HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

Few homeowners are foolhardy enough to purchase a piece of real estate and not have it protected by insurance. Most are required to have homeowners insurance coverage as a condition for their mortgage. The rest understand how risky it is to leave themselves vulnerable to financial ruin should some tragedy damage or destroy their home. Decades worth of income could literally go up in an instant, transformed into ash.

If this sounds like something you want to avoid, you're in the company of millions of others who seek out financial protection for their home in the form of homeowners insurance. However, while millions of people have homeowners insurance, few pay identical premiums. A handful of factors can have a dramatic effect on the rates you'll pay for your policy. To help you anticipate this expense before you decide to buy a home and to take steps to reduce your costs after you buy it, here are the most influential factors that affect homeowners insurance rates:

-Home Value and Policy Type

-Home Structure and Age

-Location

-Safety Features

-Claims History

-Credit History

-Dog Bites

-Home Business