments.
1. Buy your policy online: The cheapest place to buy insurance is online. Go to multiple web sites. Complete their quote forms and compare their offers.
2. Beef up home security: Install locks on all the doors and windows and install an alarm system.
3. Buy all your insurance from one company: If you have one insurance company that you trust, have a look at their packages. If you insure your home, the contents of your home and your car through the same company, it could work out much cheaper.
4. Don't buy an old house: Older homes can have all kinds of problems with wiring and plumbing. For insurance purposes, the newer your house the better.
5. Join the neighborhood watch: Not all companies allow a discount for this, so find out and then think about joining up.
6. Don't buy or build near water or on unstable ground: If you do that most companies won't touch you and the ones that do will charge an arm and a leg.
7. Buy a house made of bricks: Wooden homes are more prone to fire and storm damage. That makes brick homes cheaper to insure.
8. Buy a house in a low crime area: Insurance companies have databases with postcodes or zip codes and their crime risk levels. The higher the risk in your neighborhood the more you will have to pay to insure the contents of your home. So research the crime rate, before you buy.
9. Don't blow your no claims discount: Don't claim for small loses. If you haven't claimed for 3 years, it could easily cut 10% off your payments.
10. Choose a higher deductible/voluntary excess: The deductible is the part of the policy that the insurance company does not pay. If you had a claim of $1,000 and you have a deductible of $400, the insurance company would only pay out $600. The higher the deductible the lower the monthly payment.
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