New Hampshire state law does not require homeowner’s to buy homeowner’s insurance. However, if your home is being financed – in other words, if you pay a mortgage each month – then your mortgage holder will insist that you buy homeowner’s insurance.
Keep in mind, however, that you are not required to purchase homeowner’s insurance from any specific company, and you are not required to purchase your insurance from any company owned or recommended by your mortgage holder.
Still, whether your home is financed or not, most homeowners choose to insure what, for most, is by far their biggest lifetime investment and one of their prime assets. Such insurance only makes good financial sense.
Even though purchasing homeowner’s insurance makes good economic sense, it also make good economic sense to save money and get discount homeowner’s insurance. So what are some of the steps you can take to reduce your monthly premium on your homeowner’s insurance?
First, make sure all your major policies are written by the same company. Having your homeowner’s insurance, your auto insurance, and health insurance all written by the same company should entitle you to a multi-policy discount.
Don’t skimp when it comes to the size of your policy. Your policy needs to be large enough to cover the entire cost of rebuilding your home from the foundation up in today’s dollars. Check with a local contractor or an experienced real estate agent to determine what the replacement cost for your home should be. Do not, however, insurance for the value of the land on which your home sits.
Fire and theft are the two biggest concerns when a company writes a homeowner’s policy, so it only makes sense that reducing those two risks would also reduce the monthly price tag on your insurance.
Clear brush, weeds and trash back at least ten feet from all structures on your property.
Install motion-sensitive outdoor lights. Trim bushes away from windows and doors where burglars like to hide from prying eyes.
Make sure that every exterior door has a working deadbolt lock and make sure that all windows, even those on upper floors, have a working lock.
Purchase and install the prescribed number of smoke and fire detectors for your home and its layout. Make sure all detectors have fresh batteries and all are working properly. Batteries need to be changed twice each year. Many people change their smoke and fire alarm batteries on the same day that they set their clocks ahead or behind during the twice yearly time changes.
Buy a fire extinguisher of the proper size and the correct type for your kitchen.
Believe it or not, even your credit rating can affect the cost of your homeowner’s insurance, so if there is anything you can do to better your credit score, now is the time to do it.
Once you have taken care of all of the details that can affect the cost of your insurance it’s time for you to get online and find two or three websites that will allow you to compare various policies and their prices from various insurers. Fill out the forms at more than one site so you can be certain that you are seeing comparisons among all the homeowner’s insurance companies operating in New Hampshire.
Comparing policies and prices on multiple sites takes extra time and effort – but in the long run the time you spend will be well rewarded with the savings you will see each and every month.
Word count: 584