First Time Home Owner Question?

Question

Do you pay monthly for House Insurance or is it yearly? Also, how can you get a ballpark figure for houses online? We plan to build a house in a year and would like to know about how much home insurance would cost us. We are going to build a house over 1,500 miles away from where we currently live so we don't know anything about the costs at the moment. Are there any online calculators that can give us an idea? It doesn't have to be exact. How many square feet do your homes have and how much are you paying? That will help give me a better idea of how much I will be spending. I know everyone’s house is different depending on how close it is to water, etc. But we just want a ballpark. Nothing exact. Thanks for all of the help!

Answer 1

If you have a mortgage on the property, the mortgage company will make you have the payments tacked on to your loan payment. The amount of your payment will go into an escrow account for when the bill comes due. They do this for property taxes as well. You shop around for your own insurance. You will need to tell the insurance companies the costs of the house, the amount owed, as well as a bunch more stuff. Each company will probably have a question that the others don't. If you are going to be living in a flood plane, earthquake, or hurricane area, you insurance will be much higher than if you lived elsewhere. Living in an area where there is a high crime rate will also raise your rates. In general, the larger insurance companies will be able to not only give you a better rate, but they will be there when you need them without a ton of hassles.

Answer 2

We pay our house and contents insurance yearly and if you can afford to I would advise you to do the same.  The option to pay monthly is a good one if you cannot afford a lump sum but the downside is that in most instances you will have to pay interest for this, meaning that any reductions or preferential annual rates you have found will be lost over the 12 months.  

Here's an example to illustrate the point;

                  12 months house n contents insurance = £500

                  one-off payment  =  Ã‚£500

                  12 monthy payments @ £50 = £600 over the year.

As for the rest of your question re potential actual costs etc, I would advise you to contact several reputable insurance companies, explain your situation, and ask for their help.  After all, they will want your business, so it is very much in their interests, as well as yours, to give you as much help and guidance as they can.