6 Home Insurance Tips for First-Time Buyers

This is a featured post written by Climb Online

Buying a home for the first time can be very exciting and feel like a real milestone; however, you mustn’t lose sight of the need to get your new residence insured.

Without taking that step, having the home repaired after an unexpected disaster could take a dauntingly large slice out of your financial pie. Were you aware that the average household yearly shells out £181 for residential repairs? Here is advice for cushioning yourself against this kind of cost.

Prioritise taking out buildings insurance

This might be the most crucial type of insurance to take out, as most mortgage lenders refuse to exchange contracts with families that lack it. Buildings insurance is intended to pay for reconstruction or repair of a home that has incurred damage - such as to fixtures, fittings, and bricks and mortar.

Furthermore, buildings insurance is not as expensive as you may initially expect, as - contrary to popular belief - you might be able to pay much less than the property’s market value.

Make sure that contents are covered, too

It’s vital to keep in mind that the coverage of buildings insurance doesn’t extend to the home’s contents. For that reason, you will need to also draw upon what is called contents insurance. This can be sourced as a separate policy to your buildings insurance or as part of a combined policy for buildings and contents insurance.

The contents that the policy can cover include items - like clothes, furniture, and electrical appliances - that you would remove if you were going to move house.

Accurately calculate the value of your contents

To make sure that your contents insurance really will cover all of your contents, you should meticulously calculate their value for an accurate total. In listing the various figures to be added up, you should consider how costly it would be to replace those items today, as recommended on the What Mortgage site.

With each contents policy you consider, you should also check whether it includes a single item value limit. This is usually roughly £1,500; hence, if you want coverage for an item more valuable than this, you should ask your insurer about the options open to you.

Resist choosing too large an excess

On buildings or contents insurance, an “excess” is the minimum amount that you would pay on each occasion that you issue a claim. So, if that claim was for £400, the most of this that would actually be paid is £350 if the excess on the policy was £50.

Many policies have a compulsory excess but also let you select an additional, voluntary excess. Choosing a high one typically reduces the premiums; however, should you need to claim, there’s a possibility that paying for the excess would be beyond you.

Increase your home’s safety and security

Basically, the more safe and secure that residence is, the lower your home insurance premiums can be. Choosing to live in a safe area in the first place would be beneficial here; Mirror reports 30% of first-time buyers seeing a rise in their premiums due to moving to a more crime-ridden area.

However, wherever you live, you might be able to trim premiums by having a professionally maintained burglar alarm fitted and approved locks installed on all of the doors and windows.

Be choosy about which policy you go for

By not rushing into picking up a policy, you could save money to put towards energy bills or new furniture instead. Call Wiser can do the comparing on your behalf through working with more than 30 major insurers before offering you a free quotation.

Capital at risk