When Property Management is Recommended

Vacant home insurance now recommends hiring a professional property management firm to take care of a house that is not occupied or considered "vacant" by the insurance company in two situations:

1. The person owning the vacant home is not living in the State and the house is expected to be vacant or empty for over six months or longer.
2. The home is expected to be vacant or empty for over one year, no matter where the owner is.

Of course, an American living overseas on a company job assignment would qualify for both above and almost always should have hired a professional property manager to take care of a vacant home.

Vacant home insurance policies do not require that people hire a professional property management service. If the person owning the home has a relative or close friend that is very reliable that can come over and visit or service the property 4 or more times a month the terms of the vacant homeowners insurance policy can be satisfied. However, if the person you are trusting to take care of the empty or unoccupied home is not perfectly reliable and the upkeep on the property begins to go down hill, there is a risk the vacant home insurance policy could deny claims based on what is called "neglect"a common exclusion in a vacant home insurance policy.

Largest Winter Claim for Vacant Homeowners Insurance

Now that we are quickly into the winter months, we would like to remind Vacant Home Insurance Now clients that the number 1 claim in the winter for many States is frozen pipes for vacant or empty homes.

All clients with vacant home insurance are not only expected to visit the property (or have someone visit) 4 times a month or more, but either the heat must be left on or the pipes need to be totally removed of water so they do not freeze.

If heaters in the home are left on they need to be checked. Oil burners can find dead spots and not "light" leaving the temperature in the home to drop. In some States, a home without heat can have frozen and burst pipes in under 48 hours. Those with vacant home insurance would only have coverage for this claim if they took the proper care and could demonstrate they had left the heat at 58 or above, and had someone or a property management service regular check the property to keep the vacant homeowners insurance valid.

Neglect is a reason to deny a claim and frozen pipes can easily cause over $25,000 in damage.

Of course, those with vacant home insurance should have the main water supply off whether the pipes are drained of water or not, and this helps control damage if pipes freeze.

This was taken from an email sent to one of our employees;

We want everyone out there to know that property management services are not a substitute for the proper insurance coverage or a vacant homeowners insurance policy. When our employer moved us to The Woodlands Texas last Spring, we had a very hard time selling our home in Boca Raton, FL.

The company offered to buy the home for about $40,000 less than what we thought we could get, so we chose to retain the risk ourselves, and take the additional time to sell the property. The company provided Property Management Services through Prudential Relocation, their moving and relocation company. From what everyone told us, property management services is all we would need and these included a landscaping company company coming by the property every Tuesday to cut the lawn, clean up leaves, etc.

We never even thought about insurance. On day 108 of the house being empty we had a very violent tropical storm blew threw (we had been living in Texas) and a small section of the roof was blown off. Rain soaked much of the 3rd bedroom.

The problem was, no one here knew about it. The rain was not taken care of and quickly turned into a $60,000 mold and mildew claim. To make a long story short, the insurance company was willing to pay $10,000 but would not pay the balance of the claim because the house was unoccupied. Let me tell you, property management services on your home for sale does not mean you do not need a vacant home insurance policy.