topic Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE in Community Chat

HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

goldensrbest — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:21:12 GMT

My husband always took care of almost everything,when he died in 2013, it left me trying to understand so many things, my homeowners policy has just got to be too much for me to pay,how do i get quotes from other companies,and is there a way to get rating on companies?

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Kachina624 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:32:27 GMT

The #1 thing to do is check your deductible and see how much it is. Raising it will lower your premium. Also check your other coverage and see if there's something you can raise or eliminate. I think some people go to brokers who have information on all companies. As a veteran, I've always been with USAA a so haven't "shopped around". Where I've lived the price for the same coverage is the same with every company. Call an agent with your present company, make an appointment and get his suggestions for lowering your premium.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

GCR18 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:35:18 GMT

I would start out by reviewing the current policy. Have the agent go through it and tell you about it. As far as coverage goes, is the current policy high - average - low. What is the deductible? If you doubled it, how much would the price drop. Ask what can you do to lower the price. Install smoke detectors or something like that that isn't crazy expensive. Make sure you have what you're insuring. When I did a review of my policy, I was insuring a shed. I don't have a shed.

Once I understood stood where I was, I'd ask friends or neighbors if they are happy with their agent. If so, add it to the list of companies you interview and get an estimate from. You could get a list of the insurance companies in your area, Google search, and look how they stack up on the BBB website.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

sunshine45 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:35:41 GMT

find an insurance BROKER rather than an insurance agent affiliated with one particular company. they can usually find you the best deal.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

fthunt — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:35:44 GMT

Ask you friends/relatives if they know or use a good insurance agency. An Insurance Agency is a local company that sells insurance for many big named insurance companies. An agency is an independent 'broker' who earns their income from commissions from the big insurance companies. To give you an example: I own rental property and had coverage from a small insurance company for years & every year they have been increasing my yearly cost by thousands of dollars. So ....I went to a local Agency and ask them to price out my policy with other companies - and they did and they found a big company giving me the same coverage for $3,000 less a year!

Everybody should review their policies every few years. Good Luck!

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Melania — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:41:23 GMT

I don't know if you still drive but you could look into combining auto and homeowner's insurance and get a decent savings on both.

Also look to see if you an credit if you live near a fire hydrant, security system etc.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

flickerbulb — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:42:09 GMT

This is very easy to do. First, use your phone book or Google local insurance agencies.

You ask to speak to an agent and ask for a new quote on HO insurance.

They have access to a number of different companies. Most of them will be companies you have never heard of, but don't worry.

The agent can tell you their rating. Also, if you have AAA or AARP, you can call them for rates.

If you are/were a teacher or state employee, some companies give better rates for those groups.

Most agents will represent groups of companies and can find the best rate around for you.

I like to check once a year before I renew to see if I can get a better rate.

It also helps if you have newer roof. Some companies may send someone out to check out your property to see if it is in good shape.

It is a lot of time on the phone, so write down the names of the companies and the quotes and phone numbers.

It is easy! Good luck!

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Annabellethecat66 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:49:31 GMT

Speaking as someone who had to live in a hotel for 5 full months due to a house fire.....I can tell you it is very, very important that your insurance has the words (SAME AS) not LIKE.

We had SAME AS and were very grateful. Our insurance company was amazing. We got an entire house full of new furniture, they paid $1,000 a week to the hotel and we could eat anywhere every meal we wanted to eat at, anywhere.

It ended up costing our insurance company over $230,000. Every piece of material, clothing, etc was was cleaned and stored. All appliances were replaced, etc.

Make sure you have good insurance. Lightning hit a tree next to my house, bounce off and hit the roof. Most of the damage was some smoke and where they tore down the ceilings and walls making sure they'd killed the fire.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Kachina624 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:56:38 GMT

@Annabellethecat66 Got a match I could borrow?

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Tinkrbl44 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:58:51 GMT

@goldensrbest wrote:
My husband always took care of almost everything,when he died in 2013, it left me trying to understand so many things, my homeowners policy has just got to be too much for me to pay,how do i get quotes from other companies,and is there a way to get rating on companies?

@goldensrbest

Before you jump to another company, why not talk to your current agent and tell him/her that you want to reduce the premium, and how would they recommend doing so. It will give you a chance for the two of you to go over the policy and for you familiarize yourself with coverages.

If you end up wanting to get quotes from other companies (which is always a good idea) you will have different features and benefits clear for the next discussion.

