Is there anything that's not to like about the convenience of being able to shop for homeowners insurance online? The Internet has taken most of the hassle out of hunting for insurance quotes. Now here's a sneak peek at the inside scoop on what it really takes to get a great deal on your homeowners insurance.

There are probably tons of books, articles, e-books and blog posts on the subject, and if you want to read them you're welcome to. They're probably very enlightening. If you're a fan of the short story, however, the premise behind saving money by shopping for homeowners insurance quotes on the web can be summed up in two words.

Full disclosure.

No, that doesn't mean you have to let your insurance agent strip search your home. Nor does that mean you have to spill your guts about the time you left the curling iron plugged in and turned on in the bathroom when you went to your daughter's dance recital. (The sink was just a little singed, after all.) Full disclosure means that your insurance agent has to have all the information they need to determine your rates from the very beginning before they can give you an accurate quote on your homeowners insurance.

It's like this. When you fill out those ridiculously long and obscenely difficult questionnaires that go along with these easy, "one step" quote finders on the web you're sharing valuable information about you and your home with potential homeowners insurance providers. Those providers are going to use the information you give them to help determine a baseline for your new insurance premiums.

Why a baseline? Because they expect you to haggle it down! Homeowners insurance companies know they're not going to get all the information they need to determine exactly which discounts you qualify for from a single online form that most people breeze through anyway. There are way too many ways for you to save money to ever take that first number as a final offer. The catch is, you want to pick the ones who already have the lowest baseline before you start playing the limbo.

How low can you go.

If your insurance company doesn't have the information they need to make a straightforward decision on your initial quote you could end up paying way too much for your homeowners insurance. You'll be haggling with the wrong people! That's why it's absolutely essential that you go slowly and be as thorough as possible when you're filling out those obnoxious and annoying quote forms.

You never know when the question you skipped will be the question that could save you 20% or more on your insurance rates, and you'll have missed the entire point of shopping for homeowners insurance online.