For years we have been hearing of the house building slump, the house selling slump, the house buying slump, the general slumpie housing slump.
One or two of the ‘slumps’ involve me and what I do. I get calls from current homeowners regarding the prolonged and ‘soon we hope’ sale of their home. They ask how this whole situation affects their homeowners insurance. This is what I advise:
There is really no effect if they are still living in the house while they are trying to sell. Outside of (hopefully) a little more foot traffic nothing has changed from the norm.
The problems start to pop up if you have moved away from the house before it’s sold and it is sitting vacant (still with electric service and furnace on but water off). According to the policy, the house would be vulnerable to vandalism which is excluded (not covered) if the house is vacant or unoccupied for more than 30 days. Other bits and pieces of the policy continue to drop off if the house is vacant for a longer period of time.
This situation is an example of the wrong type of policy for the new need. The house now needs a policy that specifically covers a vacant home. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of a regular homeowners package policy. What it has is that which is needed by the homeowner in their current situation. The insuring company understands there is no one there to watch after the house, so the homeowner might see no difference in cost, but the coverage is tailored to a vacant home.
Call us if you have any questions or need to make a change to any of your policies to fit your current needs. We look forward to hearing from you. 1-800-659-7363