Q. We are about to settle on our first home, and we don’t know the first thing about buying homeowners insurance. How do we get started?
A. Congratulations! Before you start getting price quotes, you’ll need to decide how much coverage to buy. A home’s insurance value is based on the cost to rebuild the house, not its market value. To get an estimate of the cost of rebuilding, go to AccuCoverage.com, which asks a lot of questions about the size of the house, building materials and details, then uses the same building-cost database that insurers use. An agent or insurer will also help you come up with an estimate.
You generally get a discount on your auto and home insurance if you have both policies with the same company, so start your search with your auto insurer. If you use an auto-insurance agent, find out whether he or she works for one company or is independent and can give you price quotes from several insurers. (Or to find an independent agent in your area, go to the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, www.iiaba.net.) You may also want to contact a few big insurers, such as State Farm, that do not sell through independent agents.
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