If you own a home, protecting it through the purchase of homeowners' insurance is critically important. In addition to protecting your property from financial devastation, should the home be damaged or destroyed, homeowners' insurance coverage allows families to move forward more easily to rebuild or purchase another home. 

While homeowners generally understand the benefits of having homeowners' insurance, most would love to find a way to reduce the cost of their annual insurance premium. If you are a homeowner who would like to enjoy lower home insurance costs, here are some things to discuss with your insurance provider.

Discount for bundling

Homeowners usually have several types of insurance other than the coverage for their home and most insurance providers would like to help them with all their insurance needs. In fact, most insurance companies offer a substantial discount for providing more than one type of coverage to their customers, such as homeowners' insurance and auto insurance. Some may offer even more attractive discounts for providing life, health, disability, or other coverage types along with the home and auto policies. 

When discussing the advantages of bundling policies with your homeowners' insurance provider, it is important to calculate the actual cost of each policy, instead of just the percentage of savings overall, to ensure that moving your other policies will be financially feasible. 

Credit for home improvements

Most homeowners regularly improve their homes during their years of ownership. Unfortunately, many of these same homeowners neglect to provide information about these improvements to their homeowners' insurance provider. Insurance companies understand that many types of home improvements reduce their level of risk and are happy to offer their policyholders reduced rates on coverage for making them. 

If you have recently updated any of the basic systems of your home, such as the HVAC or plumbing, replaced the roof, installed a security system, or made other improvements to your home, informing your insurance provider may help you reduce the cost of your next homeowners' insurance premium. 

Raising the deductible

Many homeowners' insurance policies are written with a deductible amount of just $500. While a low deductible may be necessary for families with limited income, raising the deductible to $1000 or more can result in noticeable savings on the annual premium cost. Before raising the deductible, homeowners will want to determine how doing so will affect smaller claims, like those for storm damage or damage to windows or siding.

Shopping the competition

Homeowners who think they may be paying too much for their coverage may also want to periodically shop and compare their policy with competing home insurance providers to see if similar coverage is available for a lower premium cost. 

Contact a company that provides homeowners' insurance for more information.