What is the best home insurance company?

Owning a home comes with a wide variety of responsibilities from getting an ideal interest rate on the loan – for long-term wealth planning – to not getting overcharged on the closing costs which will help in the short-term.

However, while many people think long and hard about the money they borrow – and they should – they usually just go with whatever insurance company is most convenient.

For example, if they get their auto insurance from USAA, All State, or Geico, they will simply call them and get it set up, never knowing if they are using the best company. to service their needs.

In fact, many people do not even realize that there can be a great divide between one company and another, and

the difference can be huge depending on their individual situations.

Lastly on this, only a small fraction of consumers realize that their personal situations can actually be what dictates the variations in price. These can include:

• Credit score and history
• Neighborhood where the home is located
• Whether they have other products with that company

If you have bad credit, statistics show that you are less likely to take good care of other things that belong to you, so many insurance companies will charge you a higher price to curtail the increased risk they incur on covering you and your home.

If your neighborhood is on a known fault line, your home may be harder to insure at a low price, just as if it is located in an area below sea level. Lastly, if you have multiple products with a company, you may be able to get a better rate.

This can include your health, life, dental, and auto coverage, as well as your investments for retirement.

Knowing all of this, what is the very best company out there where you are going to buy insurance for your home? The answer may surprise you.

There is No One Company That is the Best

The big secret is that when it comes to buying insurance for your home, there is no one company that stands above the rest as the best in cost savings, nor is there one that has the very best customer service each year (though some do stand above others).

There are, however, a few ways that you can differentiate between companies as they pertain to your needs, which is what it all comes down to.

For example, you need to know what you value as a consumer. Do you prefer better customer service that includes online payment options and short hold times on the phone? Are you especially interested in companies and people who give back to their community or worthy causes?

Would you be willing to even pay a little more for the same service if you were buying it through someone you know, such as a relative or close friend? Or is it all about savings?

When you have decided what your main motivating factor is when it comes to purchasing insurance for your home, then you can move forward and make the buying decision that best suits you.

Now, while many like to think of insurance in terms of the businesses, such as those named above, insurance, like any business, is composed of people, and these agents and brokers are the ones who really make a difference in whether an insurer is seen as being better than another.

You Need an Agent You Can Trust

Business is almost always personal. When it comes to your home, there are few things that are more personal than it.

This is why while one company can be argued to be better than another, even a business with a mediocre rating in certain areas can shine through for your family’s needs if it has a person who is stellar in terms of customer service, diligence in his or her work, and a conscientiousness to how the markets change and their effect on your own personal situation.

Additionally, if your agent actually shows he or she cares about what is happening in your life, that can be much more valuable than the $25 you save from a company that has outsourced its call centers.

For example, it would not give you very much confidence if after you moved and had a housewarming party (your insurance agent was present), you then received a call from him that the company sent a notification that you had a new address.

This should have been something he updated without your help or knowledge, and should not have come as a surprise to him at all.

The truth is that once he received the invitation and attended the event, he should have updated the information so that it reflected everything accurately, and that phone call you received about whether or not you moved should have been replaced with a call about opening a Roth IRA or putting a rider on another policy.

Or even a general call to see if everything is going alright and if you are happy with the current level of service being provided.

Sometimes you can find that while one company is great for certain types of coverage, they do not have the best rates when it comes to your home insurance.

For situations like these, you should consider using an insurance broker instead of an insurance agent.

A Broker Versus an Agent

There are two types of people who sell insurance. The most commonly known one is a captive agent, and the other is a broker.

Captive Agent: a captive agent is a person who is tied to one brand of insurance. When you ask her for a price on your new home’s coverage, she is only going to get you the price for her company because that is her responsibility as an employee (or self-employed person) of that brand.

For example, if she works for Primerica, then she is not going to sell you a Farmers policy, even if it was better. She is only going to use the ones within her domain, which may best serve you, but may not. She will be limited to what is available, but not for any reason other than that she cannot sell those other brands.

Broker: if that same agent moved from a company to a brokerage, and you asked her to quote you a price, she could access a database of multiple companies. From there she would be able to provide you with a variety of prices for the same coverage, allowing you to choose which you want the most.

Typically, she will likely recommend the one that is the most affordable unless she knows something important is missing in the policy, or that you have a dislike for a particular company because of past dealings with them.

Knowing this, some people will only use a broker, but not all brokers are the same, and you may find that there really is one company that you find to be the very best above all of its competitors, allowing you to confidently use that one brand, which may seem impossible, but may not be.

Is it Possible to Have a Best Company?

The odds are that the business that is the best is likely to change over time. Companies change, employees change, and you are going to change over the years. Having said this, can one company truly be the best?

Yes, if they service some kind of need you have, such as giving a life rider that you couldn’t get elsewhere because of your health. Or if they give special treatment to veterans.

In the end, the main points to take away here are that there is not typically one company that will be the absolute best year-in and year-out, but if you have an agent or broker who is a truly great service provider, then you can arguably have the best coverage.

Your coverage will vary from other people’s based on your personal situation(s), which can include credit rating, where you live, and if you are also using their services for other kinds of coverage.

Lastly, knowing the difference between a captive agent and a broker can make the difference between how you prefer to receive quotes.

If the captive agent gives you the same price for his or her brand as a broker, than that is a great sign that you can really trust that person.

If the broker quotes you a much lower price that then rises sharply the following year, you may need another quote.

The point is that you have options, and that can be so much better than using what some people may consider to be the best insurance company for your home.

Use the FREE quote tool located below to start comparing policies instantly!