As for ratings, the go-to independent insurance rating company is A. M. Best ..... they are well respected, been around for ages, and you'll see the A M Best ratings in stock reports etc.

http://www.ambest.com/about/

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Annabellethecat66 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 01:07:11 GMT

@Kachina624 I know what you mean. Our deductible was $500. Lighning had hit our house (or tree) 2 other times.

The fire marshall came out and I said, "The insurance company suggested I put some lightning things on it". He laughed and said, "They need to come out and see that it would take a lot and how many trees are around your house."

They did ask that we raise the deductible to $1,000, I said, "We can do that". Ha!

You'd be surprised though it does get old eating out 3 meals every day. When I wanted a peanut butter/jelly sandwich I'd go to my daughter's house. We had our own room at the hotel.

My husband was bored so we decided to go to Houston, Texas because he'd never been there. We took our daughter. When we got back the hotel had changed rooms and moved our stuff to another room, placed everything just like before. Every day the bed was made, it was cleaned, etc.

Here's something funny. I collected material (I sewed). I had boxes and boxes of just pieces of material. Every piece was taken and cleaned. Can you imagine? I had over 90 pairs of shoes then, all had to be cleaned. Now I have way over 90, I can't imagine if it happened again.

My late husband was meticulous about record keeping. He kept every stub from eating out and about every 2 weeks submitted it for payment from the insurance company. At night the hotel always made milk and cookies for people there. They delivered them to our door. You can get used to it.

He traveled every 2 weeks down to Florida to property were were developing. I liked my alone time and I think he did too. We'd been married 38 wonderful years when he died suddenly. He was a wonderful man.

It seems the good do die young....

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

esmeraldagooch — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 01:18:49 GMT

We had a policy with a big named insurance company you see with agents in every town. When I moved to CA my car insurance skyrocketed. My friend said why not call her Internet based company which I did. They chopped the old company's rate in half and that was with no other policies with them, policies were identical. I recently purchased a home and got identical home insurance. I checked with my old 40 years with them company and the story was the same. HIGH. Got huge price cut with the internet company for exactly the same insurance policy. I guess I was paying for the old company's guy in the chair and his fancy office.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Kachina624 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 01:20:37 GMT

@Annabellethecat66 What a wonderful husband your sweetie must have been. I'm sure living without him has been a difficult adjustment. There's so much you must learn to do for yourself that you never gave a though when he was alive.

I had a friend whose house was ruined by a broken pipe while they were away on vacation. They too were moved into a hotel by their insurance company. My friend got so bored she took over their kitchen and was making birthday cakes for the staff. She was a wonderful baker. I'm sure they were sad when she left.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Melania — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 01:36:53 GMT

@Annabellethecat66 wrote:
@Kachina624 I know what you mean. Our deductible was $500. Lighning had hit our house (or tree) 2 other times.

The fire marshall came out and I said, "The insurance company suggested I put some lightning things on it". He laughed and said, "They need to come out and see that it would take a lot and how many trees are around your house."

They did ask that we raise the deductible to $1,000, I said, "We can do that". Ha!

You'd be surprised though it does get old eating out 3 meals every day. When I wanted a peanut butter/jelly sandwich I'd go to my daughter's house. We had our own room at the hotel.

My husband was bored so we decided to go to Houston, Texas because he'd never been there. We took our daughter. When we got back the hotel had changed rooms and moved our stuff to another room, placed everything just like before. Every day the bed was made, it was cleaned, etc.

Here's something funny. I collected material (I sewed). I had boxes and boxes of just pieces of material. Every piece was taken and cleaned. Can you imagine? I had over 90 pairs of shoes then, all had to be cleaned. Now I have way over 90, I can't imagine if it happened again.

My late husband was meticulous about record keeping. He kept every stub from eating out and about every 2 weeks submitted it for payment from the insurance company. At night the hotel always made milk and cookies for people there. They delivered them to our door. You can get used to it.

He traveled every 2 weeks down to Florida to property were were developing. I liked my alone time and I think he did too. We'd been married 38 wonderful years when he died suddenly. He was a wonderful man.

It seems the good do die young....

The fire chief was wrong...we had many lightning strikes with severe damage. The last one with fire too. Once we finally installed lightning rods we have not had a problem.

We had electrical involvement every time as well.

I'm sorry you went through that. Lightning is scary.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Mistreatedbycs — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 01:42:46 GMT

You google homeowners insurance with your city, find agents that handle various companies, put your "purchasing cap" on and call, and call and call.

