Category: Community

Tips for dealing with rising home insurance premiums

By Kerri Anne Renzulli | August 31, 2025

Living in an oceanfront condo on Florida’s Space Coast was Jim McGuigan’s retirement dream, so 12 years ago, he and his wife, Debbie, sold their family home in Orlando and moved to Cocoa Beach. But earlier this year, the couple packed up and moved back inland.

Behind that was insurance. Premiums for the high-rise where they owned a unit had tripled in recent years; that increase, along with repairs necessary to maintain coverage, drove their condo association fees up 141 percent over the same period. The prospect of even higher insurance-related costs prompted the McGuigans’ return to Central Florida, where they’ll spend $4,760 a year less in insurance and fees. “When we bought the condo, I didn’t think I was ever going to move again,” says Jim 66. “But insurance and other things have made the cost of living there too much.”

The McGuigans joined millions of Americans who, in recent years, have been forced to deal with home insurance premium increases and fewer choices as more carriers exit high-risk areas and decline to renew policies.

From 2021 to 2024, premiums rose an average of 24 percent in the U.S. and were higher in 95 percent of ZIP codes, reports the Consumer Federation of America (CFA). While Floridians pay the highest average annual premiums, at $9,462, non-coastal states like Arizona, Illinois, and Pennsylvania saw premiums grow by 44 percent or more. Thanks largely to these increases, nearly 1 in 7 owner-occupied U.S. homes are uninsured, estimates LendingTree. And other homeowners are likely struggling: A Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas study found that mortgage delinquencies increase 8 percent in the year following a typical price hike.

Because mortgage and home equity lenders require insurance, paying these premiums is nonnegotiable for most homeowners. But the following strategies can help reduce how much of your money insurance consumes.

REVIEW COVERAGE

Along with raising your deductible — a standard way to lower premiums — check that your various coverage amounts don’t leave you overinsured. You may be able to tailor your policy’s default limits to reflect just what you have, says Alyssa Bourgeoris, an indedpendent broker with the Marsh McLennan Agency in Metairie, Louisiana. You can try this with other structures coverage, which protects things like fences and detached garages, or with your contents coverage. Before making the change, however, weigh the consequences. “Dropping personal property coverage from 75 percent of your dwelling limit to 25 percent might only save $100 a year,” says Peter O’Keefe, an independent broker with Connor, Alexander and Sullivan in San Francisco. “Do you really want to give up that much coverage to save less than $10 a month?

CHECK THE MARKET

“If you feel like you’re getting a bad deal, shop around,” says Michael DeLong, a research and advocacy associate with CFA. Annual rates from different insurers can vary by $1,000 or more for identical coverage, NerdWallet found. Many insurers make it easy to get a quick quote: Visit their website and plug in some basic information. You can use sites like Insure.com, Policygenius or The Zebra to see offers from multiple carriers simultaneously. Also, your state insurance department may provide rate comparison tools.

If you get a nonrenewal notice from your carrier, start shopping around at once since many states require only 30 days’ notice. “Ask the insurer the reason for the nonrenewal and see if you can make any improvements or changes to keep your insurance,” says Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a consumer advocacy organization.

GET PROFESSIONAL HELP

Independent insurance agents and brokers can do the legwork of finding better coverage for you; they have access to policies and pricing information from multiple insurance companies, unlike captive agents who represent a single firm. “They can vouch for an insurance company that you may have never heard of,” Bach says. Ask how the broker or agent is compensated so you understand up front any potential biases. Visit trustedchoice.com to find more than 250,000 U.S. independent agents.

WIDEN YOUR SEARCH

If you can’t find good options through regular channels, consider state-created insurers of last resort, like California’s FAIR Plan (for fire insurance) or Louisiana Citizens.

Should one of those not be available, you might even consider non-admitted carriers, which don’t have state insurance licensing and lack guarantees that claims will be paid if they go belly-up. Non-admitted carriers may be riskier, but they must meet state requirements, and many are affiliated with traditional insurers. Mortgage lenders will OK them if they meet their financial standards, typically based on ratings—which are publicly available—from companies such as A.M. Best, De-motech or Standard & Poor’s. Don’t go with a non-admitted carrier unless you research its finances and work with a reputable broker, advises United Policyholders.

LOOK FOR DISCOUNTS

Ask your insurer about any price breaks it offers. Retirees can get up to 10 percent off with some insurers, since they spend more time at home, making them likelier to spot issues quickly. Other insurers offer lower rates to people in specific occupations, like the military or members of certain credit unions or professional associations. Opting for paperless statements and setting up automatic payments may also shave a bit off your premium, as can living in a gated community.

STRENGTHEN YOUR HOME

Improvements that make your home more resistant to risk, like storm shutters, a fire-resistant roof or a reinforced roof, could reduce your premium and give you more insurance carrier options, DeLong says. In some states, insurers are even required to offer discounts to homeowners who show proof they’ve added such features. Homeowners with security systems save between 2 and 15 percent—$100 less on average, according to Policygenius. Before making any upgrades, check that your insurer will reward the change and that it meets the carrier’s requirements.

Your state insurance department may provide grants or other assistance to help offset certain improvement costs, DeLong says. Alabama, for instance, offers homeowners grants of up to $10,000 for roof fortification in select counties.

IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT SCORE

In most states, insurers can set your rates and decline to renew your policy based on your credit history and scores, DeLong says. Rightly or wrongly, homeowners with poor credit scores are viewed as less reliable and so pay higher premiums than those with good scores—as much as 102 percent more, based on data from Policygenius. To help  boost your score, make on-time payments, chip away at credit card balances and review your credit report for errors.

SELF-INSURE

Dropping supplemental coverage—like flood or earthquake insurance—or ditching home insurance altogether could save you thousands in the short run but puts your biggest asset at risk. “Without insurance, it’s entirely on you if something goes wrong,” says Dale Porfilio, chief insurance officer for the Insurance Information Institute. Anyone considering this option should have a financial plan for replacing possessions and obtaining housing in the event of a total loss. This may mean setting up a large emergency fund, deciding which assets to sell in a worst-case scenario or sacrificing retirement money. For most, even 20 years of investing saved premiums won’t equal the six-figure fund needed to rebuild entirely. If you have a mortgage on your property and drop coverage, your lender will make you pay for force-placed insurance, which is usually more expensive and protects only the lender’s financial interest, not yours.

CHANGE YOUR SITUATION

If home insurance squeezes your budget so tightly that you’re cutting or charging necessary purchases and constantly dipping into savings, you may no longer be able to afford to live where you do, says Sheryl Hanshaw, who heads the county-run Greenville Financial Empowerment Center in South Carolina. Contact your lender, advises Bruce McClary of the nonprofit National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). The lender may be able to lower your monthly payments—at least temporarily—though you’ll typically pay more interest and fees over time.

If that isn’t possible, consider selling your home and moving to a place with lower insurance costs, Hanshaw says. But also assess whether, after the change, you’d be better off financially and whether you’d lose what’s important to you, like proximity to your support network. For free advice about your mortgage, find a nonprofit financial counselor via NFCC’s website at nfcc.org, or go to answers.hud.gov/housingcounseling to connect with a local HUD housing counseling agency.

Kerri Anne Renzullihas worked at CNBC and News-week, Money and Financial Planning magazines.

Please consider supporting open, independent journalism – no contribution is too small!