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While house insurance, also known as homeowners insurance, may or may not be required it is certainly strongly recommended. Your house is probably one of your largest assets and a minimum of basic financial protection really is necessary.

There are various ways of reducing your homeowners insurance so that you can get cheap house insurance without sacrificing total coverage.

Finding Cheap House Insurance Coverage

If your home is mortgaged, your lender most likely requires insurance and will instruct you as to what your minimum homeowners insurance coverage requirements are. If you own your house outright, then you have more flexibility as to what kind of coverage to choose. Be sure to obtain adequate insurance for the value of your home and property; otherwise, your premium dollars may not be well spent.

Three main components of homeowners insurance to consider are Structural Coverage, Personal Property, and Liability. Structural Coverage insures the physical abode, Personal Property takes care of the contents of the house, and Liability protects you from lawsuits if anyone becomes injured while on your property.

The Basic Homeowner Policy (HO1) covers eleven perils, including fires, storms, and theft. It usually includes the structure and any listed personal property items that generally must be disclosed when the policy is written. It is important to always make sure your homeowners insurance policy is kept up to date with any changes to the house’s structure (room additions, remodeling, etcetera) as well as changes to your personal property (new high tech entertainment system, diamond necklace, and so on…).

You can broaden the Basic Homeowner Policy by electing Broad Homeowner Policy (HO2), which adds six perils to the coverage in addition to the standard ones covered under HO1. These perils are typically listed on the policy and, if it is not listed it is not covered.

HO3 is the All Risk Homeowners Policy which covers against most perils, typically excluding earthquake and flood damage. While this is the most common form of house insurance, it is also typically more expensive since it covers more incidents.

Factors Affecting Cheap House Insurance Rates

There are several factors that can affect the cost of your house insurance. Age, location, and the size and style of the house are all taken into consideration when your premium is quoted. Unless you’re shopping for a new home, these factors cannot be changed, so you just need to be aware of them and try to get cheaper house insurance rates through other means as described below.

The age of the house is important to insurance companies, especially when all perils are covered. This is because older homes tend to have more problems, such as electrical and plumbing disasters.

Depending on the location of your house, your insurance rates can vary widely. An at-risk neighborhood may raise your rates due to a heightened threat of vandalism or theft. On the flip side, your rates may be lower if you are located near a fire station since your home will be at a lesser risk for total loss.

The larger your house is, the more your insurance will cost. This is a basic math calculation based on square footage. The style of your house can also make a difference. For example, a frame (wood) house is more likely to suffer certain types of damage than a brick house would; so, a frame house will cost more to insure.

Getting Cheap House Insurance Plans

Once you decide on the basic type of homeowners insurance you want, you can flex the premium a little bit with deductibles. The higher the deductible is, the lower your premium will be. If you can manage to stash away the equivalent of a higher deductible, you can save a lot of money over the course of the years that you pay for homeowners insurance.

You can further reduce your house insurance cost by lessening the coverage of the contents. Certainly, if you have furs and jewelry that warrant special coverage, then you should carry it, but don’t feel compelled to insure every item if it does not have real value to you. For example, the cost to insure your old personal computer, currently valued at $300, may not be worth financial protection. This may be the very opposite if you just decked out your home office with $5,000 in electronic equipment.

While liability coverage is highly recommended, and it is often included in your homeowners insurance, you can reduce your insurance costs by keeping the liability down to the most sensible minimum for your needs. Most often the included coverage is sufficient, but you should carry at least the minimum coverage with which you are comfortable.

Replacement cost can dramatically affect homeowners insurance costs. Be sure you know what kind of coverage you have and what kind of coverage is being quoted. You can either be insured for the full replacement value at today’s cost, or you can be insured for the depreciated value. For example, you bought a sofa two years ago for $3,000. To replace it today would cost $4,000. Depending on your replacement coverage, you may receive insurance for your sofa at $3,000 minus two years depreciation (so, perhaps, you only receive $2,000) or full replacement value at today’s cost (giving you $4,000). Of course, full replacement value will cost more in insurance premiums, but it can pay for itself in the event you ever need to collect.

You can also decrease your homeowners insurance by adding burglar and fire alarms to your home. While the insurance premium savings may only be equivalent to a month’s worth of the alarm monitoring service, you also have the added security and peace of mind that comes with this type of protection.

Compare Cheap House Insurance Quotes Online

Whether you are looking to insure a new home or just trying to reduce your current insurance, in order to find cheap house insurance you need to compare several quotes and take all elements into consideration. Compare coverage, premiums, deductibles, and discounts to make sure you are getting equivalent quotes before making your ultimate decision. To start comparing cheap home insurance quotes online now, use the free tool at the top of the page to comparison shop many different home insurance companies!