Shop Your Homeowners Insurance Before You Buy a Home

Recently, I had a showing where the buyers ran into serious sticker shock on the cost of homeowners insurance. It stuck with me enough that I wanted to pass a few things along.

Insurance costs are climbing, and it isn’t just something happening to other people. It also happened to my own policy, but there’s more you can do about it than most buyers realize.

Premiums have more than doubled since 2019. The average cost of home insurance nationally is now around $2,720 a year for $350,000 in dwelling coverage, and premiums have been climbing for years, more than doubling since 2019, though the pace finally started to slow a bit in 2025. So if your renewal came in higher than you expected, you’re not imagining it.

Don’t just secure a policy when you buy. Shop it. A good first step is to find out who the current owner is using and reach out to that agent, since they can often place a policy on a home that already has coverage. But don’t stop there. Get other quotes too, and let that current agent know you’re shopping, because that alone can prompt some pencil-sharpening and a few ideas for saving you money.

Small changes to the home can lower your premium. One of the easiest ways to save is bundling, putting your home, your cars, and your other coverage with the same company. Beyond that, there are things you can do to the house itself.

Here in Montana, insurers pay close attention to tree coverage, so thinning trees around the home can help. A metal roof makes a real difference in cost these days. Sprinkler systems can help, and so can leak sensors, especially for something like an ice maker or refrigerator line that malfunctions and floods the floor while you’re away for the weekend. Those small additions can save you a headache and a claim down the road.

Shopping around saved me nearly half. Right around the time all this came up, I got an email from a service I subscribe to about insurance costs going up, and sure enough, my renewal reflected it. So I shopped around, and what I ended up switching to was almost half of what my new renewal would have been.

The same idea applies to you: the coverage is out there, but you have to go look for it.

So when you get to the due diligence part of buying a home, remember that simply securing a policy is the least of what you should do. Take the time to shop, compare, and find coverage that actually works for you and fits your budget. It’s worth the effort.

If you have any questions about buying or selling here in the Flathead, or you just want to talk it through, I’m always happy to help. Call or text me at 1-406-837-5531, email me at ScottHollingerMT@gmail.com, or visit flatheadrealestate.com.