If you have a vacation home or a second home, or are thinking of buying a second home, to use as for getaways or to rent out, then it is a lot like buying a primary residence.

To start with, you will need to make sure that your new home has insurance to cover any disasters, should these happen.

If you are buying a vacation property in a location near a beach or a cabin in a ski resort area, for example, then there are some risks that you could face like flooding and water damage.

You would need insurance for your primary home, and your second home (or vacation home) is no different. What is different is that there are some things unique to getting insurance for a second home.

So, here are some things that you need to think about regarding vacation home insurance.

What should you cover?

When you insure a second home there are some aspects that are a little different. The coverage that you need will depend on a variety of different things, such as how the home is going to be used.

If you will rent it out as a vacation home and have it used most weeks throughout the year, you will need a comprehensive vacation home insurance policy.

This needs to cover the cost of needing to replace the home if things get destroyed or damaged through storms, fire, and adverse weather.

Another aspect of this to think about is looking to get rent loss insurance. This is something that will help you to cover the loss of rent that would occur, should you need to stop using the home as a vacation home.

If there is a serious incident like a fire, then you won’t be able to rent it out for quite some time.

For a vacation home, it is also important to think about getting personal liability coverage. There are some umbrella insurance policies that we offer that work in this way.

A policy like this helps to protect you when you need more liability coverage than what you would get with a standard insurance policy. If someone was looking for compensation after getting hurt or injured on your property, then this is something that can be vital.

You should also think about supplementing the insurance policy that you have, to make sure you have coverage for things like hurricanes, floods, and even earthquakes.

It can depend where the vacation property is, as to what you are more at risk from, but flood insurance can be wise as it often is covered by a lot of insurance policies.

Why is vacation home insurance important?

There are a number of reasons why getting vacation home insurance is important.

To start with, it is helpful because a lot of the time the house could be empty if it is just your own property to use, or there will be other people using it who you don’t know; anything could happen.

Say you had a cabin in the woods, for example. If ice and snow were to cause some damage to the porch during this time and you weren’t there to deal with it, the porch awning could fall and lead to more damage.

An insurance policy that is comprehensive would cover this kind of accidental damage. If you will be renting out the property to other people, then there is always a risk that they could get injured on your property.

They may just need a quick trip to hospital, but having something like liability coverage or umbrella insurance for your vacation rental home can go to help with medical bills and also help if the injured party needs to take time off work as a result of the injury.

When looking for a policy, you might also find that vacation home insurance is different from regular home insurance with how much it costs, and what is covered.

A vacation home can be riskier from an insurer’s point of view. This could be down to location, such as cliff top or waterfront, or having some features that can be more costly to insure, such as a swimming pool.

The home may not always be occupied, so that is another factor that insurers will consider.

How can you lower costs of vacation home insurance?

When you are looking for insurance of any kind, it is always a good idea to check what else the provider offers. For example, we offer umbrella insurance and flood insurance, which can be vital for a vacation home to have.

But we also offer health insurance and car insurance. It often works out much cheaper when you combine your insurance together and get different insurance policies from the same provider.

This is called a bundling discount and can be worth asking about or looking into.

Here are some other things that you can do to lower the cost of your vacation home insurance:

• Make sure you install fire alarms and fire extinguishers, along with smoke detectors, sprinkler systems, burglar alarms, deadbolt locks on doors, and any other home security.
• Choose your location wisely. If you are buying a vacation rental on a known floodplain, then insurance is going to cost more than buying one in a lower-risk area.
• Do your research when buying your vacation home. Homes that are built cheaply are more likely to result in a claim, as insurers will ask about the composition of the home. Check what materials have been used in the construction of the home.

If you want to find out more about vacation home insurance and what we can offer you, get in touch with one of the team today.

We can help you with insurance bundling discounts and advise you on what would be best for your vacation home needs. Contact us today! We look forward to hearing from you.