Rising Home Insurance Premiums got you Down?

Recently there has been a lot of concern about rising home insurance premiums. Some homeowner’s premiums have increased as much as 30 per cent, even without a claim being made in the previous year. Don’t get stuck with a ridiculous rate. Believe it or not, there are answers to the home insurance blues.

Why are rates on the rise?

Usually when insurance premium rates rise, it’s because a claim has recently been made. But rates have been rising in incidences where no claims have been made at all. Why is this happening?

Insurance companies blame wind and water damage due to climate change for the increases. According to a CBC news article, nationwide insurance payouts in 2009 totaled $5.3 billion, and more than half of those were claims paid out for extreme weather events. Of those, heavy rainfall claims were the most common.

Fire damage used to be the highest cost for insurance companies, said a spokesperson for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, but that all started to change approximately 10 years ago when water damage claims started to rise. With the recent events in Japan, the potentially high cost of climate change and natural disasters must be even more apparent to home insurers.

What can you do?

If you are seriously considering buying a new home, it’s always a good idea to have your insurance agent look over the home inspector’s report. The home that you’re interested in may be located in an area that is susceptible to water damage, or frequent claims may have been made in the past. Either way, these kinds of things can lead to higher rates. It’s always good to know what to expect before making a final decision. Here are a couple of tips to help minimize insurance claim risks:

Water damage costs can be high. To learn more about how water can damage your home and what it could cost your wallet, show your home inspection report to your insurer.

An accident may be just an accident, but you’re still liable. Look into how you can minimize potential hazards on your property. If your pavement is uneven it could potentially cause a nasty fall. Likewise, an unfenced pool can also be dangerous. The more hazards there are, the more your liability protection will cost you.

Install an alarm system. Not only will an alarm system give you and your family added protection, insurance companies often offer discounts on your home insurance premiums for alarm installation.

Home improvements can add to the overall value of your home. Make sure that your insurance policy adequately reflects the increased replacement coverage cost.

Location, location, location. Your home insurer can most likely tell you, based on where you live, whether or not you need additional coverage to make sure that you are adequately protected.

Looking for a new rate?

If you feel that your rate is unjustifiably high, there are some things you can do. Start by calling an insurance broker. Go online and get a quote from a company that deals directly with the public. Use social media utilities, such as Facebook or Twitter, to seek out better deals. Or, use a comparison website to get a quote.

Believe it or not, you are not obligated to stay with your current company and there are no rules to stop you from moving from one company to another. Unlike most phone companies, you cannot be penalized for leaving.

The only downside to frequently switching companies is that you may lose out on the client service that comes with customer loyalty, but sometimes that’s a small price to pay to potentially save hundreds of dollars.

The challenge in comparing costs is that home insurance coverage is not standardized. This doesn’t make for quick and easy comparisons. Here is a guide of a few things to pay attention to:

Liability: Coverage of $1-million is usually enough.

Coverage levels: The best policies cover all risks, except for a few situations. You can purchase separate ‘optional’ coverage for things like earthquakes, sewer back-up and furnace oil spills. Other policies will only cover risks that are specifically named. Be sure to read the fine print because some also include ‘uninsurable perils.’ For example, if you build your house on a flood plain, chances are you will have a flood at some point in the future. The damage caused by this flood is uninsurable.

Replacement costs: Just in case your home were to get leveled, you should always make sure that your policy doesn’t place a limit on the cost of rebuilding it.

Sewer back-up and water damage: Since this is the main reason for rate increases, it’s always a good idea to know just what you’re covered for. Sewer back-up is usually optional and paid for separately.

Insurance companies aren’t doing a heck of a lot to earn your loyalty, so there’s really nothing stopping you from shopping around. Don’t get stuck with a bad rate.

If you are uncertain about anything, an insurance expert is just a phone call away. Take advantage of their knowledge and expertise.

Melanie

Writer for RateSupermarket.ca

City or country living? It's all a matter of what you want

Taken from The Daily Gleaner

With New Brunswick's population almost evenly split between urban and rural dwellers, we posed this question to our Community Triple Take panelists: Which is better, living in the city, or living outside it?

1 OF 2

The Daily Gleaner/James West Photo

A vehicle passes through the Patrick Owens Bridge in Rusagonis Sunday afternoon. Rusagonis is a rural area between Fredericton and Oromocto.

***

Although I've spent time in communities outside cities, sometimes in very rural settings, I've never lived in one.

I've always been a city dweller. When I was younger, it was definitely my preference. Cities were where the action was, I thought. Realistically, it was true. Jobs and everything else were to be found there.

As I've become older, however, I've tired of cities. Part of my love of Fredericton is that it is smaller than other places I've lived. When I moved here, one of my neighbours said of the part of the city we live in that, "It's like living in the city and the country at the same time." I understand what he means by that, but I also know it's not really true.

Smaller communities, particularly when they're "out in the country," have a certain romantic quality, but only if you don't actually live there and never have.

I doubt it feels very romantic when dealing with the reality of power going out or waiting for snow to be cleared from the road.

Since I don't drive, living outside the city would be difficult, despite the benefits and how much I might like to.

