Our real estate team get’s a lot of questions about homeowners insurance; what it entails, what the prices are, what is covered, and the list goes on. Sadly, we are not experts, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help you find the best company for your coverage! Reviews.com, a credible resource that provides unbiased information on some of the most common products and services, performed a lengthy study deciding the best homeowner insurance companies in the United States.

The research began with 99 insurance companies. As they dove deeper into their research more and more companies fell off the list, which they actually show throughout their review- which if you’re interested, click here to read more. This list quickly shrunk after further attention was given to the following areas:

Providers with coverage in at least 35 states — and no special eligibility requirements

Meaning these companies had to be available to majority of people and offer emergency response units. Large national carriers are more equipped to handle claims in the middle of a disaster and often provide emergency relief that small local carriers just simply cannot afford or maintain. Special eligibilities knocked a lot of carriers off of the list; like USSA who focus on military families. Not saying they aren’t a good carrier, in fact they get a lot of praise, but they wanted to focus on carriers that are available to most people.

The best had to have high Financial Strength Ratings from A.M. Best and either Standard and Poor’s, or Moody’s.

Of course the sole purpose of insurance is to protect yourself financially, so a carrier that can pay out your claims in very important. In order to identify these companies:

“The best way to compare financial solidity among carriers is to use Financial Strength Ratings from independent agencies. Among the major agencies, only A.M. Best focuses solely on insurance, so we required all companies to have a high rating from the firm. Then, because the Insurance Information Institute recommends getting ratings from two or more agencies, we decided to also require a high FSR from at least one of the two largest agencies: at minimum “very strong” (AA-) from Standard & Poor’s or “high quality” (Aa) from Moody’s.”

If carriers didn’t underwrite an “open perils” policy — the most popular type of homeowners insurance in the US — we nixed them.

Just like home, auto and health, homeowners insurance can be modified to fit the individual needs of the purchaser. To make the cut for Reviews.com to allow the carriers to be named “the best” they must cover open perils, which covers basically everything unless it is solely excluded.

They cut out the middlemen.

There are some carriers that will basically underwrite their homeowners insurance because they simply don’t want the risk. At this point they are brokers, rather than carriers.

Reviews.com narrowed it down to the final 5.

The final five contenders were ranked on how happy they would be if they were their provider. This includes looking at:
tools to help buyers find just the right coverage, available endorsements, unique discounts and customer satisfaction.

Some companies offer more guidance than others, because most likely if you’re searching for homeowners insurance- especially for new home buyers- you probably don’t know what you’re doing. There is a lot of information to absorb and process and having agents around the clock willing to help you before you activate your policy is very important. Some unique discounts, like brand new homeowners purchasing their first home and LEED certified homes, are offered by certain carriers.

Curious to see what the best homeowners insurance carriers are?

1. Amica– Best Overall
2. Allstate– Best for First-Time Homeowners
3. State Farm– Most Well-Rounded
4. Travelers– Best for Green Homes
5. MetLife– Highest Standard Coverage

Still wanting more information? See the entire report provided by Reviews.com by clicking here.