It isn't fun to be a homeowner these days. None only does the value of your investment fall by the day, maintaining your home can be very expensive, too. Not to mention, there's a new piece of bad news to contend with - higher home insurance cost.

Home insurance cost trends have only been rising own for years now. It's just that these days, it isn't gradual like it used to be. This year, your average home insurance cost is likely to jump up 5%. That's just for this year. No one has seen insurance premiums rise this way in at least six years.

If you happen to be unlucky enough to be a homeowner in Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania or Florida, you can expect your quotes to rise by up to 20%. This is a fine time for this to be happening, of course. Millions of Americans are behind on their mortgage pains and worry about losing their homes altogether. Millions more are upside down on their mortgage - where they find that they owe more on their house than their house is actually worth.

So why is this happening now? Why have the insurers chosen to pull something like this at a time when everyone's in real trouble?

The answer could be that the insurance companies are in trouble themselves. Hurricane after hurricane across the middle of the country has caused tens of billions of dollars worth of manage to homes and property everywhere. The insurance companies have had to pay.

There are other reasons too - your insurance company has to do something to lighten its load when there's too much risk that it holds. It needs to go to a reinsurer and pay them huge premiums.

Sometimes, in some communities, the cost of home insurance can go through the roof for a simple reason - there are just too many disasters in that area and most home insurance companies just leave the place. They won't accept insurance from anyone there anymore. Whatever companies stay back, get to charge whatever they want.

What do the insurers do with the premiums they collect from you? Well, typically, they invest it in safe bonds.They need to go with low risk. Most of it is in bonds, and they don't yield much. When they are squeezed like this, the only place that home insurance agencies have to turn to is you.

One of the best things you can do to lower your premiums is to tell your insurance company that you want a high deductible policy. What that means is that should a hurricane or something go past your house, you have to be prepared to pay good deal of money before the insurance company will pay anything. But at least it's better than nothing.

Home Insurance Rates - Lowering your Premiums by 50% isn't that Hard

Everyone knows about that old saw - the three most important qualities for a good parcel of real estate to possess are location,location and location. Actually, it isn't just real estate (or hotels) that that rule would apply to. Trying that rule on home insurance rates, you would find that it made for a pretty good fit. Try to compare what home insurance costs at locations across different states in the country, and the most expensive state you would find, was about $1000 costlier than the least expensive one. In the US, residents of Florida pay the highest home insurance rates of any state in the country - around $1500 a year on average; lucky homeowners in Idaho on the other hand, pay barely $425. Isn't there anything you can do other than packing up and moving to Idaho, to bring a little sense to prevail on your home insurance rates?

Luckily, there is. Savvy homeowners make a number of adjustments to their home insurance policies to more or less find the same effect as a cheaper location. For instance, if you would apply to have your deductible raise from, say, $600 to about $1100, that would give you a 25% discount on your premium. There is really nothing much that is likely to happen to your home; signing yourself up for a higher deductible will really not cost you much when the contingency planned for does occur one day. Paying 25% extra every year actually would cost yoiu a considerable sum.

The next thing you could do to whittle down your home insurance rates would be to establish a kind of business loyalty with your insurance provider. Get your life insurance, your car insurance and your home insurance all with the same vendor and take advantage of a 10% discount. There are all kinds of home improvements you could have done that could win your insurer's approval and net you a premium discount. For instance, putting down a new roof, changing your entire plumbing system, setting up a new alarm system or upgrading your fence would win you points. You can count on a 10% discount depending on the kind of improvement you have carried out.

And finally, make sure that you have a knowledgeable agent look your policy over from time to time. If, for instance, you happen to live in an area that never had coverage by a fire station in the area, that would mean high home insurance rates. Should you learn that a new fire station has come up in your area, you should tell your insurance agent about it. You could actually save up to 50% on your premiums. Saving on your home insurance is all about doing things for your home to make it safer and telling your agent about them. Keep this in mind, and you should come out on top.