10 Home Features That Will Raise Your Insurance Premiums

September is almost here. You might want to start your house hunting soon again. Insurance is an important factor and step of house purchasing plans. Homeowner insurance premiums are not always cheap, but if you are buying a new or old home you will need to protect yourself and your investment from big surprises. In this post, I will list out top 10 home features that will raise your insurance premiums.

Swimming pools and hot tubs can raise your rates, due to their potential for people drowning in them, although adding some type of fence to enter the pool does lower the liability
Wood shake, cedar shingles are “no no” for insurance companies, some insurance companies even would refuse to renew existing homeowner insurance policies for roofs older than 20 years without passing an inspection; wood shake roofs have a higher vulnerability to weather hazards and fire.
Expensive items: This one is simple, if you own expensive items; painting, jewellery, art, musical instruments, wine collections, the insurance would go up.
Aluminum wiring was used in houses up to 1970, they have potential to overheat and cause fires, all insurance companies will require you to have an inspection and a highly strong recommendation of replacement.
Knob and tube are very old wiring they are not well-suited to today’s high energy consumption products, and a significant number of insurance companies consider knob and tube wiring a higher risk or unsafe.
Wood stoves are a source of fire and smoke damage. Even with modern wood-burning stoves, they are prone to crackle, sparking and spitting causing fire hazards.
Oil based heating system, tend to have a higher risk of leaks with oil tanks and potential for damage to your property as well as the potential for environmental hazards. Most insurance companies prefer forced-air gas furnace or electric heat
If you have a home office and it is part of your business, your insurance will go up since you may have potential customers or suppliers visiting your home and there are certain liabilities that pertain to businesses
Finished basement can drive up costs because of potential damage if a pipe bursts or sewage backs up, or there’s flooding; these all would drive the cost up for replacement thus driving up the cost of your insurance
Galvanized or lead pipes are older types more likely to build up corrosion increases, the risk of cracking, leaking or other damage. Copper or pex plastic pipes are recommended more by insurance companies When you are shopping for a home, allow me to help you in finding the right one so that you don’t get affected by unknowns including the cost of insurance. Cheers! Author: Nilay Ertemur