North Carolina Homeowners Insurance Quotes

North Carolina is a wonderful place to live or visit. Our state is stuffed with fun things to do, epic beauty and food and drink that are out of this world.

We are home to the highest mountain range on the East Coast, beautiful and vibrant cities as well as 300 miles of pristine beaches that are a great place to dip your toes in the water like Wrightsville Beach. In addition to lovely beaches, North Carolina is home to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains, which are some of the most-visited attractions in the National Park Service.

North Carolina is also home to Cape Hatteras, which is often considered the country’s first national seashore. When its time wind down and relax, the restaurants, spas and local breweries are happy to serve up a delicious meal, and award winning local wine and beer in a magical setting.

North Carolina is the 9th most populous state in the country and the 28th largest in terms of area. The Tar Heel state is composed of 100 counties and is growing fast with Charlotte and Raleigh (the capitol) ranking in the top ten for fastest growing cities in the U. S.

Regardless of whether you are thinking about calling Asheville home or moving to Kings Mountain, North Carolina is a great place to call home and raise a family.

North Carolina Facts
North Carolina has 9,535,483 residents, which breaks down to roughly 4,756 households per zip code with the average number of people per household coming in at two.

The Tar Heel state lags behind a bit when it comes to the average household income, which averages $28,706. Luckily, the cost of a house is an extremely affordable $80,032. Regardless of whether you are shopping for a home in Wayne County or Moore County, you will be happy to call North Carolina home.

Homeowners Insurance in North Carolina
Homeowners insurance in North Carolina is pretty affordable with an average annual premium on an HO-3 policy costing $1,008, which is roughly 8 percent lower than the national average of $1,034. Currently, North Carolina ranks at number 23 in country when it comes to the cost of affordable homeowners insurance.

The Carolina’s (North and South Carolina) have a combined total of 500 miles of coastline and to help protect coastal residents, the North Carolina General Assembly created the North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (NCIUA) in 1969. This association is known as a residual market.

They were set up with the intention of being a “market of last resort” for insuring consumers against wind and hail losses. In North Carolina, the Wind and Hail policies come with a 2% deductible with $1,000 minimum loss except Bald Head Island where there is a 5% deductible. They will write policies up to $750,000.

It’s important to remember that this is wind and hail damage only, these polices do not offer flood protection so if your home is located in a flood prone area, you will need to purchase a separate flood insurance policy.

Despite the fact that homeowners insurance is relatively cheap in North Carolina, there are three important ways you can push your premium down. Here are a few tips on keeping your premium affordable:

1. Shop Around: This is the best way to lower your premium, shop a variety of companies and make sure you are comparing apples to apples when it comes to the deductible and coverage levels of the policy. At GetHomeInsuranceQuotes.com, we can do this for you for free and shop up to 12 competitive home insurance rates throughout the state of North Carolina.
2. Discounts: It doesn’t matter if you are living in Guilford County or Craven County, insurers offers tons of home insurance discounts and they can help dramatically lower your premium. A few of the most common discounts include: bundling, adding storm shutters, installing a monitored security system and even going paperless on your policy.
3. Raise your Deductible: If you can afford it, raise your deductible. Doubling your deductible can significantly reduce your premium. Never raise your deductible higher than you can easily afford to pay as you never know when an accident will happen.

Rates by Homeowners Insurance Type

Homeowners insurance comes in a variety of types, here is a quick overview of the different types of homeowners insurance and the average premium:

Dwelling Fire: This is a slimmed down policy that offers very narrow coverage but the price tends to be quite a bit lower as well. A dwelling fire policy obviously covers fire and smoke damage but may offer coverage against explosions, vandalism and possibly wind damage.

According to data from the NAIC, 6.0 percent of the policies written in North Carolina are Dwelling Fire policies and the average premium for a Dwelling Fire policy is $512.

HO-2: This is a more basic homeowners policy and only covers certain perils. If you are looking for less coverage and a lower premium, this may be the policy type for you.

According to data from the NAIC, 3.6 percent of the policies written in North Carolina are HO-2’s and the average premium for a HO-2 policy is $806.

HO-3: This is a standard homeowner policy and it doesn’t matter if you call Robeson County home or live in Catawba County, if you own a standard home, this is the policy type for you. It provides protection from all perils except those specifically excluded in the policy. It’s important to remember that all standard homeowner policies exclude damage from earthquake and flood damage.

According to data from the NAIC, 73.7 percent of policies written in North Carolina are HO-3 policies and the average policy price is $1,008.

HO-4: If you are a renter in Greensboro, or any other North Carolina city, this is the policy for you. It covers your personal possessions as well as offering liability protection in case someone is injured in your apartment.

According to data from the NAIC, 12.5 percent of policies written in North Carolina are HO-4 policies.

HO-5: This is a more upscale policy and is only available for newer homes. It covers your home, loss of use, other structures on the property as well as your personal property. It covers all of these against any peril not excluded in the policy.

One of the main differences of an HO-5 policy is that your personal property is protected against all perils, not just named perils as is common with a HO-3 policy.

According to data from the NAIC, only 1.0 percent of policies written in North Carolina are HO-5 policies and the average premium is $947.

H0-6: If you live in a condo or co-op in Winston-Salem or Durham an HO-6 policy is just what you will need. It covers your belongings as well as the structural components of the building that you actually own. Coverage is limited to 16 specific perils.

Co-op and condo insurance is not as popular in North Carolina. According to data from the NAIC, only 3.0 percent of policies written in North Carolina are HO-6 policies.

HO-8: This is a specialty policy that is designed for older homes where the cost to rebuild the house is higher than the actual value of the house. This can be due to very costly materials and building techniques that were used on your specific home.

According to data from the NAIC, a minuscule 0.2 percent of North Carolina policies are HO-8’s. The average premium for these policy types is $801.

Factors to Consider in North Carolina
Severe weather is always a factor in North Carolina. While the Tar Heel state didn’t have any disaster declarations in 2015 it did have one in 2014 and two in 2013. Coastal residents must consider the damage that hurricanes and other severe weather can do to their home.

Hail and wind storms can damage both your roof and siding. Flooding can damage your entire home. If your are shopping for a new home in North Carolina, always get an insurance quote before signing on the dotted line so there are no surprises when you try to insure your new house.

It’s important to remember that homeowners insurance should be saved for major claims. If the damage from a storm is fairly minimal, pay for the damage out of pocket as numerous small claims will dramatically raise your insurance rates.

If you are moving to North Carolina, regardless of whether you are shopping for a home in Wilmington, Fayetteville or Chapel Hill we can help you find a great homeowners insurance policy to protect your new homestead. Our online quoting applicate is free to use and is hassle free. Get up to 12 NC home insurance rates to review and compare today.

To get free home insurance quotes online from GetHomeInsuranceQuotes.com, simply enter your zip code to start the online quoting application and review the list of carriers that we can shop for you in North Carolina.