When you're buying a home, there are plenty more exciting things to think about than arranging home insurance. Unfortunately, it's not something you can afford to ignore. Having the wrong insurance coverage is almost as bad as having none at all, and can lead to financial disaster if a crisis strikes.

Luckily, getting the right policy doesn't need to be complicated. Here's how to approach buying insurance for a new home, to make sure you get suitable coverage at a good price.

1) Evaluate Your Potential Home

If you've found a home you love, take a moment to step back and assess what the insurance situation could be. While a hefty insurance bill might not be deal breaker, it's something to bear in mind while making your final decision. Many things can reduce the cost you'll pay, including:

- Good security, including a modern alarm system and strong doors and windows.

- A well-built, well-maintained roof that can cope with whatever the weather throws your way.

- Updated heating and electrical systems to reduce the risks of catastrophic failures, flood, fires, and so on.

- Fire and smoke detectors to catch any danger early

If your potential home lacks these features, it's worth checking to see how much it'd cost to install them before going any further. The insurance savings will mount up dramatically over the years to come.

2) Location Matters

Next, check the crime statistics of your proposed location. Also check the local history of floods, storms, and other disasters. Both of these have a profound effect on your insurance costs.

Ask for advice from the real estate agent on how much the sellers are really paying for their coverage, as it could be significantly different to a no-obligation, provisional quote you'll get online. An otherwise perfect home is much less desirable if you can't afford to insure it because of its location.

3) Decide What Coverage You Need

It's important to neither under-insure nor over-insure your home. For a starting point on the amount of coverage to buy, work out how much you'll need to repair severe structural damage that makes your home uninhabitable. Importantly, this is based on rebuild cost and not sale value. Again, the real estate agent should be able to help here.

Next, add in the value of the possessions you want to insure, not forgetting that larger, more valuable items may need to be specified individually rather than included in the total.

Add in a little extra to give you some leeway, and you have your basic coverage amount to apply for.

4) Get Quotes

Once you've worked out a figure for the total insurance required, use comparison services to get free, no-obligation quotes for the coverage amount and zip code you plan to move to. While these will likely be estimates until a full assessment can be made, they'll give a good guide.

Importantly, use several different comparison sites to get the full range of quotes available. Not all sites feature all insurers, and you need to get as wide a picture as possible before making your decision.

5) Investigate Discounts

However, a simple quote isn't the end of the story. There are many discounts available on standard policies, which you can apply for if your circumstances are right. These can lower your premiums considerably.

- Non-Smoker Discount: Homes without smokers have a lower risk of fire, and so are more attractive to insurers.

- 55 or Over Plans: People in later years are less likely, on average, to make claims. This can provide a discount of up to 20% compared to younger, less careful policyholders.

- New Build Discount: Homes built within the last decade or so will usually be more secure and more resistant to damage. This reduces the risks to the insurer, resulting in lower premiums.

- Alarm System Discount: Declaring the age, type, and specification of your security system can slice a significant amount off a basic quote.

- Claims-Free Discounts: If you've held insurance policies before, you may be able to transfer a no-claims discount over to your new policy.

- Bundles and Combinations: You can often secure healthy discounts if you take out multiple policies with the same company. For example, it's usually cheaper to insure your home and auto together rather than separately.

Don't take any of these discounts for granted, as they may be included as standard, by request, or not at all. Check the small print and ask for advice, but always make sure you get any discounts you're entitled to.

6) Decide on a Deductible

Lastly, decide how much of a claim you can afford to pay yourself before an insurance payout kicks in. Setting your deductible value as high as possible will lower your premiums, and could save you plenty over the years to come. Of course, you'll lose out if you do need to make a claim, so the trade-off is your decision to make.

Once you've done all the groundwork, either get full and final quotes online, or speak to an insurance agent to explore your options. A comparison site may get you lower basic quotes, while an agent might get you coverage that's more closely matched to your needs for the same price. An agent will also make sure all your paperwork is in order, and that your policy won't be invalidated by a simple mistake you've made on your application.

But whichever way you choose to finally buy your policy, you can now sit back and start planning the more exciting parts of your new chapter in life.