If you own a home or plan on buying one soon, homeowners insurance is something you either already have or will be shopping for a very soon. For most homeowners a basic homeowners insurance policy is all you need. A basic policy will cover most potential perils but if you are concerned about certain things like floods or earthquakes additional insurance or riders may be required.

Whether you already have a homeowners insurance policy or you plan on shopping for one soon, you may be interested in some ways you can save money on homeowners insurance. If your search for low cost homeowners insurance is just beginning you will first need to determine how much coverage you need. The amount of coverage you need should be based on what it would cost to rebuild your home and replace your possessions if you were to lose everything due to some type of catastrophe.

Once you know how much coverage you need there are a number of ways to save money and make sure you’re getting the best deal. One easy way to save money is to bundle different types of insurance together with one company. For instance, if you were to have your homeowners insurance, car insurance and health insurance all provided by the same company, you would likely be eligible for discounts on all of those policies. Another good way to get discounts on insurance is to simply ask for them. A quick phone call to your insurance agent may be all it takes to get some discounts on your coverage.

Another money-saving tip would be to raise your deductibles. The deductible is the amount you would be required to pay before your insurance policy starts to pay for a claim. For example, if your deductible is $500 and your backyard fence were to blow down in a storm, the damage may be $1500. In this case, you would pay $500 and your insurance company would pay the remaining $1000 to repair the fence. If you were to raise your deductibles your insurance company may not pay for minor damages like a backyard fence but your monthly premium payments would be substantially less and in the result of a major loss, like a house fire, your insurance company would certainly picked up a huge percentage of the cost to rebuild. Simply raising your deductible from $500 to $1500 will save you several hundred dollars per year in premium payments.

One of the fastest and easiest ways to save money on any type of insurance is to do some comparison shopping. You can spend a few minutes online getting instant quotes from a number of different providers and then it’s simply a matter of comparing how much coverage you get versus how much it will cost you. If you minutes spent comparison-shopping can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.