When it comes to your house, your most valuable (and most expensive) possession, you want to leave no stone unturned when you're talking about preserving your investment-or making sure there's an investment to preserve if disaster strikes. Unfortunately, the value of your homeowners insurance isn't the only thing you want to think about. You get what you pay for, so theoretically you could strike a deal that would lock your home's safety up tighter than Ft. Knox; however, you're going to pay a fortune for it!

Theoretically, once you've found a homeowners insurance company that's going to give you a good deal without charging you a fortune for it you should stick with it, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes when you're playing the insurance game you have to weigh the odds and make the choice to stay or to go based on what's going to be best for your wallet in the short term as well as the long-and sometimes that means bidding a fond farewell to your current provider, no matter how good a deal they cut you when you first bought your policy!

Pros of Sticking with Your Current Homeowners Insurance Provider

Before we start talking about all the reasons you want to go, why not take a second to talk about the reasons you want to stay? Aside from the fact that filling out paperwork is a pain (and there's always a pile of paperwork involved in buying a new homeowners insurance policy) you also have to take the time to go hunting around for a company that's going to offer you a better deal. Time's at a premium for most of us thanks to our almost instinctive need to cram 26 hours worth of work and activity (with a little family time boot) into a 24 hour period.

We have better things to do with our time than call insurer after insurer and hope for the best.

And then there's the part where most homeowners insurance companies offer you a great discount on your coverage for deciding to stick with them rather than shop around. Those savings tend to accumulate over time, eventually building up into a solid deal on your insurance coverage.

The Cons of Not Shopping Around

Of course, long term gains are great, but It's not going to do anything about your need to save money today! Homeowners insurance companies are doing their best to keep their insurance rates competitive for their new customers, which means you could be paying more than the new kids on the block if you've been hanging around for a while. You might be surprised (and secretly thrilled) to realize that you could save a considerable amount of money on your homeowners insurance just by taking the time to hunt around and find a company that's going to woo you away from your current homeowners insurance provider.

And in the wooing help you save hundreds while protecting your home.