How To Get Affordable Homeowner's Insurance In New Jersey

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 29th, 2010

If you currently have a monthly mortgage payment on your home then your lender almost certainly requires that you carry homeowner's insurance. But even if you have paid off your home and are no longer required to pay for homeowner's insurance you have probably chosen to continue to do so anyway.

The reason is obvious. For more than 95% of homeowners their home is their biggest investment and their most prized and valuable asset - who wouldn't want insurance to protect something like that?

Even so, there's no benefit to you to pay even one penny more for your homeowner's insurance each month than you need to. And fortunately you don't need to!

Do you know what the biggest claim is - by far - against homeowner's insurance? Most people think the answer is fire, but it's actually just the opposite. The largest single category of claim made against homeowner's insurance policies is for water damage due to a broken water pipe or a busted connector to a dishwasher or the ice maker in a refrigerator.

If your home is 10 years old or older call your agent and see how much you could save every month if you made a one-time investment in upgrading your electrical and plumbing systems. You may be surprised, and it may even be possible for you to do some or all of the work yourself, saving you even more.

Repair or replace all cracked or buckled cement walkways on your property. Repair or replace all loose floorboards or handrails on decks and porches. Fill in all potholes on the property and cut back all weeds and brush at least ten feet from every building - and then make a point of telling your homeowner's agent that you have done all of this and find out what your savings is.

Put motion-sensitive floodlights around your property and trim all bushes away from windows to discourage burglars. Make sure every exterior door has a working deadbolt and that every window - even windows on upper floors - has a working lock.

Installing a home protection service that monitors your home 24/7 for burglary and fire could save you as much as 30% on your monthly homeowner premiums. However, before you sign up for any system talk to your agent first as not all systems will provide the same premium deduction.

Is anyone living in your house who is 55 or older and retired? If so you may be pleasantly surprised at how much of a deduction you can get every month simply for having someone in the house most of the time.

Have you had your policy with the same insurance company for 5 years or more? If so make sure you're getting your Long-Term-Policy-Discount.

If you combine all of your different insurance policies with the same insurance company you will also get a Multi-Policy Discount.

Paying your homeowner's insurance premium on a yearly basis rather than paying each month also saves you money.

Make sure that you have installed all of the smoke and fire detectors that are required for your size and configuration of house and that they all have fresh batteries twice each year. Also buy a fire extinguisher for your kitchen that is specifically rated for kitchen fires.

Make sure your homeowner's insurance agent is aware of each and every upgrade or repair that you have made to your home -and then ask your agent if there is anything further that you could do to reduce your monthly premium even further.

O.K. Now you know all the tricks and tips for lowering your homeowner's insurance payment each month, so now it's time for you get online and compare the cost of your new lower-priced policy from every insurance company selling homeowner's insurance in the state of New Jersey.

Just make sure that you make your comparisons on at least 3 different websites that are dedicated to making homeowner insurance price comparisons because no one website compares all of the companies in New Jersey. However, if you make comparisons on at least 3 different sites you have greatly increased your chances of finding the very best price possible - and that means you will be able to sleep easy tonight knowing that you really and truly have found the most affordable homeowner's insurance in New Jersey.