Go shopping, compare apples to apples, don't ever tell any of these people what you are currently paying, find a good deal and change. Are you sure you are not paying for extra coverage that might have changed through the years? Do you have 100% replacement value on your policy.

Women need to be independent and even if your spouse is still living, sitting back and letting him handle everything was "the way it was done years ago".

Think of it like shopping for a pair a shoes, a handbag or any other item us women like to shop for, here you are shopping for a policy that fits what you need.

To give you some incentive, I switched business and building insurance companies from one agent to another and saved $900 a year. Yes, the agent that I was dealing with has about 20-30 companies he represents but kept telling me year after year, costs are going up, I got quotes from other companies etc. Same ole same ole. Then I used a reference from another business, the guy called me, came to look and quoted me half of what I was paying, he asked how he did, I said we can write it, he asked what the difference was and I never said. I sure don't want him coming back to me next year throwing in my face that he saved me $900 last year.

Hope that helps. Actually, we become complacent and just renew, we need to go out and shop all policies.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Annabellethecat66 — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 01:51:39 GMT

@Kachina624 That was a wonderful story. Your friend should write about it and submit it to a magazine. Really, I'd like to read a story like that...she must be wonderful!

I do have 3 daughters. One lives in Florida so I don't see her that much. The Denver daughter wants me to visit her but it's too hard to travel now with my back and knees. Maybe in the Spring. The Fairfax daughter helps me a lot with all of our business stuff. There's that college education kicking in...Ha! Her Dad's kid.

I just need to move to downsize. It's just so overwhelming. I'm not complaining, I know I'm lucky though...

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Big Sister — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 01:54:02 GMT

If you will be shopping by phone, have in front of you your current policy to see what the other ins. companies would charge you for the same coverage.

As someone else told you, you can probably lower your rate by raising the deductible.

It is also cost efficient to have your homeowners ins. and your auto ins. with the same company. You should then be offered a "multi-policy" discount.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

patbz — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 02:30:11 GMT

I had my home flood (go figure, I lived in the desert) from a frozen pipe which meant we were in a hotel for 3 months. Everything was moved into and out of storage by USAA(can't say enough about how great they are). House needed new drywall, paint, carpeting etc. They even paid us $15 hrs each to do some of the pack up. I also had 2 additional floods (broken pipe in a rental we owned and a flood in an RV park totalled our fifth wheel) which USAA covered without raising my rates. As far as I know, USAA isn't sold by agents; I've always contacted them either online or by phone. They sell to military and their family members. My Dad was a Vet and that connection provided me, my husband, both my sons, wives and kids the ability to get this insurance. It's worth a call to them when you are comparing companies.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

RedTop — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 03:27:54 GMT

@goldensrbest,

I urge you to call your current insurance agent and arrange a face to face meeting to discuss your policy, coverage, and options before you seek other quotes. Please deal with your current agent, before trusting another agent and another company. It would be especially beneficial if your agent came to your home and did a visual tour to make sure your coverage matches your needs.

I would not be so quick to leave your current insurance company, especially for a cheaper option. I assure you, you will find cheaper policies available, but to get cheaper, you will give up coverage on something that may be extremely important later on.

Shortly after my dad died, my mother decided to cut her monthly expenses. Instead of asking my brothers and I to help her, she went at it alone, and changed her land line phone, her satellite TV service, her vehicle insurance, and her house insurance. Her only goal was cheaper, and she achieved that, but she did not fully understand what she gave up to get a cheaper bill. It took many hours for my brothers and I to straighten out her impulsive actions.

I was furious to learn mom dropped her vehicle insurance with the company she and dad had been with for nearly 50 years, for a cheaper quote. She had no accidents and no tickets against her; perfect driving record. She just wanted to pay less money for coverage. Yes, she initially saved money, but then the new company started their rate increases, for coverage that was less than what she had with the old company. Mom tried to go back to the old insurance company, but they wouldn't accept her. So in order to have insurance coverage on her vehicle, she put my brothers name on the title, and he added it under his policy. Mom has since stopped driving altogether, and my brother and SIL use that SUV in winter months.

Please don't make any changes to what you have unless you absolutely understand what you are doing.

Re: HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

CelticCrafter — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 10:55:02 GMT

I had gotten lazy about our insurances but this year decided to get other quotes and saved $1200 a year by bundling and making the switch. I went with a local State Farm agent.

I knew the car insurance was high but I would justify it by telling myself they have great claim service.

Our homeowners insurance was high. For a long time we had no other option because live in a bayshore area and no one would insure anyone in this area, so we had to keep what we had.