Home insurance question, regarding snowbirding.

[mr. cob]

Howdy All,

This is off topic concerning HDT's but it may concern others who use HDT's or other RV's and are away from home for extended periods.

I have heard that if you are away from your home for an extended period that your insurance company may consider your home abandoned, vacant or unoccupied, thereby voiding your home insurance coverage.  I have heard that the period of your being away from home that will trigger this voiding of your home insurance can vary from 30-180 days.  I have heard that a person can buy special insurance that will cover your home when you are away for an extended time.

We have our home insured with the Hartford through AARP, today I called and asked about this situation and was told over the phone not to worry that as long as the home that was insured was our primary residence and that we returned to it after a trip regardless of duration within the insured YEAR the policy covered that our home was fully insured during our absents.  I asked if I could receive in the mail on company letter head something stating what I had been told on the phone and was told that there was nothing in writing that could be sent, as it was part of the underwriting system.

So my question to the group is this, what is YOUR experience when you leave from home for an extended period of time when it comes to home insurance coverage, do you have something in writing from your insurance company spelling out that your home is covered, do YOU have special insurance that covers your home while your gone?  We want to spend about 4 months away this coming winter but I am concerned about home insurance and don't want to find out the hard way that we end up with a HUGE loss if something should happen while we are gone.  Any information you can share will be most appreciated, thanks.

Dave

 

[Danandfreda]

Call the state insurance commissioner they will tell you

[Twotoes]

 My first two years on the road I returned to my home for the winter and traveled all summer, about 6 or 8 months on the road. I still had a electric bill, water bill, etc and paid property taxes. I don’t think that this would be considered abandoned property. I wouldn’t worry much. When I went full time on the road I rented out my house and got landlord insurance. The renters must have renters insurance per the rental agreement. 

[Randyretired]

Some policies have restrictions such as problems left unattended for weeks are not covered.  We shopped until the policy seemed to not have that type of language.  We also asked our insurance broker to double check if we were covered for extended absence.  Low a behold about 5 years ago a water line froze while we were away for an extended time.  The damage was extensive and the insurance company covered nearly $300,000 in repairs.  We have a different insurance company now because the first raised our rates by a factor of 4.  This new company has a clause that we need to turn off the water when traveling.  That is something we normally do but family was planning to stay there for awhile when we left 5 years ago.  Then their plans changed.  We stayed in our RV for nearly a year while they fixed our house.

[GlennWest]

For the first few years we had our place in NC. Farm Bureau covered our place. They dropped us because it was "abondoned". But I were didn't go back but one time. WE sold it.

[mr. cob]

Howdy All,

I spent a lot of time researching this issue today with representatives of the Hartford insurance company.  After talking to my agent, a local agent and talking to the folks at the headquarters of the Hartford company I am satisfied that our home so long as it is our permanent and primary residence is insured so long as we return to it after our trip regardless of duration.

If we have the house for sale and aren't living in it then it wouldn't be covered under the normal policy, or if we were to buy and live in a different house never intending to again live in the first house the regular policy would not be in affect.  For these types of situations something other then a regular home policy is needed.  With that, we are going boondocking this coming winter.

Dave

[GlennWest]

I always felt Farm Bureau was unreasonable. 

[JRP]

As  always, its best to be upfront & honest with your insurance company. When the appropriate policy terms are applied, you are not faced with last minute surprises.  I now have 3 homes, all 3 sit vacant for up to 6 months each year ( I prefer not to deal with renters). Although the one in  SD is my legal "primary" home, for insurance purposes all 3 are insured as "seasonal homes" and the insurance company is well aware of the situation and has no problem with it. RV'ers aren't the only ones with part time homes. At my summer hometown in the Co mtns, over 50% of the homes are owned by Texans as 2nd homes for summer and sit vacant all winter, all fully insured. When I visit my sailboat in Fl and rent a condo until the boats ready to take off for the Bahamas, its very apparent that almost 50% of the condos & homes in some Fl towns are owned by cold climate snowbirds who only visit in the winter months and sit vacant all summer, all fully insured. etc

[GlennWest]

In our little neck of then woods, Nobody that left ever came back. I don't believe they could get their heads around an empty house.