Parent in Nursing Home Don't forget the Vacant Home Insurance

When we recently put mom and pop into the Menonite Home in Lancaster PA, the house in East Petersburg was sitting empty for several months while we decided what to do with it and while we were selling the furniture and giving other items away to family and charity.

A friend who is a real estate agent informed us that the home was probably without insurance coverage because it had been sitting empty for so long. We called our agent, and to our horror the house would have been totally exposed if there was a total loss because the house was no longer being lived in.

We acted quickly and had to find another carrier that would take the vacant homeowners insurance risk but we had no idea that the house was sitting without any insurance coverage because we knew the policy was paid in full for the year. A major claim like a fire would have cost us almost $350,000.

Lesson learned.