The location of your home can cost you more in insurance
Most people don’t know that your monthly insurance payments is affected by your zip code.
The part of the country you live in, your city , even your zip code can be an issue on help or hurt you when it comes to pricing for different types of insurance coverages. The size of your town, theft statistics and amount of snowfall can affect the amount of claims an insurance provider expects to pay and because of that can make a big difference in the amount you pay for your .
The types of insurance most affected by your location include:
- Automobile insurance
- Homeowners insurance
- Apartment Renters insurance
- Health Care insurance
Automobile Insurance
You will find more vehicle accidents in cities where there are more autos and people per square mile. Additional vehicles, means more autos to hit and more autos that can hit you. What this means is the vehicle insurance company has to write more checks for claims and the their clients are charged more in monthly premiums. The crime rate, including the rate of vandalism and car thefts per capita also has an impact. Severe weather, means more automobile accidents and higher premiums as well
Home owners insurance
Home owners insurance is also impacted by Mother Nature. People who live in areas that are in hurricane zones are tremendously impacted by this fact. Mother Nature costs insurance carriers in other ways. Snow, rain and low temperatures cause more and also higher costs for coverage.
The cost of construction in a city is yet another factor that drives the costs upward or downward. If building materials have higher prices or the price of a good contractor is higher in your city verses the one next door, your costs may be much higher.
Apartment insurance
The crime rate can make a huge difference in the prices your or I might pay to cover our apartments. Theft is one of the major things that an apartment renters insurance policy protects us against and therefore if there are more break-ins in your area your apartment renters insurance company may pass those higher prices on to their policy holders.
Health Care insurance
Location has less to do with the frequency of illness and accidents than it has to do with the cost of that treatment. The cost to set a broken bone on your leg in a small town in Mississippi will be much less than the cost to set the same broken bone in Greenwich, Connecticut. When medical professionals charge more, insurance costs more. Insurance carriers may charge residents of the more expensive city more for their policies.
What to Do?
No one should change your residence based solely on the size of your insurance bill. That being said, if you are looking for your next home, you should take this into account along with the other issues one might usually consider about when selecting your next home.
Tell your story to an insurance broker that services an area that you are considering moving to and ask him or her to estimate rates for different insurance plans. The insurance lines ones that are most affected by geography are automobile, homeowners, apartment renters and health insurance.
Usually, a more expensive piece of real estate will have lower insurance costs. This may mean that you and your family can afford a home that you might not have thought you could.
Alston J. Balkcom has been an insurance agent since 1985. He now has several website that help people get competitive quotes for insurance in all parts of the United States. If you have questions about homeowners insurance California or the cost of car coverage in Pennsylvania you can visit his site for more information.
Watch the video related to home owner insurance
“What every consumer must know about homeowners & auto insurance to protect each properly while saving money!” Visit www.carrollinsurance.com for more information. By insurance expert Michael Carroll
Help answer the question about home owner insurance
What is the average cost of home owner insurance in Houston, Texas?I know this varies and are based on different factors. I am just seeking an average – thanks!
Home insurance covers lots of different things. I'm not sure about Oklahoma laws and regulations, so I suggest you contact a nearby homeowners insurance agent. Or this site may help you to compare many home insurance companies at once
http://best-home-insurance-comparator-usa.blogspot.com/
Hope this help,
For home insurance the best way to get a great quote is do a policy comparison on home policies. Make certain that you compare similar options with the same deductibles, home type, location, etc so that all things are a good comparison.
What I always recommend is an online comparison quote at
http://best-home-insurance-comparator-usa.blogspot.com/
since they have top name home insurers and can give several quotes on home insurance polices.
When you rent, have the prospective tenant fill out a rental application. These applications are usually at a store that sells legal forms. You can get lease forms there also. Make sure they fill out all the information, and sign the application. Charge $15 to $20 for the application. If they refuse to pay, do not consider them. Call their employer and ask for human resources or payroll, not their supervisor. Tell him what they stated as monthly income and length of employment "Is that correct?" His monthly income should be three times the amount of the rent. Do not check his present landlord. Check his previous landlord. (the present guy may lie if he wants to get rid of him). Ask if he was a good tenant, was he a good payer, why did he move, would he rent to him again. Check court records. In my state this can be done on line. I look for evictions in the last three years. I look for judgments in the last three years, I ignore traffic tickets. I look for misdemeanors in the last three years. I look for felonies over the last six years. If you discover any of these, avoid him. If you can find a local place to get a credit check on him, do that. I judge credit by the score only. In a very poor neighborhood the score should be 530 or better. 580 to 630 in a better area. Best wishes.
