o.k. members,,, i moved to the country 5 years ago from pearl,ms [ suburb of jackson,ms]. i kept the home,, and my MIL and granddaughter lived in the city home, until my MIL moved into an assisted living facility. my granddaughter recently got married, and moved to another town. so now,, the home is empty. i am in the process of spit-shining, re-paining, to put the home up for sale, as i am not ever going to move back to town, and i positively do not want the hassle of renting. the insurance company apparently discovered that the house was empty, and i just got a notice that the insurance will be cancelled feb.  15th. i have heard before that they will not insure an empty home,, but this one is less than a mile from a fire station, a fire hydrant is in the corner of the front yard, and the home has electronic protection.––––––––-what is my option here,,, will SOMEBODY insure it, being empty, anybody have any experience in a similar situation??? thanks in advance

They tried the same thing with me after Ihad a house fire in 04.

They wont insure a empty home? Thats the oddest shit i have ever heard. I dont know what the answer is but a free bump for you.


EDIT: upon some googling that sounds legit and they do sell policies for vacant homes. Who knew.. Good luck OP.

Find a different carrier.

Not uncommon from what I hear. I have no personal experience with it but a friend has several rental properties and has told me that most insurance companies won't insure a vacant home.

Bump.

This may not be any real help and just an opinion, but if the house is vacant why worry about it being insured?

Other than vandalism or damaging weather I'd just leave it uninsured until it sold.



Without anyone living there it's unlikely to catch fire by itself, and unless you live in a flood plane weather shouldn't play too much

of a factor, price it accordingly and it should be off your hands with minimal risk.



 

You can get insurance for an empty house, it's call vacant property insurance.  Its NOT cheap, for instance a house valued at $78k cost about $100 a month.  Also not every insurance company will provide it, you will have to hunt around.

Check here, they offer it.

American Mondern Insurance Group

You can get foreclosed on or the mortgage company will 'supply' insurance at a super high rate.  It is in your mortgage contract that you have to supply insurance for the value of the property.  It is also in your 'normal' insurance contract that the house has to be occupied.

People break into vacant homes frequently.  They either strip the metals, etc from the home or cause other sorts of damage.  There have been numerous fires to vacant dwellings due to the actions of non-owners.  Plus, the owner faces liability for injuries on the property.  Insurance is a smart play.

I went through this same thing on a rural home when my parents got too old to live there.

Took many calls to different insurance companies till I found a local hometown one to do it.  No big companies would touch the place.

Makes me wonder how people get insurance for vacation homes.

*Edit* going to leave this alone because I have no helpful knowledge and my comments are taking away from helping the OP.
 

You are require by the mortgage company to supply who you ins company is for the house, they keep tabs on that kind of stuff.

there is not a mortgage  on the home, it was paid off in the mid 90's. we lived in it for 20 years, in a decent neighborhood, not any problems around that i knew about. also, the pearl PD is a cracker-jack PD, and the sleazes and ''boyz-in-the-hood'' pretty well stay across the river in jackson. this is the same city where the westboro church had some difficulties protesting the funeral of sgt. jason rogers, last spring. i just did not want it sitting there for a while, uninsured, as home sales are slow. i have already decided to low-ball the price, to make it move, i guess i need to call around monday and see what my options are... maybe contact a realtor for advice?????

is it possible to "make" it your primary residence? if married wife lives and maintains one house and you the other?

got any family members 18+ that can "stay" there. I remember reading an article where people were "living" in unsold homes on contract to make them occupied then when they were sold they left and moved on to the next vacant home.



 

no,, this will not work,,, as i lost my precious wife of many moons a few days ago,,,, another reason to sell. i wanted to sell it when we moved, but she wanted to keep it and go spend a few days a month with her mom,,, so we did.

my 90 yo pos house is insured through a local agent and loyds of london $350/year
we had a small fire and the premiums did not change.

you have coverage till mid Feb, put a for sale sign on it Monday morning and sell it as is, any money you make from the sale will be clear profit on a already paid for home.

OP.. they do sell vacant home policies. I dont know how cheap they are though. I would not own a structure with out insurance.

My insurance will let me add vacant properties as a rider while I renovate them. I always have to overinsure them because the insurance company values these properties by sqft cost to rebuild not acual value. I looked into agreed value insurance it was more than double the cost of the rider policy. My latest property is insured for 3x what I paid for it.

If your insurance won't allow that, ask about landlord insurance as it is a structure/liability only insurance and should be fairly reasonable since you are not insuring belongings. Landlord insurance does allow for vacancies but that time varies by company.

It sounds like you are serious about selling it. Most realtors have folks they deal with who will snatch up undervalued properties quickly. I would also check for a local REI (real estate investors) club and offer it to the group. Most are landlords, wholesalers and renovaters/landlords and usually have cash on hand. Be aware this will be an investment for them and their offer will probably be low compared to surrounding comps but they can close quick. Some of theses investors are the same people the realtors will seek out anyway. Around here, most investors will not even consider any property with an ARV (after renovation value) with a GRM (gross rent multiplier) of above 50 but try to be between 30-45. Some also shoot for 60-70% of ARV. What that means is, the max they will pay is, 50x the market rent minus any renovation costs or 60-70% of the fair market value minus renovations. If you have the stomach to show the house yourself to people who may or may not show up, Craigslist is a great option and will draw a lot of interest if it is truely priced to sell and will in the end, make you the most. Any real estate lawyer can handle the closing for a couple hundred dollars.

Good luck on the sale. Right now, price is everything in moving property.

––ETA–– Shpellin, grammar, clarification.

this man knows his shit.  thank you.

Nothing to add other than "Pearl is a city?"

They are non-renewing your policy for a very good reason. A vacant home is not the risk profile that they agreed to insure when you took out the policy.

To the other poster, It is not "odd" to reject coverage for vacant properties. Vacant homes are subject to all kinds of extra risk, from causes of loss that are potentially un-discovered (freezing pipes, electrical problems, vermin etc) simply because the owner isn't living in it. Further, empty homes get broken into and vandalized/burn down at a rate much higher than those where people are home.

Many carriers sell vacant home policies, they have become a growth product since the financial crisis.

http://www.foremost.com/products/vacant-home/


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