What Information Do You Need to Get a Homeowners Insurance Quote?
Posted on Apr 01, 2019
Getting a homeowners insurance quote is usually pretty straightforward. There are, however, a few key details you’ll need to have on hand to get the right quote. Whether you’re purchasing your first home insurance policy or you’re just exploring your options, this is the information you likely need to get a quote.
Information about the Home
The home itself will provide many of the details your insurance company will need to give an accurate quote. It isn’t the whole story, but details like these listed below are vital to ensure you have adequate insurance protection for your home.
- Home’s square footage.
- Construction details. This includes the age of your home, age of your roof, most recent electrical upgrades, type of structure, and any claims that have been made within the past five years.
- How long the home has been insured and who the insurance provider was (if known). Obviously, you may not be privy to this information when insuring a newly purchased home.
- Modernization, security, and safety upgrades to the home. This includes things like fire suppression systems, alarm systems (and what those alarm systems cover), deadbolts on doors, smoke and fire alarms, and even the presence of Wi-Fi enabled systems for the home like Smart doorbells, security, etc.
- Detached structures on the property that need to be covered.
- The presence of other risk factors such as fireplaces, swimming pools, trampolines, treehouses, etc.
- Luxury upgrades to the structure of the home that may add value to the home and costs to repairs.
- Distance to the nearest fire station.
These things, coupled with the location of the home itself, help to provide details to the insurance company about the risks associated with the home and the probable costs of a covered loss. They will use this information to assess their risks and determine potential premiums.
Information about the People Living in the Home
In order to be thorough, the insurance company will need some information about the homeowners as well. This information is used to help identify the risks they are undertaking by insuring you and the costs of a claim. Some of the information you may be required to provide includes:
- Do you have any dogs? How many? What are their breeds?
- Will young children be living in the home?
- Are you married?
- How many people expect to live in the home full time?
- Will you operate a business from your home or have a home office?
- Do you plan to make renovations, updates, or repairs to the home? If so, what kind? This might be important in helping to reduce your insurance expenses in subsequent years as some renovations make your home less risky for insurance providers.
Some insurance companies will want specific details about your age, employment status, employment history, and your personal history of insurance claims as well. The key is to answer questions as completely as possible and with absolute honesty. Then there can be no misunderstandings between you and the insurance company and you get quotes that accurately assess your coverage needs.
Let Otterstedt Insurance Agency help you with your homeowners insurance.
We work with a number of insurance carriers and will shop around for you to get the best possible quote and coverage.
