Shopping for a new home is a time to evaluate the features of each home you're considering and assess how they suit your family's needs. While you might not be thinking about how the particulars of the home could influence your home insurance premium, it's valuable to give this subject a little thought. How a prospective home could influence your insurance rate shouldn't make you decide whether or not to buy the property, but it could provide you with some assistance as you make your decision. Here are three factors and how they could influence your new home.

Swimming Pool: Rate Increase

It's hard to knock the many benefits that a backyard swimming pool provides – it's a social hub for family and friends through the summer months and can even help you keep in shape. One downfall, however, to considering a home with a swimming pool is that it will cause your insurance premium to increase. This is because the pool carries a risk of drowning – not only could someone in your family drown in the pool, but a visitor to your home could suffer this fate. As a result, your insurance provider will increase your rate to offset this risk.

Fire Hydrant Or Fire Station: Rate Decrease

An important insurance-related factor to keep in mind when you're house shopping is each home's proximity to the nearest fire hydrant or fire station. When a home is close to either element, the theoretical risk of your home burning down or sustaining significant fire damage is less – the premise is that the fire department will be able to deal with the blaze quickly before it spreads and completely engulfs your home. All this means that homes within a close proximity – the exact distance can vary according to the insurance provider – will typically result in an insurance premium drop.

Neighborhood Safety: Variable

The overall safety of the neighborhood in which you're searching for a home can influence your home insurance premium in either direction. A home with a high degree of property crimes such as vandalism and break-ins will result in a higher insurance premium; conversely, you can expect to pay less for your home insurance if you live in a community without high instances of these incidents. Although simply driving through some neighborhoods can indicate whether they seem safe or not, you can also obtain crime statistics online from your local police department to confirm this data. Contact an insurance company, such as Robbins Insurance & Financial Services Inc., for more information.