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Shop homeowner's insurance?

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SamsungHDTV
Established Contributor

Shop homeowner's insurance?

Where to shop homeowner's insurance?

 

I did some digging in the threads - most point to insurance brokers, but didn't mention which ones.

 

Let me know your suggestions and experiences. I'm in Houston, TX if it matters.

 

Thanks everybody.

Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
ezdriver
Senior Contributor

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?

Find two or three local insurance agencies and give them all he same requirements on which to base their quotes.

Message 2 of 10
2b2rich
Established Contributor

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?

I went online and filled out a few requests for quotes.  Home Owners wasn't a problem and some were almost $500 a year less than the agency (State Farm) I had auto and rental through.  State Farm doesn't do Windstorm/Flood in my area any more (unless you already had it before they stopped), so I had to check around anyway.  There were no hits to my credit reports and I ended up saving about $2K a year by doing so. Unfortunately, I'm in both Windstorm and Flood zones so I have 3 policies.

 

In my opinion, they're all brokers.  If they can't write you their own policy, they will offer you one under their name, but written by someone like Progressive, etc.  One thing you should read over carefully is the break down of the quotes they give you.  If you're home is valued at $150K, don't let them talk you into insuraning by the sq ft that comes out to $200K.  They're all in the business to make money, and some of them will try to up sell you.  One of my quotes came back with "Vicious Dog" added in.   I had specifically checked "no" on this when requesting the quote.

 

I shopped for days and had them end up changing things about 3 or 4 times on the policies I eventually went with to make sure I was being insured accurately (you want to make sure the deductibles, etc also meet your mortgage lender's guidelines).

 

If you're in a flood area of Houston, you will definitely want to shop around for that. I ended up with quotes that were almost $1500 difference in the lowest and highest.


Good luck

Chapter 7 Discharged & Closed Jan 2020
Message 3 of 10
StartingOver10
Moderator Emerita

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?

Go to a local insurance broker in your area. I agree that the big agencies like State Farm and Allstate etc are brokering out now, but you get a much, much larger selection of policy coverage and premiums from an independent broker IME. From what I have seen the big agencies only have a very few companies with which they work - but there are many good insurance companies that aren't working with the biggies. Plus, as pointed out, the premiums are much higher when going through the large agencies. It is worth your time and effort to shop for insurance.

 

Do you have any wind mitigation steps you can take to reduce your insurance costs?  Check it out to see if that will help too.

Message 4 of 10
2b2rich
Established Contributor

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?

Actually, I forgot to mention how great 'word of mouth' is in shopping for insurance!

I ended up doing exactly as StartingOver suggested and went with a local Mom and Pop agency.  They beat the others with all 3 of my policies.  The good thing about word of mouth is that you can ask people in your area, with similar situations/needs not only what kind of price they're paying, but if they've had any problems with said agency over claims, billing, etc.  It's how I ended up requesting a quote from the agency I am with now, the previous owners (sellers) had switched to them.

Chapter 7 Discharged & Closed Jan 2020
Message 5 of 10
2b2rich
Established Contributor

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?


@StartingOver10 wrote:

Go to a local insurance broker in your area. I agree that the big agencies like State Farm and Allstate etc are brokering out now, but you get a much, much larger selection of policy coverage and premiums from an independent broker IME. From what I have seen the big agencies only have a very few companies with which they work - but there are many good insurance companies that aren't working with the biggies. Plus, as pointed out, the premiums are much higher when going through the large agencies. It is worth your time and effort to shop for insurance.

 

Do you have any wind mitigation steps you can take to reduce your insurance costs?  Check it out to see if that will help too.


Me? (asking because the OC didn't mention it Smiley Happy )  I do not know of any?

Chapter 7 Discharged & Closed Jan 2020
Message 6 of 10
StartingOver10
Moderator Emerita

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?


