Burglaries and home break-ins are on the rise in many parts of Oregon. In Salem, Oregon, alone, they have gone up by more than 17 percent in the last two years. Thousands of Oregon families are looking for ways to save money and get cheaper homeowner's insurance. One way to do this is to make your home less likely to be broken into.
You can make your home less appealing to would-be burglars by keeping your grass and bushes cut short. You don't want to give them places to hide around your doors and windows where they can't be seen from the street.
Another good investment is lights that turn on when someone moves nearby. Burglars like it dark.
Buying a safe that can be bolted to your floor and making sure to keep jewellery, cash, and chequebooks locked inside when you are away is a great way to keep losses low and help prevent identity theft in case a burglar does get into your home.
If you haven't already put in fire alarms, do it right away. At least one detector should be put on each floor and in each separate part of the house.
Lock your doors and windows every time you leave your house, even if you're just going to the corner store. A professional thief can get in and out of your house faster than you might think.
Most of the things we just talked about will save you money every year by lowering your homeowner's insurance premiums. They will also keep you and your family safer and more secure.
The last thing you can do to save money on your homeowners insurance is to raise your deductible as high as you're comfortable with. Remember that if everything else stays the same, the higher your deductible, the lower your monthly payments and the more money you will save.
Compare is the last piece of advice. Go online and compare the prices of policies from different companies. Like almost everything else, insurance costs are going up quickly, and it's up to each Oregon resident to do their part to keep costs down and make us all a little safer.
