The Keys To Finding Quality Homeowners Insurance At A Reasonable Rate

There is no hiding the fact that getting homeowners insurance is not always the easiest thing to do or the most enjoyable thing to do.  While insurance has been on the rise for several years there are many other concerns you have to be aware of.  But there are some things you can do to get the most out of your experience.

If you are currently shopping the market for a new home, the first thing you want to do is get a home disclosure report from your agent or the seller’s agent.  This will allow you to find out what problems the home has already had in the past.  By determining these problems you can get a realistic view on how likely it will be to get coverage.  Insurance companies make it virtually impossible to get coverage on a home with water damage or structural damage.

The next thing you can do is keep a good credit.  Having a poor credit history can make it difficult to get the kind of homeowners insurance you want at a reasonable price.  “Many in the insurance industry view your credit report as an indicator of future potential losses,” said Madelyn Flannagan, vice president of education and research at the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America.

While it is not exactly fair, it is up to you to get your payments in on time and keep up to date with these things.  You should always know what is going on with your credit report by getting copies from time to time.  The three major places to get copies of your credit are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. 

Now that you have the beginning phases out of the way it is time to start hopping for homeowners insurance.  Obviously you are going to want a consumer friendly company, which you can find an array of companies at Consumer Reports.  This group surveyed a large amount of people and determined the overall happiness of respondents with their company’s claims handling and settlement.

Once you are in a home be careful about making claims on your policy.  Frequent claim activity can hurt your chances of renewal.  Typically you will not want to file the claim if the claim exceeds your deductible by $200 or less.  This will allow you to keep your claim record clean and allow you to stay insured for major losses.

The last thing you want to do after you have owned a home for a while is check your CLUE report.  Your CLUE report stands for the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, which insurance companies use to help gauge the insurance risk of potential clients. 

As you can see, it is not a fun process keeping track of and finding quality homeowners insurance.  But if you are on top of things and follow the tips listed above, you can find quality insurance for a reasonable rate while maintaining a strong credit report.