How Is Homeowners Insurance Calculated?

Insurance involves the pooling of funds from many customers to pay for the losses that some customers may incur. The premium that is determined is based on the likelihood of how frequently events may happen.

Factors Considered in Determining Your Home Insurance Premium

Some of the factors that are considered when calculating your premium:

• Where you live – Some locations have a higher risk of crime, burglary, sewer back-up and weather related events, resulting in a higher premium.
• How close you are to fire-fighting support – Urban areas are closer to fire-fighting support, generally resulting in a lower premium.
• How much protection you require – If you need or want more insurance protection for your home and property, then your premium will be higher than someone who needs or wants less protection.
• The age of your home and the home’s condition – Property rates are generally lower for newer homes because the plumbing, wiring and roofs generally have fewer problems, which means fewer claims.
• If you live or work in the home – Empty or unoccupied properties are more prone to vandalism and theft. Also, running a business or having tenants results in a higher premium due to additional items in the home.
• How many claims you have made – The greater number of years claim free, the greater the reduction in your premiums.
• How long you have lived at your current address – Statistics show that customers who have lived in the same residence for longer periods of time make fewer claims. This can contribute to a lower premium.
• Maturity – As you age, your premium amount will typically decrease.
• Loss prevention – Investing in devices to protect against burglary, fire and water damage can lower your insurance costs either directly via a discount or by preventing and minimizing losses, which results in fewer claims.
• If you own your home outright – If you own your home completely without any mortgages, you’ll have more money to maintain your home, resulting in fewer claims. This can be a factor resulting in a lower premium.
• How your home is heated – Homes that use oil as their primary heat source and wood for secondary heat source tend to have more fire claims and will therefore increase your insurance premium.
• If your home is built for or used by multiple families – If your home has more than one self-contained living unit, or you share your property with unrelated individuals, it may be considered a multi-family dwelling. In these instances, there are more items that need to be covered by insurance and more opportunities for larger claims.

Ways to Reduce Your Insurance Premium

Many factors act together to determine the premium you pay. Below are actions you can take to better protect you and your home, and reduce your premium.

Evaluate your coverage needs each year

Your homeowner’s insurance coverage should accurately reflect your home’s current value and condition, as well as any major improvements or purchases.

Implement fire, theft and water damage preventative measures

These include but are not limited to: installing alarm systems, water sensors, main line backwater valves, alarmed sump pumps, and tankless water heaters, as well as performing regular maintenance to your electrical, plumbing, heating systems and roof.

Ask about discounts you may be eligible for

Talk to your broker to find out if you qualify for any additional discounts such as those for being mortgage or claims free.

Bundle

Consider buying homeowners and automobile insurance coverage from the same company.

Don’t switch insurance companies before the end of your policy term

If you wait until your policy is renewing, you may avoid a cancellation penalty.

Use your good credit

Where permitted, allowing your broker to soft check your credit can result in preferred pricing.

Determine how much coverage is enough

Work with your broker to determine exactly what level of coverage you need for coverage options that might have some flexibility such as how much you are covered for sewer back-up coverage.

Pay your premium annually

This will allow you to avoid any service fees or interest charges.

Factors That Determine the Value of Your Home

It may seem that your broker or agent is bombarding you with a long list of question about your home for no reason, but each of the following specs affects the cost to rebuild your home:

Home Type

Detached structure, mobile home, or townhouse?

Year the house was built

The age of the home will determine if certain upgrades will need to be made during the rebuild—your house may have aluminum siding now, but that isn’t up to code today.

Square Footage

The larger the house, the more expensive it is to rebuild.

Finished or Unfinished Basement

If your basement is finished, the rebuild cost factors in the labor and material to carpet and drywall the basement again

Attached or Detached Garage

Attached garages are calculated as a part of the rebuild cost of the house, but detached structures are valued separately as a percentage of the primary structure’s rebuild cost.

Number of Stories

A simple bungalow with an unfinished basement is less complicated and less expensive to rebuild than, for example, a tri-level split over an attached garage.

