Why Location Influences Home Insurance Rates
Your home’s condition and its construction are pieces that determine how much you pay for home insurance. But many don’t realize that the location of your home also plays a part of insurance rates as well. Higher risk homes lead to higher insurance rates.
Every insurance company is different with their factors that influence their rates. Some insurance companies may prefer new construction homes and others may choose not to insure homes that use different materials like using wood for a log cabin. When an insurer takes those factors into consideration, they are looking at how much risk level your home has which directly correlates with your home insurance rate. So you may be wondering how location plays into this? Homeowners insurance is based on the risk of damage to your home if tragedy strikes as well as the total cost to rebuild your home after the tragedy. It’s important to understand why the location influences home insurance rates and here are a few reasons why.
Factors that impact the cost to rebuild include the construction materials and the ways it’s constructed. A historic home is far more costly to rebuild than a newer build because new homes aren’t built the same way and brick is more costly than wood is. On top of this, each state has regulations that influence the rates. In certain states materials are plentiful and the cost to build is affordable. Just because replacement costs are lower doesn’t automatically mean affordable home insurance rates, there are other factors to be considered, like weather conditions.
In the Midwest, the weather conditions could be wind, rain, hail, tornadoes, and extreme temperature differences based on the seasons. Weather patterns such as those make a huge difference in homeowners insurance rates. A house built in an area that is prone to flooding, this can increase your insurance needs. A house built in the gulf or a home that is in a location that deals with wildfires or mudslides can be very expensive to insure because of wind, fire, and hurricane risk. Whereas a home in Arizona can have incredibly affordable homeowners’ insurance because of the desert environment.
Your homeowner’s insurance has many factors that determine its rates and location is a big part of that. Your rates can vary based on city, state, street, and neighborhood. Start by understanding these factors and how you can control them to reduce your home’s risk and secure a policy that makes sense for you. Visit Foy Agency today or call 315-493-2391 for more information.