Vacant Condo Insurance Rules

Vacant Home Insurance Now is still able to provide coverage to vacant condos, but it requires a special application and there are a few new rules.  First, the vacant condominium must be covered for one full year.  Six months of coverage on vacant condos is no longer available.

Also, the value of insurance coverage must be $100,000 or more, in terms of replacement cost.  Finally, the premium must be paid in advance for the year.  If one full year of coverage is not needed, the insurance company will issue a pro rata refund after the cancelation.

We are often asked how to value a condominium for insurance purposes.  Most owners of unoccupied condos are only responsible for "studs in" for insurance purposes.  So, for a fire for example, the condo association would be responsible for rebuilding the walls and roof and the insured, just about everything else.

Vacant Home Insurance Questions in Light of Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Problems

One of the markets we serve for vacant home insurance is Americans living and working around the world. In light of the current situation in Japan we have been asked to clarify a few points relating to coverage for vacant homeowners insurance. Although we feel our insurance for vacant homes is the absolute strongest on the market, these two perils are not covered as standard, nor are they covered as standard by any policy in the entire market that we know about.

The peril of Earthquake is not covered as standard. This is true with this vacant homeowners insurance policy and all homeowners insurance policies in the United States. In some instances, we and other insurers can cover "earthquake" as a special rider or endorsement but it is not covered as standard.

The peril of nuclear hazard is not covered. Again, this is standard across the industry.

This applies to all vacant homeowners insurance policies issued and vacant condo insurance policies. Please call us if there are any additional questions.

Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) Featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspaper

Here is a clip from the article on vacant home insurance, March 11, 2011: In the 4th quarter of 2010, 12 percent of all US residences, or 18,394,000, were vacant. Record foreclosures are a big reason for this: After repossessing houses at sheriff's sales, many lenders leave them empty for months.

But even properties that aren't distressed may take a long time to sell after the owners move on. In the Philadelphia region in January, time on the market averaged 103 days, according to a Prudential Market Report.

All of which makes a difference in the kind of insurance coverage such unattended or vacant houses require - coverage that isn't offered in the standard homeowners' policy.

Vacant Home Insurance Now, which offers policies in several states, says up to 80 percent of homeowners do not know that "the provisions of their existing homeowners' insurance policy . . . would essentially end coverage, exposing them to catastrophic loss."

Vacant homeowners insurance is even more important in 2011 and 2012 as foreclosures are expected to increase.

Vacant Home Insurance Renewal Policies

As a notice to existing customers, if you have a vacant home insurance policy in effect at this time, you can renew vacant homeowners coverage by working with XN Financial directly at www.xn.com or 514-908-1835.

XN Financial Services, Inc. of Montreal and Boca Raton Florida can work with insureds directly at the end of their term of insurance for vacant home insurance or vacant condo insurance to offer another insurance term of 90 days, six months, or one year.

Renewal rates for most customers have not increased more than 5% in the last two years. Some clients have not had rates increased at all. Most clients that wish a new renewal period for any vacant home insurance policy simply need to call XN Financial. In most cases, the entire renewal can be done over the phone with no new paperwork.

Vacant Home Insurance Winter Checklist

As a final reminder to clients for the winter season, please make sure you are aware of all of the following regarding your vacant homeowners insurance or vacant condo insurance for the winter season.

1. Make sure the heat is on and set to at least 60 degrees or warmer.
2. Make sure the home is visited inside, at least once a week. Although the heat in the vacant condo or house could be on, boilers may not fire and heaters can break. Pipes can freeze in as little as 48 hours.
3. Make sure the water (at the main valve) is shut off. A water leak where the water could have easily been turned off, and where the underwriters have not approved that the water could remain on in the vacant home, can become a denied vacant homeowner's insurance claim.
4. Make sure snow and ice is cleared. You can be sued if someone is hurt and you did not keep up on the house with basic care and maintenance like snow removal.
5. Make sure pools and hot tubs are fenced and covered.
6. In lieu of keeping the heat on, the water pipes should be professionally drained of all water.

This is our winter 2010 - 2011 checklist for vacant home insurance and vacant condo insurance.

When renewing vacant home insurance or vacant condo insurance, make sure you inform the mortgage company!

