What Impacts Your Home Insurance Rate?

Your home insurance rate is determined by a number of factors. Some of the biggest include age and condition.

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We are excited to be joined today by Lindsey Metzger with American Family Insurance to talk about all the different things that impact your home insurance rate and how you can position yourself to get the best rate possible.

One major thing that affects your rate is the age of your home. An older home will have a higher rate than a newly built one. The reason is that there is more risk involved when it comes to insuring older homes. It essentially all comes down to risk.

If you’re looking at an older home, pay special attention to the roof, the wiring, and the plumbing. The older the system is, the more risk is involved for the insurance company and the higher your rate will be. An older home with a new roof would have a lower insurance rate because of that fact.

Another thing that affects your insurance is the material your home is made of. Vinyl siding is more expensive to insure than brick because it’s less fire-resistant. Your credit is super important as well. Not only does it affect your home insurance rate, but it affects your mortgage insurance rate as well.

Having a personal insurance agent will help you avoid unwise claims.

Insurance is a double-edged sword. It’s there for you when you need it, but be careful about submitting a claim for every little thing. Lindsey recommends only making claims on things that are catastrophic. The first time you put in a claim, your home insurance increases by about 8%. Even if insurance doesn’t end up covering it, it will still count as a claim on your record.

This is why Lindsey recommends having your own insurance agent to consult with. They can come out to your home and take a look at the problem to make sure the claim is higher than your deductible and is something that would be covered by insurance. It’s a good resource to have an actual agent rather than just calling an 800 number.

Thanks to Lindsey for joining us today. If you have any questions for her at all, give her a call at (470) 202-7315 or send her an email to lmetzger@amfam.com. If you have any other real estate-related questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email as well. We look forward to hearing from you soon.