Mortgage Reporting for Vacant Home Insurance Policies

Clients that buy a vacant homeowners insurance policy with Vacant Home Insurance Now, or any other provider, need to understand their responsibilities with their mortgage company or bank. Whenever there is a change of insurance, and especially a move from regular homeowners insurance to vacant home insurance policy, the mortgage company needs to be informed by contract.

Clients should start by calling the insurance department of the mortgage company and simply informing a representative that vacant home insurance has been placed. Some may simply take the information over the phone, but most will require the insured to send in the new declarations page for vacant home insurance. There is no need to send the mortgage company the entire policy document, only the 2 or 3 page declarations page will be fine.

Unfortunately, most will not allow you to email this document, but most will accept a fax in lieu of mailing the hard copy.

Homeowners need to remember two important things:

1. That whenever there is a change in insurance they need to inform their mortgage company.
2. If the mortgage company feels, at any time for good reason, the vacant home is not property protected, they can take action to put insurance on themselves. This is called forced placement and this action is not desirable to insureds.

Make sure the mortgagee always has up to date declarations on the vacant home insurance to avoid problems and expense.

Approximately 15% of International Property Insurance Group Clients Have an Unprotected Vacant Home

International Property Insurance Group provides international property insurance to expatriates that reside globally. Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) works closely with IPI Group to meet the vacant home insurance needs of expatriates residing abroad that keep an empty or unoccupied house in their home country that need vacant homeowners insurance.

IPI Group is beginning to ask U.S. expatriates about vacant home insurance needs and the results have been almost shocking. Only about 1/3 of U.S. expatriates living abroad working for a U.S. or foreign company keep a home. Of those that keep their home, about 1/2 have the house empty and the other 1/2 have a family member or someone else living in the house. For those that have an empty home, over 90% had not secured vacant home insurance! Of those that did not buy vacant homeowners insurance for the house, about 95% were totally unaware that it was even necessary.

When a house sits empty for over 90 days, vacant home insurance is absolutely necessary in almost all cases, and without exception. The more time a house is unoccupied over 90 days, the better chance the current insurer would not cover claims or losses. Also, the existing insurer in almost all cases does not have a vacant home insurance product they can offer clients.

When a Vacant Home Becomes Rented, is vacant home insurance still needed?

Many clients of Vacant Home Insurance now are looking to rent their home, but can't find a renter. A home should not sit unoccupied for more than 60 days in most cases, and if a renter cannot be found for a home, vacant homeowners insurance is almost always necessary.

But what if vacant homeowners insurance is put in place, and then a renter is found. Here is our policy. If a client buys, say for example, a six month vacant home insurance policy, the owner of the policy can put a renter into the home at any time. This in no way violates the policy and is an advantage of VHIN policies. With other insurers, some clients could be forced to cancel the vacant home insurance policy and set up a new landlord policy which is administrative aggravation.

At renewal time, VHIN's insurance company and underwriters are able to continue the insurance but apply a discount because the home is now occupied, which means less risk. To insureds, it's a seamless transition with a discount. Our process could not be any easier and is does NOT require a cancellation of the vacant home insurance policy to be replaced with another.