Vacant homes and vacant buildings can be a problem to insure. Insurance companies don’t like insuring them, because there’s no one there to keep an eye on the property and the losses can be high.
So, how do you insure a vacant home? Well, there’s several ways to do it. It’s not impossible, it can be done. First thing is to call an agent that can insure a vacant home. Usually an independent agent will give you the best chance at that. Most carriers who write direct for a company don’t want to write a vacant home.
An independent agent will have many sources of companies he can write with, and one of those companies may specialize in vacant home insurance. So, contact an independent agent. Under your basic home owner’s policy, if the home typically is vacant for more than 30 or 60 days, the insurance company can deny coverage.
So, you don’t want to keep a regular home owner’s policy on that property and think you’re covered, because a lot of times you won’t–coverage will be excluded from that. So, find a vacant home policy if you have a vacant home, and then talk to the agent about coverages.
How much coverage do you need on the building? The other coverage you want to look at is liability coverage. So, you want to make sure the building is covered in case it burns down or something like that happens, and then make sure you have liability coverage.
Liability coverage is going to cover you in case somebody gets injured on the property, and that’s going to protect you in case you get sued. Those are the two essential coverages for a vacant home. You may have contents or items stored inside the home, talk to your agent about those.
He may be able to help you on those items as well. Insuring vacant homes can be done. It is more expensive; premiums are higher on a vacant home insurance policy than they are on a regular home owner’s policy. Typically they run for a shorter period of time, sometimes three months or six months or even a year.
A typical vacant home policy is a shorter period of time. It needs to be renewed more often and it is more costly. Certainly a good agent can help you with that. Here at Philleo Agency, we can help you insure your vacant homes as well.
Thanks for watching this video. I’m Ron Philleo with Philleo Agency Insurance, and make sure to check out our other videos at Philleo.com.