Clients than have purchased vacant home insurance should not wait until the "last minute" to renew the vacant homeowners insurance policy. The reasons have to do with the demands of the mortgage company.

In most cases, vacant home insurance can be renewed just a few days before the lapse date or termination date but we don't recommend this. Although there may be no lapse in coverage it can take a week or two for the client to receive the documentation paperwork like the declarations page for vacant home insurance.

If the client has a mortgage, it is up to the client to always be able to demonstrate to the mortgage company that good insurance exists on the property, vacant homeowners insurance or otherwise. It's within the right of the mortgage company to secure forced placement insurance coverage if they believe the client has been delinquent in their duty to always protect the house with good insurance coverage.

Vacant Home Insurance Policies to be Written and Serviced by XN Financial

Effective immediately, all new vacant home insurance policies written for those that make inquiries for vacant homeowners insurance through this website (www.vacanthomeinsurancenow.com) will be quoted and serviced by XN Financial Services, Inc. (Montreal-Canada and Boca Raton, FL)

Vacant Home Insurance Now is a website that educates homeowners on the special insurance needs of homes that are empty, vacant, or unoccupied. Those requesting a quote for vacant homeowners insurance can leave information through a contact form about the house needing special insurance, and they will later be contacted by someone able to provide additional information.

The website vacanthomeinsurancenow.com used to use locally licensed agents to quote and place vacant home insurance and these duties have now been taken over by XN Financial Services, Inc.

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.

The Vacant Home Insurance Refund Process

Many people have asked us, if a Lloyd's of London policy is chosen for vacant homeowners insurance do they have to commit for the entire six month policy period and if not, what is the refund process for vacant home insurance policies.

The Lloyd's of London vacant home insurance plan is a minimum six month program paid in full but 90 days of premium can be refunded for early cancellation. There is a one time policy cost typically of about $65 that is not refundable but 1/2 of the pure premium is fully refundable.

The bottom line is, clients are only "on the hook" for 90 days of paid coverage and the rest of the premium in these vacant homeowners insurance policies is fully refundable. This also applies to policies for vacant condo insurance and vacant townhouse insurance in all States where the program is available.

Vacant Townhouse Insurance not The Same Process As Insuring an Empty Condo

Vacant Home Insurance now, in addition to providing vacant homeowners insurance to single family homes also provides vacant townhouse insurance and vacant condo insurance.

Unlike an empty or unoccupied condominium that needs special insurance coverage, a townhouse that is not being lived in needs much more coverage when writing vacant town-home insurance. If you are, by legal definition, living in a condo there is a master association policy that covers the part of the structure that the condo owns, typically the roof, grounds, and outside walls. When securing vacant condo insurance it's usually only necessary to insure the walls in.

Although someone that lives in a townhouse also pays dues into an association, there is no master insurance policy that covers any part of the persons townhouse (in most cases). The owner is responsible for insuring 100% of the dwelling up until the legal barrier where the other townhouse starts next door. Unlike a condo, providing vacant townhouse insurance means the dwelling will need to be insured for an amount that will be very close to the sale price unless there is extraordinary value in the real estate location.

When you need to insure a condo, the sale price can be hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the amount you need to insure for.

How to Value a Condo for Vacant Condo Insurance

When one seeks quotes in the market for vacant home insurance, one of the most important things is getting the value of insurance right. The value a vacant home needs to be insured for is not the sale price, but rather the rebuild or reconstruction cost assuming there is a total loss.

This can be very difficult when valuing a condominium. A "condo" is a condo by definition because the homeowners or condo association owns at least part of the dwelling. For example, it's common for the homeowner to own from "the studs inward" meaning the condo association owns the walls, roof, support beams, trees, shrubs, etc.

When the owner of a condo finds himself needing vacant condo insurance, the best formula to estimate the value of what the condominium needs to be insured for would be the following:

Cost of the flooring, electrical, plumping, kitchen cabinets, kitchen counter, bathrooms, lighting "fixtures," appliances, and drywall (with all labor costs) = insured value.

For most condos that sell for $150,000 the rebuild or reconstruction cost will be at least $60,000 and may be much higher, however the number should be well below the rebuild cost of a single family home.