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[H344]High Risk Insurance Coverage

by Joe Cline, Joe

Ever since there have been kids and empty houses, there has been the potential for temptation and disaster. Kids like adventure and what's more adventuresome than an empty house and yard? For this reason, it's best to keep someone resident in a home that's on the market, if at all possible. Failing that, the homeowner would do well to examine his or her insurance policy to determine whether or not the house for sale is covered and, if so, for how long.

As the national inventory of houses for sale rises, it becomes more difficult to sell a house quickly, and the number of vacant homes subsequently rises.. Some of this is caused by the rise in foreclosures and repossessions that has plagued the real estate market. Some are simply abandoned when the owners find they can't make the mortgage payment and think running is easier than dealing with foreclosure.

Whatever the cause, insurance companies are reluctant to cover vacant homes for an extended period of time, and not just for the kid invasion factor. A vacant house poses a higher risk for not only potential injury to trespassing juveniles, but also lends itself to greater and more extensive damage due to fire or water hazards as there is no-one around to discover or report the problem and put a stop to it.

Insurance companies, mindful of the increased liabilities of a vacant house, often include a clause in homeowner's insurance that will expire if the house is left vacant for more than 30 days. There are ways around this, though. Many insurance companies offer vacant house insurance, which can be costly given the high risk involved. Failing that, though, the homeowner looking to sell can look at a number of options to lower this cost or avoid it altogether.

One way is to simply not move out until the house is sold. Finding a real estate agent with a reputation of selling houses quickly in a slower market is always a good move, too. You could rent the house out, which may entail a change in your policy, but may still be cheaper than buying vacant house insurance, or hire a house sitter. Giving the property an occupied appearance can also lower your insurance costs. Keeping the maintenance current – cleaning the gutters, mowing the yard, keep timers on some of the lights, and bring in the mail. Make sure smoke and theft alarms are in working order, and exterior doors have deadbolt locks. Security lighting is helpful as well.

In Austin, the vacant house problem is not as prevalent as the rest of the country, since Austin's real estate market has not suffered nearly as badly as the country as a whole. However, it is a good idea to check with your insurer for information on vacant house insurance and explore your options if you find your house for sale is not moving as fast as you'd like.

What would you say is the best part of being a homeowner as opposed to renting? For most people, it's knowing that they can do just about anything they want with their house and no one's going to argue with them about it! There's a certain amount of freedom that goes along with being a homeowner that you're just not going to find when you're renting (like the freedom to start ripping down walls if you want to!). Before you launch all of those renovation projects you've got broiling around in your head, however, make sure you let your home insurance company know what's going on.

There are a couple of reasons home insurance companies heed to be kept in the loop when you're talking about renovating your house. First and foremost, let's talk about relative home value. Your home's value will usually increase, sometimes dramatically, when you renovate. Since the value's going up, you want to make sure your insurance coverage goes up too. Some home try to avoid this step in an attempt to keep their home insurance rates as low as possible, which is a good short term gain with catastrophic long term consequences.

It's no fun to get quotes to rebuild your home only to find out that because you never raised your level of coverage you're underinsured. That's like having to pay for those renovations all over again.

The other thing you want to keep in mind is that renovations can save you some big bucks on your home insurance rates. Yes, we just said that renovations raised the cost of your home insurance. Keep reading. If your renovations are making your home safer as well as more valuable you're going to be in an excellent position to save money on your insurance. Home insurance companies love low risk homes. By lowering your risk factor you're going to lower your insurance risks at the same time.

That's not the main reason you want to make sure your home insurance company knows about your renovation process, however. When you signed your insurance policy did you make sure to go through and read the fine print? If you did you probably already know that your insurer isn't going to cover your home (at all) during the time you're renovating.

That's a nasty little surprise that way too many home don't find out about until after the fact, when it's way too late to do anything about it. Since the risk of fire and water damage go flying during renovations (especially if you're doing the renovations yourself) your home insurance doesn't want to open themselves up to that much risk. The good news is, most providers give you the option of purchasing builder's risk insurance.

Builder's risk insurance takes the place of your regular home insurance coverage during the renovation period, and if its purchased before you begin renovations may even extend to cover your construction materials if they're lost courtesy of one disaster or another. Even if it doesn't cover your building materials, however, builder's risk insurance will make sure you're never left homeless with nowhere to turn because of an accident that took place during the renovation process.

Make sure you talk to your home insurance provider before you pick up that hammer. It might turn out to be the best decision you ever make.

Article Source : Real Estate Bank Foreclosure

About Author

Both Joe Cline & Anthony Peck are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Joe Cline has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Based Business, Education Toys and Pets. About the Author: The author writes articles on Austin Real Estate Blog. For more information about ,. Joe Cline's top article generates over 5000000 views. to your Favourites.

Anthony Peck has sinced written about articles on various topics from Auto Insurance, Diabetes Treatment and Homeowners Insurance. Anthony M. Peck is the Senior Developer, Software Project Manager and Director of Business Development for QuoteScout.com. To find out more about renovations and your. Anthony Peck's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.