Homeowners Insurance in Lexington, South Carolina

On the shores of Lake Murray in the Midlands region, Lexington is a pleasant small town in South Carolina. It’s a popular suburb of Columbia and it’s the fastest-growing town in its county.

Homeowners insurance in Lexington is some of the most affordable in the state, too, when compared to other major cities in South Carolina. Keep reading to learn more about Lexington insurance rates as well as important cost factors and coverages you can expect.

On average, home insurance in Lexington, South Carolina, costs about $1,299 annually. Compared to the average cost of home insurance in the state, which rests at about $1,641 annually, rates in this city are about 21% below average. However, it’s hard to broadly state how much a policy will cost you since so many variables affect the price for each policyholder.

If you have a mortgage on a home in Lexington, you’ll need homeowners insurance. It’s required by lenders to protect their investment. But, it also protects your interest in your home because if you suffer unexpected damage from a covered peril, your insurer will cover the costs of rebuilding and repairs.

Every policy and provider is different, and what might be the best fit for you might not be the right policy for someone else. This is because insurance is highly subjective, from coverage to cost. Policyholders set their coverage limits based on their individual needs, and insurers set premiums based on unique factors about each policyholder. For example, average premiums differ based on the value of your home. Larger, more expensive homes will cost more to insure because they’ll have a higher replacement cost. 

Additionally, older homes have higher average premiums than newer homes. This is because older houses often have more problems leading to an insurance claim. Things like aging roofs, outdated home wiring systems, and discontinued siding are all warning signs to providers. They make your home either more dangerous or more difficult to rebuild in case of damage.

Similarly, masonry homes tend to have lower average premiums than frame homes. This is because masonry homes are generally sturdier, meaning they hold up better in the face of severe storms like hurricanes. Thus, owning a masonry home may mean saving on homeowners insurance.

Plus, some carriers could offer optional endorsements or add-ons that you might want that no other company has. While endorsements may increase your premiums, they may help you protect specific valuable items in your home or protect your home against specific perils that aren’t typically covered by a standard policy.  This is why it’s so important to shop around for homeowners insurance.

Some people aren’t even sure what coverages they get from their insurance company to which they pay thousands of dollars to every year. A standard H03 policy, the most common form of homeowners insurance, comes with the following coverages:

Dwelling coverage financially guards the main structure of your house. It’s designed to protect your roof, walls, floors, porches, and HVAC system. The amount of dwelling coverage you have is determined by your home’s value. A home valuation is typically its replacement cost, although sometimes it’s derived from its market value.

Other structures coverage is for the features on your property not attached to your main house. These could be carports, detached garages, fences, and sheds. Other structures coverage is commonly limited to 10% of your dwelling coverage. So, for instance, if you had $350,00 worth of dwelling coverage, you might have $35,000 of other structures coverage.

Personal property coverage protects your belongings in and around your house. It covers electronics, furniture, art, tools, jewelry, and more. Your items are covered on either a replacement cost basis or an actual cash value basis.

Loss of use coverage kicks in if you’re forced to move out of your house after it suffers damage. For example, let’s say your home gets damaged by a hurricane, and you must live somewhere else. As your insurance company repairs your residence, they will pick up your tab for many of the expenses you incur while displaced through loss of use coverage. Your hotel stay, food, and more can be reimbursed.

Liability coverage limits your financial liability if someone suffers an injury on your property. If the injured party decides to sue you, your liability coverage can cover their medical costs and your legal fees. Policies normally come with a minimum of $100,000 of liability coverage.

Medical payments coverage is similar to liability coverage in that it is designed to cover injuries to other people, but it’s specifically for minor injuries.

Lexington is known to have problems with flooding. Unfortunately, home insurance won’t cover damage from floods. You’d need a flood insurance policy to be protected from such water damage.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) creates flood maps for the country. They determine every location’s flood risk, and they update their maps every so often for accuracy. A few years ago, Lexington flood maps changed, which affected flood insurance rates for thousands of people.

If you’re in a high-risk flood zone, your mortgage lender will require you to have flood insurance. Some properties along Fourteen Mile Creek are in FEMA flood zones, for example. You can check the flood risk of your property on FEMA’s website.

Even if your home is not in a federally designated high-risk flood zone, FEMA still recommends getting flood insurance. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) states that over 25% of their claims come from properties outside high-risk zones. 

We can also help you with your flood insurance needs at Clovered. We partner with several of the nation’s top private flood insurance companies as well as the NFIP to give you options. We can help you find the flood coverage that’s best for you. It only takes a few minutes to submit your information on our flood insurance quoting platform.

Like any business, an insurance company must stay profitable to survive. A very important part of their business model is calculating rates properly. Insurers take into account as many variables as they can when determining rates to try to maintain profitability and survive.

In addition to some of the factors we already mentioned, insurance companies look at many details about a policyholder in the underwriting process to determine rates. A significant one is home location. A property’s susceptibility to severe weather, like hurricanes and tornadoes, seriously affects premiums. Lexington is more at risk of tornadoes than hurricanes, but both natural disasters impact the state to some extent.

Proving your home is resistant to strong winds with a wind mitigation inspection is proven to lower your premiums. You can also receive discounts for new home construction, having a home security system, and being claims-free for many years. Check with your provider to see what discounts they offer.

Choosing a higher deductible is an easy way to lower your monthly or yearly premium when getting a policy. Opting for a higher deductible means you’re willing to pay more out-of-pocket before asking your insurance company to cover the damage. Insurers like this and will reward you with lower rates for doing so.

Having a pool or trampoline, known as attractive nuisances to insurance companies, can raise your premiums. Also, many insurance companies believe owning certain dog breeds, like pit bulls or rottweilers, makes you a liability risk and will raise your premiums.

If you’re looking for homeowners insurance in Lexington, we’d love to help. At Clovered, our team of licensed agents wants to help you find coverage. We operate in 19 states and partner with several of the country’s top insurance providers to make finding the right policy easy. 

You can use our online quoting platform to compare homeowners insurance quotes completely online, or you can speak to one of our agents on the phone by calling 833-255-4117 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can also email us anytime at agent@clovered.com.