@2b2rich wrote:

@StartingOver10 wrote:

Go to a local insurance broker in your area. I agree that the big agencies like State Farm and Allstate etc are brokering out now, but you get a much, much larger selection of policy coverage and premiums from an independent broker IME. From what I have seen the big agencies only have a very few companies with which they work - but there are many good insurance companies that aren't working with the biggies. Plus, as pointed out, the premiums are much higher when going through the large agencies. It is worth your time and effort to shop for insurance.

 

Do you have any wind mitigation steps you can take to reduce your insurance costs?  Check it out to see if that will help too.


Me? (asking because the OC didn't mention it Smiley Happy )  I do not know of any?


Yes, you and/or the OP.  I am mentioning it because Houston is in Texas and I am fairly sure that you have the ability to reduce your wind premium by putting in certain wind mitigation features.  We have that here in Fl and I noticed that the coastal states along the gulf coast seem to be moving toward more expensive HO policies due to the past hurricanes.  

 

Just a quick google search turns up Houston wind mitigation inspections so it might be worth your time and effort to check into it to see what kind of reduction you can get. Here the reduction can be very substantial - on the order of a couple of thousand dollars saved each year (thousands - not hundreds)  

Message 7 of 10
DallasLoanGuy
Super Contributor

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?

i always tell my clients to get a quote from one or two of the majors... then shop with an independent broker. 

 

the extra wind coverage seems to be worse on the south side of houston than those homes up north.

 

 

Retired Lender
Message 8 of 10
2b2rich
Established Contributor

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?


@StartingOver10 wrote:

@2b2rich wrote:

@StartingOver10 wrote:

Go to a local insurance broker in your area. I agree that the big agencies like State Farm and Allstate etc are brokering out now, but you get a much, much larger selection of policy coverage and premiums from an independent broker IME. From what I have seen the big agencies only have a very few companies with which they work - but there are many good insurance companies that aren't working with the biggies. Plus, as pointed out, the premiums are much higher when going through the large agencies. It is worth your time and effort to shop for insurance.

 

Do you have any wind mitigation steps you can take to reduce your insurance costs?  Check it out to see if that will help too.


Me? (asking because the OC didn't mention it Smiley Happy )  I do not know of any?


Yes, you and/or the OP.  I am mentioning it because Houston is in Texas and I am fairly sure that you have the ability to reduce your wind premium by putting in certain wind mitigation features.  We have that here in Fl and I noticed that the coastal states along the gulf coast seem to be moving toward more expensive HO policies due to the past hurricanes.  

 

Just a quick google search turns up Houston wind mitigation inspections so it might be worth your time and effort to check into it to see what kind of reduction you can get. Here the reduction can be very substantial - on the order of a couple of thousand dollars saved each year (thousands - not hundreds)  


I will check into that. Thanks for the info!

 


@DallasLoanGuy wrote:

i always tell my clients to get a quote from one or two of the majors... then shop with an independent broker. 

 

the extra wind coverage seems to be worse on the south side of houston than those homes up north.

 

 


 I pay almost $1,400 a year for a $190,000 Windstorm policy and yeah, I'm inland coastal (about 15 miles north of the coast/Galveston).  

I just closed in the garage to make a Den and the wall that replaced the garage doors, had to be built to TX Windstorm Ins Specifications.  I had to pay an Engineer/Inspector $385 for the spec sheets and two inspections. 1 inspection after the frame, plywood, and windows were up, and the 2nd one after the masonry work was completed.  Then they sign off on a certificate that is turned into the TX Windstorm Ins.  Most repairs, remodel, additions, etc have to be inspected and provide a certificate to Tx Windstorm Ins. otherwise you could end up voiding your policy.

You can't just replace windows, doors, (garage doors), etc with what ever you want to, when remodelling.  They have to be Tx Windstorm specficiation, which gets expensive when remodelling 

Chapter 7 Discharged & Closed Jan 2020
Message 9 of 10
SamsungHDTV
Established Contributor

Re: Shop homeowner's insurance?

Thanks everybody for the suggestions.

 

I didn't know about wind mitigation inspections and will check that out. Also will take the basic suggestions which is just shop around. 

Message 10 of 10
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