Homeowner's Insurance Questions (escrow, claim, loan, lender)

[mannyp02]

Anyone have any advice on homeowner's insurance? I am a first time home buyer and am getting a USDA loan so my insurance will be escrowed but I wasn't sure how to go about picking a company. Should I go with the company that I have auto insurance with? Should I just shop around for the best rate? What are the differences in coverage between companies? Any information would be helpful!

[BagongBuhay]

Originally Posted by mannyp02

Anyone have any advice on homeowner's insurance? I am a first time home buyer and am getting a USDA loan so my insurance will be escrowed but I wasn't sure how to go about picking a company. Should I go with the company that I have auto insurance with? Should I just shop around for the best rate? What are the differences in coverage between companies? Any information would be helpful!

You should research the ability of the company to pay claims. Google complaints against your choices and see what their customers have to say about them. Go to their websites and assess their liquidity. Additionally, speak to your lender and ask them their experience with carriers of HO...some are better than others when it comes to administration.

[SVTLightning]

We got our HO Insurance through the same company our car insurance was with, we got a discount for having both. if you find HO insurance much cheaper with another company, then at least ask them if you bring your car insurance to them also will you get a better deal.

[Kamsack]

I too would be sure to have the same insurance co. for home and auto. If you like your auto insurance co. check them out for homeowners and then compare to another company. We receive a decent discount for having both home and auto through one.

When getting homeowners insurance be sure to get replacement costs coverage....i.e. you want your homeowners coverage amount to be what it would cost to replace the house not just the cost of the things inside.

Dan

[mannyp02]

I assumed it would be best to get both insurances with the same company but wanted to verify with everyone. My lender also said that my auto insurer was a good company to work with but I'm still going to check it's rates against a few others. I have no complaints with my auto insurance so for simplicity's sake I hope I can just keep it there.