Buying Your First Home? 3 Factors That Affect Home Insurance Rates

Purchasing your first house can come with many questions regarding its amenities, square footage, and location. While the price of the home can be one of the most significant determining factors of whether you make an offer or not, you'll also want to consider the other costs once you've moved in.

Home insurance is a big expense that you'll need to pay to protect your home, and in some cases, there can be requirements about the extent of coverage from your mortgage lender. If you're just now shopping for a home and want to prepare for the cost of home insurance, consider the following factors that can affect the rates you're shown. 

Crime Rate

Paying attention to crime rates is an important part of shopping for a home, but it can also affect the cost of home insurance. Instead of being surprised by the expense of home insurance due to high crime rates, you'll want to check out the neighborhood and better understand the crime rate before committing to a home. 

Flood Risk

The risk of flooding is an important part of assessing whether a specific home meets your needs or not. You don't want to be surprised shopping for home insurance due to the rates you encounter and extra fees associated with flood risk. Instead of running into this issue, pay close attention to the flood risk of a home you're considering before you make an offer.

Your realtor should be able to collect information about a home's flood risk and what you can expect regarding home insurance rates. Depending on the flood risk, you may even prefer to look in a different neighborhood for homes with lower risk and more affordable home insurance. 

Property Value

As you look into buying a home for the first time, you may have the urge to buy a home at the top of your budget. While more amenities and features could make an expensive home appealing, it's important to recognize that your home insurance will reflect the property value. This means a more expensive home will come with higher insurance rates, resulting in your monthly payments being a lot higher than with a home that's more affordable. 

Getting home insurance is an important part of being a responsible homeowner, but the cost can come as a surprise to you. Instead of being disappointed with how expensive home insurance can be, consider the above factors before you make an offer on a home to purchase. 

Contact a home insurance agent for more information.