Mar 11th 2010 How To Find Affordable Homeowner’s Insurance In Oregon

The cost of homeowner’s insurance in Oregon is on the rise. There are many reasons for this – increases in the cost of home and content replacement, an increase in burglaries, plus several other factors.

Some of the factors which influence the cost of homeowner’s insurance are beyond your control – others, however, are not, and the more you can do to make your home safe and secure and lower your cost of homeowner’s insurance should be.

Start by making sure that you have the proper number of smoke and fire detectors in your home. Not only are smoke and fire detectors required by law, having the proper number of them in your home can decrease the cost of your homeowner’s insurance. Along the same lines, something as simple as having a working fire extinguisher in your home can also reduce your homeowner’s insurance premium each month.

Not smoking can also reduce your homeowner’s insurance cost.

Keep bushes trimmed away from doors and windows. This makes your home less attractive for burglars and that can also keep your premiums down. Motion-sensitive lights can also reduce your insurance costs.

Even such things as keeping a good credit rating can affect the price you pay for your homeowner’s insurance.

Review the deductible you currently have. If you can afford a larger deductible that will also make your homeowner’s insurance more affordable.

One thing you do not want to skimp on is the replacement cost of your home. This cost should be reviewed every year or two and adjusted to reflect the true cost of actually replacing your home should it be destroyed by fire or some other catastrophe.

The last recommendation is to compare prices. Several website exist which allow for the fast and simple comparison of policy prices among several different insurance carriers in Oregon. Taking the time and making the effort to compare policies and prices can pay off big time for years to come.

Sites that I recommend

www.ezquoteguide.com/home/ Cheap Home Insurance Quotes

myquoteguide.com/Home-Quote.shtml Quick Homeowner’s Quotes

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Mar 10th 2010 Learning About Insurance- Part 2

At the end of Part 1 I said I would discuss some good deals you can get in insurance and this is what I intend to do in this section. No bargains can be found in the “must have” type policies, like auto and home insurance. But there are some policies I highly recommend.

The first type of policy I recommend is an umbrella policy. This is a policy that covers you for personal liability. Depending on your insurance company you can get a $1,000,000 umbrella policy for as little as $200-$300 depending on what you are covering. This is usually for 2 cars and one home. Once you add more cars and additional houses the premium goes up. Hopefully you never need to use this type of policy but in this country, where people file law suits for spilling hot coffee on themselves, you need to protect your assets. If you do get sued wouldn’t it be nice to know you have a million or more in coverage for a couple hundred dollars a year?

In some cases an umbrella policy can save you some money. How? Some people understand the importance of having the proper amount of coverage. Instead of having an umbrella policy they add more liability coverage on their auto policies and home policies. For example, you can get an umbrella policy if you have $100K in liability coverage on your auto and home policies. Some people carry $250K in coverage on their auto. The cost of increasing from $100K to $250K is usually as much, if not more, than having the umbrella policy. So, these people carry only $250K in liability coverage for the same price, or more, than someone with an umbrella policy and $1.25 million in coverage.

The next kind of policy I recommend to those who don’t have it through work is a short-term disability policy. This covers you if you are out of work for any length of time and can’t make any money. Anyone looking to start a family should have this because while the new mom is home with the baby she can get paid while on maternity leave. This type of policy is becoming more and more popular as employers are looking to cut costs by reducing benefits.

My wife had a short-term disability policy because the school system she works for does not offer STD benefits. We pay roughly $75 month for the policy that will pay her just under $3000 for a month out of work. As long as you can get a doctor’s note saying you should miss work you can receive a predetermined amount of money for up to six months. After six months you will need a long-term disability policy. Let me tell you, this money came in handy when our daughter was born.

Most people will say they don’t need this type of policy but I think it is a bargain. We have actually made money on this policy because we have had it 3 years and it has cost us $900 per year. We have made one claim, when my daughter was born, and we got $3000. Unless you commit fraud you cannot make money on an auto or home policy.

I think I have shown you two bargains as far as insurance goes. Anyone with something worth taking should have an umbrella policy. Anyone that is not offered STD benefits through their employer should have this type of policy. In part three of this series I will discuss homeowner insurance in more detail, don’t miss it.

Scott Bianchi operates best-internet-bargains.com best-internet-bargains.com . He writes on a variety of topics. If you would like to be added to his distribution list for his new articles when they are published just send an email to mailto:articles@bestinternetbargains.com articles@bestinternetbargains.com .

No Comments » Posted by Matt Cubb /