How to Lower Home Insurance Premiums

Video Transcript

"I'm Romie Brown. On behalf of Expert Village, I'm here to discuss with you tips and tidbits on how to buy homeowner's insurance. In this clip, we're going to talk about my favorite part - payment of premium. As you're going through picking the right insurance agent, the right company, you went through all the coverage?s; make sure you're properly covered. Now it comes time for payment. Most insurance companies are very, very flexible when it comes to payment. Although, most financiers - a lot of banks, mortgage companies - are not. So it's all dependent upon who you finance through. If you're going through a mortgage company or bank that had it escrowed in, they require one year up front. You pay the entire year's premium. We, in turn, give you a debt paid receipt. And then that form goes to the bank to prove you have insurance coverage. And from the time you make your first payment, they take one twelfth of that payment, and they will, in turn, make the yearly payment on the insurance. So you write a check one time. At that point in time, your mortgage company will pay your insurance yearly premium for years to come. Now, there are options if you don't have set restrictions, you can try monthly, semi-annually, or quarterly. I'll advise that at the time that you?re buying, to do it annually if you could. Because again, with monthly bills coming and everything else, it's very, very tough to keep on track of my homeowner's insurance. And that's the one thing that you don't want to lapse. Because in this business, when coverage lapses, that's when losses occur. It always happens when, "I forgot to pay my premium!" And the insurance company is there, and there willing to work with you. But, if there's no payment in, they cannot cover the home. So, it's important to make sure that you ask your agent, how much would I need? And he will in turn/she will in turn talk to your financier to find out exactly how much is needed. So that way you're not blind-sided when you meet with that agent. Because it's very hard to come up with five, six, seven hundred dollars at one time when you were expecting to pay fifty or sixty dollars. So it's important to talk to the agent before you meet with him or her in your office."