Getting a Homeowners Insurance Quote in Florida
Having a home in Florida is great. The weather is nice throughout the year, taxes are low, and home prices are reasonable. When it comes to the expenses of living in the Sunshine State, many people save on the big things, but sometimes forget the smaller savings.
These can add up, and by taking advantage of them, you can have thousands of more dollars throughout the years.
The area we are specifically going to address here is the cost of homeowners insurance. There are many great ways to save on this expense that are simply forgotten or unknown.
By taking advantage of them, you may find that you've got more money to do more with, be it through through the year to spend on yourself and your family, or just to invest for the future, which we will discuss later.
The first step to getting great savings is to know where to go to get the prices. Be sure to always compare quotes using the FREE search tool above now!
How to Get FL Homeowners Quote
Getting quotes for your home policy is a 3 step process.
- Go online for a lot of quotes
- Check to see if you are comparing the same plans
- Call an agent for discounts
By going on the web you can forgo the pressure you might feel from someone trying to close the sale. After all, once you call, the agent on the other line is going to want to start the process of getting your policy going. For many people this will make them feel obligated to follow through.
After all, many people do not negotiate purchases and most people don't go shopping around for their homeowners policy. However, you should.
Once you have found the best policies, review any outliers. For example, if your average policy is $1,200 per year, but one is $700 and another is $2,000, it may be because you entered something incorrectly. For example, you could have put in the wrong zip code or accidentally put in a home value of $300,000 instead of $200,000.
This is crucial because you do not want to think you are going to get a great discount somewhere only to find that they either lied to you, or you put in the wrong number of square footage. Once you have done this, it is time to call a couple of agents to see what kind of discounts you can get.
Think of your local insurance agent the same way you might think of a military recruiter. He has to make his numbers each month and there are certain tools as his disposal to get there. While some agents just offer the discounts or promo rates, others will not.
Knowing that you have the power of whether or not you let this sale go through, you should feel free to ask for anything you can think of within reason, such as a 10% discount, or coverage for the month of December, but no payment required for that portion of the year.
Will you get it? There is only one way to find out.
For more info on discounts, just click here.
The Value of Getting Quotes
There are times when too much data is a bad thing, but the amount of data you are looking for here is simply prices, so having more can be just fine. When you have 5 quotes and the median price is $1,200, that's good to know, but when you have 10 quotes and the median price is still $1,200, then that is better. You can know that having a premium of that amount is fair, but lower than that is better.
This is especially important when getting your policy through a friend or relative. Too many times people wonder if the person they love is taking advantage of them.
At times, it is the case, but most times it is not. By having this information, then you can rest assured that the person you are trusting to help you is not helping themselves at the expense of your purse.
Some wonder whether or not they should get a policy through an agent at all.
Should you get insurance online or through an agent?
Before getting into this, if you feel that you are being defrauded in any way, you can reach out to the NAIC fraud task force. They are a regulatory committee that is committed to making sure insurance agents do not take advantage of people's trust.
On using an agent: you have to do what you are most comfortable with, but you should establish a relationship with someone who is local to you if you can. The reason for this is because those local agents will care about what is happening to the people in their communities.
For example, when a hurricane blows through town - and a hurricane will, statistically speaking - before the decade is out, your agent is going to want to make sure you are taken care of. Not only because it helps his or her business, but because she does not want her community to be in shambles.
Just as you are want your neighbors to have homes that look good and are not causing undue stress in their lives, your local agent will feel the same. There will be a sense of pride in the work being done, and this not only applies to the appearance of the home, but the wealth one builds in his or her home.
For those who have their home paid off this money can go into an investment account. If $141 was invested every month with an annual return of 8%, then the investment would be worth $133,000 after 25
The key to remember is that it all starts with getting a large group of quotes. From there you may or may not want to find a local agent.
Be sure to compare rates using the FREE tool below!