By necessity, services are concentrated in cities and a big reason why I prefer Fredericton. Cities are where most people live. Economically and in many other ways, it's difficult to provide services to smaller areas to the same degree as cities. Just today I saw yet another article about trying to attract doctors to rural areas.

That has always been the drawback for me. How easy is it to get to a store (especially when I don't have a car)? With the work I do, how available and reliable is the Internet? The power? Transportation? What will I do about a doctor? Dentist? And so on ...

Most people drive and have vehicles, so many of my concerns would be less worrisome for them. What is more concerning, and should be to everyone, is how the migration of people from rural Canada to urban continues. Services depend on population size to pay for them. Without sufficient numbers of people, the tax base can't sustain them.

What happens to the history behind all of those smaller communities? Who will remember them, much less be able to find them on a map, when everyone leaves to live and work in cities?

I prefer Fredericton - partly for my own practical reasons (no car), partly because the truth is that cities are all I really know, and partly because, being smaller, Fredericton manages to retain something of the feel of smaller communities.

But I always wonder about what I may be missing.

Bill Wren is a writer, editor and social media guy at the Writelife.net blog. He abandoned Alberta for Fredericton just because he could.

***

Let me preface this with a statement: I am not against city living, it's just not for me, or my husband.

We both grew up in big cities. For someone like me who grew up in a really large city, one would think I would love living in the hustle and bustle of urban life. Nothing could be further from my reality.

I have had my full share of downtown, excitement, accessibility and convenience. I just want calm. I am done with car horns at 2 a.m. and roaming carloads of happiness.

I would just love a big old farmhouse on a hill, somewhere quiet and peaceful - something Victorian that had tons of rooms and lots of big windows. Oh, and a huge flower garden!

But my husband's idea of fun is not a farmhouse that needs a fortune in updates, so we have a happy medium in our nice little spot in New Maryland.

Yes, there are perks to living in the city, but I am a person who enjoys the predictable calm of tranquility. I like that once the morning commute is done, that I can depend on very little traffic and a lot of quiet. And the same goes for the evenings.

I would not move back to Vancouver even if I had a third kidney to sell in order to buy a small home an hour or two from anything we`d need. We have great neighbours here and those are hard to find!

Although city life here is entirely different than Toronto or Vancouver, it is still city life. Yes, the long and lovely trail along the river is tempting, but we have trails here too. There are gorgeous Victorian homes along the river for which I could cash in that third kidney, but I don't want to live so close to the congestion.

I like hearing the kids next door playing with our kids, and knowing that at any second they'll be in our yard, having a wonderful time.

I worry less about my kids' safety here, and they are free to roam around on their bikes, armed with my cell phone.

You may be getting the impression that I like peace and quiet. I'm not an old curmudgeon who barks at kids who play outside my window, unless they're my kids and I'm allowed.

It is the concrete and traffic lights, and the feeling of not having enough space to call my own. I am fully aware that many people do not have a choice as to where they live, and that some don't even have a place to live at all.

But given my choice, I choose somewhere that I can hear the hummingbirds hover in the bee balm.

Jennifer Major is a mother of four who lives in New Maryland.

***

The smallest place I ever lived had a population of about 300 and the largest, a population of nearly a million. Both ends of the spectrum have a lot to recommend them.

I spent my early years in rural Prince Edward Island in a village with one road, one church, a seed shop and a lot of cows and potatoes. It was a terrific place to grow up.

Back in the day, my mother shooed me outdoors first thing in the morning, leaving me to entertain myself.

As long as I returned to eat and sleep, no one cared about how I spent the intervening time. I had the great outdoors and my imagination; boredom was never a problem.

As an adult, I appreciate the fresh air, wildlife and solitude that come with country life. The romantic in me misses the starry skies and lazy summer afternoons, filled with the smell of flowers and the sound of fat bumble bees working their way through our gardens.

The crabby old realist in me says that municipal water and sewer services and plowed roads are worth their weight in gold.

Later in life, I came to experience real estate's equivalent of purgatory - the suburbs. They are safe, clean, affordable places to live, but when you drive through these vinyl-clad monocultures, you know you're not on the train to party town.

Other than tending to the house or mowing the lawn, there isn't much to do if you don't have kids. The country wasn't swinging with excitement, but it was serene without being dull. Suburbs are a serviceable middle ground between city and county, but they do lack soul.

After a long stretch on the outskirts, I finally badgered my spouse into trying urban living. We now live within walking distance of the library, galleries, UNB, the market, restaurants and most of our favourite independent shops.

We rarely use the car and have become much more physically active. Because we're out walking or working on the house, we've actually met our neighbours and have started to form some great friendships.

The only clear downside is our proximity to the bar district and our tiny yard.

Downtown Fredericton is big enough to offer many urban amenities without the traffic or crime associated with larger centres. That said, I hope that Fredericton will continue to grow. We can accommodate a lot more variety without losing the flavour of the community.

When it comes to urban versus rural, I'm currently on the side of urban. I won't rule out a future move to the country, but for now, the city suits our lifestyle and I'm happy to be at the heart of it.

Jen Petryshen is originally from P.E.I. but considers Fredericton her adopted home. She is studying at the University of New Brunswick.