3 Changes To Your Home That Can Boost Your Insurance Rate
When you're thinking about adding something new to your home, you're considering how it might benefit your family, save money or even boost the resale value of the property. In many cases, you won't be thinking about how the change you could implement might affect your home insurance rate. While many house-related changes won't have any impact on your rate at all, there are others that can cause the rate to climb – often because there's a dangerous side to the change you're about to make. If you're thinking about implementing these three changes, be forewarned that they'll typically cause your insurance rate to climb.
Fireplace
When you're thinking about having a fireplace installed in your home, you're likely dreaming about cozy winter nights gathered around the blaze with your family members. You might also be intrigued with the prospect of lowering your heating bills. The concern with adding a fireplace, however, is that doing so means there's an increased risk of a fire in your home. In fact, fireplaces account for more than a third of all house fires in rural areas. The increased fire risk means that you're likely to experience a higher insurance rate, too. While this increased rate shouldn't discourage you from adding a fireplace, it's beneficial to know how this change might affect your rate up front.
Dog
Many families dream of changing the size of their family through the addition of a dog. While a dog can provide countless happy memories, certain breeds that are seen as highly aggressive can also result in an increase in your home insurance rate. Dogs such as pit bulls, rottweilers, German shepherds and Doberman pinschers are often viewed as risky by insurance companies. The concern is that this family pet will bite a visitor to your property, whether it's a delivery person or a friend paying you a visit. As such, you can expect this purchase to lead to a higher home insurance rate.
Trampoline
If you have kids, the idea of adding a trampoline to your yard is likely to be met with a high degree of enthusiasm. The concern with making this change, however, is that there's an increased risk of injury for someone visiting your home to use this recreational device. After all, trampolines can be risky for their users even if following proper safety rules. This means that your home insurance provider will typically boost your monthly rate.
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