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If insurance agents had a dime for every person that’s ever asked if they REALLY had to buy home insurance for their vacation home-well, let’s just say they probably wouldn’t be insurance agents much longer! It’s tempting to try to avoid the expense of insuring a vacation home, especially when you consider the fact that you’re not going to be spending much time there and its untimely passing would actually have very little affect on your current standard of living.
Unfortunately, that’s one mistake you don’t want to make.
To answer the question, yes, you really have to buy home insurance for your vacation home. No, you can’t get out of it. Why? Because you need to consider a lot more when you’re making the decision about insurance for your vacation home than what’s going to happen to the exterior structure. Take a second to imagine these scenarios:
a) A burglar decides your vacation home is a prime hunting ground. Since vacation homes stand empty much of the year they’re a burglar’s playground, and most savvy criminals will take advantage of that. You get to your vacation home only to discover that you have no television, no microwave, no refrigerator and no surround sound system. What are you going to do? Are you going to stay in a place where you can’t keep food cold? Or are you going to buy all new appliances?
If you had homeowners insurance, your home insurance provider would have taken care of that for you.
b) You spend thousands of dollars to build an inground pool in the backyard of your vacation home so you can bid a fond adieu to the crowds at the beach and enjoy the peace and quiet of having your own swimming pool. Your neighbor’s teenage son (who is nice enough but incredibly rich and more than a little spoiled) decides to host a drunken bash. During the party several of his friends sneak into your pool and decide to go skinny dipping after having been reassured that you were out of town.
While they’re in the pool the inevitable mix of alcohol and water take their toll, and one of them is injured. Their parents decide to sue. Since it was your pool and there wasn’t a “No Trespassing” sign nearby you’re legally responsible for their injuries. The lawsuit totals over a million dollars. What are you going to do? If you have home insurance your insurance provider will pay for your lawsuit (as long as you have sufficient liability coverage). Without liability insurance you’re going to be left holding the bag.
c) A small electrical fire starts because of faulty wiring in your home. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, but because the house was vacant that small fire flared up, destroying your vacation home and the homes on either side of it before anyone notices and calls the fire department. A judge finds you responsible for the damages to the other houses. What are you going to do?
Are you beginning to see a theme here? There are hundreds of tiny disasters that could befall your vacation home when you’re not there, and those tiny disasters can completely wipe out your financial resources. So yes, you really do need homeowners insurance for your vacation home-and if you should happen to raise the liability levels a little bit that would be even better.
After all, you never what’s going to decide to go bump in the night.
By: Anthony Peck
Unfortunately, that’s one mistake you don’t want to make.
To answer the question, yes, you really have to buy home insurance for your vacation home. No, you can’t get out of it. Why? Because you need to consider a lot more when you’re making the decision about insurance for your vacation home than what’s going to happen to the exterior structure. Take a second to imagine these scenarios:
a) A burglar decides your vacation home is a prime hunting ground. Since vacation homes stand empty much of the year they’re a burglar’s playground, and most savvy criminals will take advantage of that. You get to your vacation home only to discover that you have no television, no microwave, no refrigerator and no surround sound system. What are you going to do? Are you going to stay in a place where you can’t keep food cold? Or are you going to buy all new appliances?
If you had homeowners insurance, your home insurance provider would have taken care of that for you.
b) You spend thousands of dollars to build an inground pool in the backyard of your vacation home so you can bid a fond adieu to the crowds at the beach and enjoy the peace and quiet of having your own swimming pool. Your neighbor’s teenage son (who is nice enough but incredibly rich and more than a little spoiled) decides to host a drunken bash. During the party several of his friends sneak into your pool and decide to go skinny dipping after having been reassured that you were out of town.
While they’re in the pool the inevitable mix of alcohol and water take their toll, and one of them is injured. Their parents decide to sue. Since it was your pool and there wasn’t a “No Trespassing” sign nearby you’re legally responsible for their injuries. The lawsuit totals over a million dollars. What are you going to do? If you have home insurance your insurance provider will pay for your lawsuit (as long as you have sufficient liability coverage). Without liability insurance you’re going to be left holding the bag.
c) A small electrical fire starts because of faulty wiring in your home. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, but because the house was vacant that small fire flared up, destroying your vacation home and the homes on either side of it before anyone notices and calls the fire department. A judge finds you responsible for the damages to the other houses. What are you going to do?
Are you beginning to see a theme here? There are hundreds of tiny disasters that could befall your vacation home when you’re not there, and those tiny disasters can completely wipe out your financial resources. So yes, you really do need homeowners insurance for your vacation home-and if you should happen to raise the liability levels a little bit that would be even better.
After all, you never what’s going to decide to go bump in the night.
By: Anthony Peck