AllysonCross

We have had a quote for home insurance for our new home and it is a staggering $3500pa. this was from Nationwide in Georgia, this seems to be incredibly high, what experience does anyone else have? I have been told that this is normal when you are new to US and have no credit rating so maybe we pay this for a few months and then get the price reviewed?

tonrob

Home insurance is more expensive in the US than the UK. Unfortunately we've got no point of reference for the price you've quoted as we don't know anything about where you live, kind of property etc. Our insurance is maybe a quarter of that (and was from the beginning, when we moved over here 6 years ago). We live in a wooden house on a small 0.16 sq acre of land in rural western MA with a rebuilding cost of approx. $350K if I remember correctly.

LCotts

We haven't moved over yet as we are still in visa application stages but we got our house insurance in Orlando for just over $2500 at renewal this year, it's a brick built property around 4,000 sq ft on half acre plot, I think they put the rebuild cost at about $650k.

md95065

That does sound high.

Are you in a high risk area subject to floods, earthquakes or hurricanes or is there something unusual about the construction of the property?

The insurance quote should indicate what the company is actually insuring you for - ie what they assume that the maximum reconstruction cost is going to be - what is that amount and does it look reasonable.

fatbrit

Shop it, shop it and shop it again.

Combine it with your auto and other insurances, too -- there's often a discount there.

You do not need to wait until it expires to shop it -- they'll credit any overpayment.

Manc

what are they insuring?

if you're house is worth $2 million then it's a bargain.

if you own a 850 square foot hillbilly barn then it's a piss take.

Bob

Yeah, without context, who knows?

Lack of credit history and score does make everything more expensive for the first couple of years though and you'll just have to suck that up, but combing car insurance and other stuff together can help....but also shop around.

Obviously if you're in a flood zone or tornado alley type location, it'll be pricey though.