For the vast majority of people here in Arkansas their home represents their greatest asset and their biggest investment.
What could be more natural, then, than to want to protect that investment with homeowner's insurance? Before we discuss ways of reducing the cost of your homeowner's insurance we need to touch upon the sad fact that very few homeowners carry the right amount of insurance on their home.
How much is the right amount? You need enough coverage to pay for all of the contents of your home and to rebuild your house exactly as it is now from the foundation up.
In order to know for certain what the replacement cost of your home would be in today's market it will be necessary for you to speak with a contractor or with an experienced real estate agent.
Insure your home for the full replacement cost of the house itself, but do not make the common mistake of insuring the value of the land underneath your home.
The home and its contents can be destroyed - the land will remain.
If you are searching for ways of lowering your monthly homeowner's insurance bill then it is first necessary to understand how an insurance company sees your home.
The two biggest concerns that your homeowner's insurance has are fire and theft.
There are other concerns, naturally, but everything else takes a backseat to the twin threats of fire and theft.
Therefore, if you want to convince your insurance company to reduce your rates you must first assure them that you have reduced the risk of both fire and of theft.
Start by clearing all brush and weeds back at least 10 feet away from all structures on your property; this will greatly reduce the threat of fire.
Next, install motion-sensitive floodlights, trim bushes away from all windows, put deadbolt locks on all exterior doors and make sure all windows have a working lock in order to reduce the threat of theft.
A home alarm system with an automatic monitoring system connected to a third party which notifies the police or fire department in case of an emergency 24/7 will reduce your homeowner's insurance premium by as much as 30%.
Make sure you have the recommended number of fire and smoke detectors and that each one is properly installed and working.
Batteries need to be changed twice yearly.
Purchase a kitchen-style fire extinguisher for your kitchen and keep it readily available.
Lastly - and this seems strange to most people - keep your credit rating good.
Insurance companies give homeowner's with high credit scores a better price on their monthly premium.
O.
K.
, now you're ready to get online and start comparing policies from different companies, looking for the policy with the most protection for the lowest price.
Don't, however, think you can get away with comparing low cost homeowner's insurance quotes on just one site.
The problem with that is that no one site compares every insurance company and so you may not get the best deal available if you only look at one site.
Instead, fill out the forms on at least 3 different sites and then pick the best deal from among all of the choices offered to you.
It's more effort to check 3 different websites, but the end result will be to truly compare low cost homeowner's insurance in Arkansas from the widest number of insurance companies possible and insure that you have found the very best deal at the lowest price.
What could be more natural, then, than to want to protect that investment with homeowner's insurance? Before we discuss ways of reducing the cost of your homeowner's insurance we need to touch upon the sad fact that very few homeowners carry the right amount of insurance on their home.
How much is the right amount? You need enough coverage to pay for all of the contents of your home and to rebuild your house exactly as it is now from the foundation up.
In order to know for certain what the replacement cost of your home would be in today's market it will be necessary for you to speak with a contractor or with an experienced real estate agent.
Insure your home for the full replacement cost of the house itself, but do not make the common mistake of insuring the value of the land underneath your home.
The home and its contents can be destroyed - the land will remain.
If you are searching for ways of lowering your monthly homeowner's insurance bill then it is first necessary to understand how an insurance company sees your home.
The two biggest concerns that your homeowner's insurance has are fire and theft.
There are other concerns, naturally, but everything else takes a backseat to the twin threats of fire and theft.
Therefore, if you want to convince your insurance company to reduce your rates you must first assure them that you have reduced the risk of both fire and of theft.
Start by clearing all brush and weeds back at least 10 feet away from all structures on your property; this will greatly reduce the threat of fire.
Next, install motion-sensitive floodlights, trim bushes away from all windows, put deadbolt locks on all exterior doors and make sure all windows have a working lock in order to reduce the threat of theft.
A home alarm system with an automatic monitoring system connected to a third party which notifies the police or fire department in case of an emergency 24/7 will reduce your homeowner's insurance premium by as much as 30%.
Make sure you have the recommended number of fire and smoke detectors and that each one is properly installed and working.
Batteries need to be changed twice yearly.
Purchase a kitchen-style fire extinguisher for your kitchen and keep it readily available.
Lastly - and this seems strange to most people - keep your credit rating good.
Insurance companies give homeowner's with high credit scores a better price on their monthly premium.
O.
K.
, now you're ready to get online and start comparing policies from different companies, looking for the policy with the most protection for the lowest price.
Don't, however, think you can get away with comparing low cost homeowner's insurance quotes on just one site.
The problem with that is that no one site compares every insurance company and so you may not get the best deal available if you only look at one site.
Instead, fill out the forms on at least 3 different sites and then pick the best deal from among all of the choices offered to you.
It's more effort to check 3 different websites, but the end result will be to truly compare low cost homeowner's insurance in Arkansas from the widest number of insurance companies possible and insure that you have found the very best deal at the lowest price.
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