Honey, likely your problem isn't your credit, it's your location.
NO ONE is writing new policies in Florida right now. You'll have to go to an independent agent, and end up with Citizens – they are the ONLY game in town. Florida windstorm for the wind, NFIP for the flood, Citizens for the rest.
There isn't ANY competition in Florida – you could have an 800 credit score, and it wouldn't change anything.
Your original company isn't the ONLY one leaving Florida – the very few companies that aren't flat out leaving FL, flat out aren't writing ANY new policies.
Yes, it's going to cost you an arm and a leg. Yes, you'll have to pay your annual premium up front. Yes, it's going to be like this for the next few YEARS, at least. And yes, the prices for Citizens, Flood, and Wind are going to skyrocket over the next few years, because Citizens is VASTLY underfunded ($80B in funding, including lines of credit, $400B in insured properties – if they were a REAL company, any state would put them in receivership for not being financially solvent).
Meanwhile take the next few years and knock yourself out to get the credit situation fixed – because if/when the insurance situation gets repaired in FL, THEN you're credit score will be an issue.
But to answer your direct question, yes, in ANY state except California, an insurance company can refuse to write your homeowners policy due to low credit score.
First of all, they are not looking for Homeowners Insurance. That is insurance on the house to protect them against fire or other damage to the house. What they are looking for is mortgage life insurance which will pay off if one of them dies. Since they have health problems, the best bet would be to go through the company where they have the mortgage. It will probably be impossible to find a company that will insure them outside of the mortgage company itself. Try that and good luck.
KJA is correct.
1. You need to speak with the agent regarding your policy and what "changed". It may be that the change was necessary to comply with your mortgage company. However, he has to notify you of things like that. If it is not necessary and you don't want it, they will need to take the charge off your bill.
2. Contact your mortgage company to see if there is any money left in escrow to cover the additional cost if it is necessary. They will also need to take that into account to properly collect your escrow.
Negligence on the part of the homeowner does not invalidate your coverage. Many property losses are caused by the owners negligence (i.e. unattended candles, forgetting a pot is on the cooktop range, wood burning stove is not installed properly or forgetting to turn off the tub faucet) but insurance pays the claim.
By the way you did not have a "flood". The above poster is correct that flood is excluded but in your case it was water damage due to broken plumbing.
Guns and dogs don't affect your rates.
What affects your rates the most, are:
1. your credit score
2. how much it will cost to rebuild your home
3. how high your deductible is
4. which "extras" get added to your policy
5. what your house is made of (brick or wood)
6. how old your house is
7. where your house is located
8. your prior claims history, AND your house's prior claims history
If you don't own the house yet, the answer is, buy a brick single family home less than 20 years old, in a suburban neighborhood. Increase the deductible to $1,000 or $2500. Getting a quote with the same company that writes your car insurance can give you a discount on BOTH policies, up to 25%.
If you already own the house, look at increasing the deductible, to $1000 or $2500. If the house is over 20 years old, and/or you've done any big projects on it, make sure the insurance company knows. Usually there are substantial surcharges on the policy, unless the wiring, roof, electric and plumbing have ALL been updated within the past 20 years.
And for both, be sure to stop using credit cards, pay off your accounts, close all but the oldest, get your credit score cleaned up. There's a HUGE difference in rates, just between the guy with a 750 score and a 550 score.
**I've never seen a company surcharge or discount for felling trees, for gun ownership, or dog ownership. All they do is decline to WRITE you in the first place.**
To get an accurate, fair quote, talk insurance broker. A broker works with many different companies and can find the best coverage and company for you. To find a broker, log onto a website like http://www.homeownerswiz.com and request a free quote. Be sure to ask about earthquake insurance, which you must purchase separately. One of the nation’s largest earthquakes occurred in Missouri in 1812. Chances of another may seem remote, but consider the downside: You will have a home you cannot sell and cannot afford to repair, because your home equity will be wiped out.