Read: Breaking Down Your Homeowner’s Insurance Policy, From Coverage A to Coverage E

Number of Bathrooms

How many half or full bathrooms are in your home? Any bathrooms in the basement?

Roof Type

A metal roof with a life-proof warranty may be more difficult and costly to replace than a regular shingled roof.

Exterior Wall Type

If your home is the log cabin of your dreams, the cost to ship in the lumber will be higher compared to contemporary vinyl siding.

The Shape of the House

Square and rectangle-shaped houses are most common and the least expensive to rebuild. L-shaped or other irregular shapes are more costly to build. Often, contemporary homes have custom cutouts and window boxes that may affect the cost to rebuild.

Detached Structures

For example, garages, sheds, gazebos, and greenhouses. These are calculated as a separate value than the primary dwelling rebuild cost, but it’s important to mention them as you would likely want them replaced in the event of a loss.

Postal Code Region

Where you live determines the classification of the area. Remote, rural, city and coastal resort towns all have different costs determined by how easy or difficult it is to find and transport materials to rebuild the house.

For example, if you lived in a very remote area that was only accessible in the summer and did not have any construction companies in the area, the cost to rebuild would be affected by having to ship the material and get the workers out to your property to rebuild the house.

If you are unsure of this information, your real estate agent should have some insight. You can also have the home inspected—this process should also verify the plumbing, electrical, and heating information that your broker or agent may also ask you.

Replacement Cost Versus Real Estate Valuation

Unlike a real estate valuation, replacement cost does not consider the price of the land. In this case, an algorithm measures the cost of materials and labor it will take to rebuild the home to the specs at the moment before a loss occurs. This value of the primary structure is then used to determine how much a company will cover for detached structures, contents, and additional living expenses.

How does the Replacement Cost affect your insurance premiums?

All of this information is put into a cost evaluation system that determines the rebuild or replacement cost. The evaluator algorithm that each company uses varies, so if you are shopping around, note what the agent reports as the cost to rebuild the house.

The higher the cost to rebuild the house, the more the insurance premium will be.

However, you never want to lie about the specs of your home just to save a few dollars on your yearly insurance premiums. In the case of a total loss, you need the value of the house to be high enough to cover the mortgage—you wouldn’t want to get stuck in a situation where you’re stuck paying out your mortgage on a home you just lost.

Read: How Insurance Companies Calculate Your Home Insurance Premiums

You also want to make sure that your house is rebuilt to the same quality that it was before the loss. If you love your double-car garage and sweet finished basement now, so you’ll want it back after a loss as well.

Most companies offer guaranteed replacement cost on the home. That means they do not take depreciation of the home into account when determining how much they will pay out in the event of a claim. The qualification for replacement cost varies from company to company and is usually determined by the type and age of the home.

If you feel that the replacement cost is not accurate after your broker or agent has collected this information, you can also get a home evaluation done by an independent third party. The value that this third-party evaluator comes up with can be presented to the insurance company to make sure you’re fully compensated in the event of a claim.

Insurance is about protecting what is most important to you, so it’s important to know these specs and have them on hand when you’re talking to your broker or agent. Buying property is one of the most expensive purchases of your life, so insuring it at the proper value means protecting your financial future.

How Premium Dollars Are Used

When insurance companies collect premiums, that money is used to pay for claims, government taxes, and to cover costs related to operating a business. Insurance companies also set aside a large amount of this money, called a reserve, in order to respond quickly should a catastrophe occur, which would result in a large number of claims in a short period of time.

The remaining money that is not needed on a daily basis is invested by insurers. Investing the money is necessary because it allows insurance companies to offset the large costs of claims by making a return, and the insurance industry has always generated positive investment returns.

Premiums and Deductibles

Most insurance policies have a deductible; deductibles are the portion you agree to pay when you need to make a claim. It is then deducted from the amount of your claim that your insurance company pays. Therefore, it is your part of the cost of a claim.

You can reduce the amount of your premium by increasing your deductible amount. But it is essential to weigh your options carefully when choosing a deductible amount. Talk to your insurance broker about the deductible level that is right for you.