If this is your first time purchasing home insurance, there is a good chance that this is your first home buying experience, so your stress is probably sky high. Indeed, having any kind of insurance – from life insurance to home insurance or car insurance – will keep your assets safe. When it comes down to it, your home is not only an asset, it is a part of your life, so it is critical that you have some measure of protection. If you don’t, you may lose everything. After your home goes into escrow, it is time to start looking for home insurance. But what do you look for? What direction do you take? Indeed, there are a lot of questions that you are going to be asking yourself, so it can help to have a few tips and tricks up your sleeve. Here are five helpful tips for first-time home insurance buyers.
- Make sure that your credit is strong – if you don’t have great credit, you may be dealing with higher rates and higher interest rates. The truth of the matter is that someone with poor credit will be a risk. If you just purchased your home, your credit may dip ever so slightly, so you want to find a way to boost your credit before you search for insurance.
- Make sure that you look around and shop around – you certainly don’t want to settle with one plan or the first plan you see. Ideally, you want to have a long list of insurers. Not only will shopping around help you find the best deal – it will also help you find the lowest deals. When it comes down to it, you can show various insurance companies the rates you received from other companies with the hopes that they will give you a lower quote.
- Make sure that you speak with specific agents – for instance, the Roman Financial Group has agents in various locations. The key is to speak to the agent about the best rates, plans and more. Also, talking to an actual agent will help you get the very best plan. The last thing you want is to fret because you have a ton of unanswered questions. If this is your first time, you probably have a lot of concerns.
- Make sure to try and bundle your policies – if you have car insurance, you may want to bundle that plan with your home insurance plan. If you have been with an agency for a long time, this may save you time and energy. Before you contact any other companies, you may want to contact your primary provider about bundling.
- Make sure that you have specific risks in mind for things that you want covered – for instance, if you live in a flood zone, you want an insurance policy that covers damage from floods. When it comes down to it, a lot of regions suffer from flooding and the damage can be astronomical. In the end, you want a coverage plan to bring you back from this disaster.