Price of homeowners insurance is going up

Thursdayâ€™s severe storms do not come without a cost, even if you avoid damage to your house. <br/><br/>A new study shows Oklahoma is the 3rd most expensive state in the country for home insurance, but

Thursday, April 6th 2006, 10:24 am

By: News On 6

Thursdayâ€™s severe storms do not come without a cost, even if you avoid damage to your house.

A new study shows Oklahoma is the 3rd most expensive state in the country for home insurance, but one man says it's worth it. News on 6 reporter Steve Berg explains.

â€œPeople are silly to go through life without insurance." Wayne Garris should know, 2 years ago, a storm struck Tulsa and damaged his mother-in-law's house. "And it put a hole about like that through it." Since then, the home has been repaired. "They fixed it and re-roofed the whole house and it's in tip-top shape now."

It doesn't come cheap though. Oklahoma can claim a lot of things as far as low-cost of living, but home insurance isn't one of them, with an average annual premium of $925. The cheapest state, Idaho, is just $400 a year.

"If you look today, it's a perfect example, thereâ€™s a big red spot in the middle of the country as far as the likelihood of severe weather." John Wiscaver with State Farm Insurance says it's all about the wind sweeping down the plains and the hail. "If you have a community that's hit with a lot of damaging hail, that's a lot of rooftops."

And really, the dramatic storms are not the big problem. It's all the repetitive smaller wind and hail storms that add up. â€œThe totality of storms over time equals out to a lot of losses."

It may cost Oklahomans a little more, but Garris says it's worth it. Wayne Garris: â€œThere's going to come a time in my life where I might have to do without some things, but I will not do without any type of insurance. I've lived here all my life and there will be something happen."

State Farm says you can lower your insurance premium by using wind and hail-resistant construction materials on your home.