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Cheap Home Insurance :Buyer Beware Most Vacant Home Insurance Policies are Limited Named Perils Coverage

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:58:46 +0000

A homeowner has a house that becomes empty or unoccupied (and they are one of the few that understand they need vacant home insurance!) They shop the market and take the lowest bidder because they figure this will be a short-term situation and don’t want to pay for the best.What

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A homeowner has a house that becomes empty or unoccupied (and they are one of the few that understand they need vacant home insurance!) They shop the market and take the lowest bidder because they figure this will be a short-term situation and don’t want to pay for the best.What most buyers don’t realize about vacant homeowners insurance is that most policies available in most States are not “all-risk insurance” but only offer what is called a limited named perils policy or a dwelling policy (DP1 or DP3). Most people do not read their insurance policy document before they buy. Most will assume the level of coverage offered by the vacant home insurance policy is the same as what they had when they were living in the house. With most policies on the market, this is not the case.Most policies offered by the large reputable companies when you are living in the home and the house is occupied, are true all-risk policies. When people move to a vacant home insurance policy they may only have coverage for fire, smoke, hail, lightning, and just a few more perils. (far from all risk insurance and few will realize the drop in coverage)Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) offers the highest quality of coverage called all-risk and replacement cost, two essential features in quality insurance.

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Home Insurance Online :Mortgage Reporting for Vacant Home Insurance Policies

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:58:46 +0000

Clients that buy a vacant homeowners insurance policy with Vacant Home Insurance Now, or any other provider, need to understand their responsibilities with their mortgage company or bank. Whenever there is a change of insurance, and especially a move from regular homeowners insurance

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Clients that buy a vacant homeowners insurance policy with Vacant Home Insurance Now, or any other provider, need to understand their responsibilities with their mortgage company or bank. Whenever there is a change of insurance, and especially a move from regular homeowners insurance to vacant home insurance policy, the mortgage company needs to be informed by contract.Clients should start by calling the insurance department of the mortgage company and simply informing a representative that vacant home insurance has been placed. Some may simply take the information over the phone, but most will require the insured to send in the new declarations page for vacant home insurance. There is no need to send the mortgage company the entire policy document, only the 2 or 3 page declarations page will be fine. Unfortunately, most will not allow you to email this document, but most will accept a fax in lieu of mailing the hard copy.Homeowners need to remember two important things:That whenever there is a change in insurance they need to inform their mortgage company.If the mortgage company feels, at any time for good reason, the vacant home is not property protected, they can take action to put insurance on themselves. This is called forced placement and this action is not desirable to insureds.Make sure the mortgagee always has up to date declarations on the vacant home insurance to avoid problems and expense.

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Cheap Home Insurance :Earthquake Insurance

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:58:46 +0000

Many wonder if they should choose to add earthquake insurance to there home insurance policies. Most choose not to, but after reading this article you may feel differently about adding earthquake insurance to your home insurance policy.
Only about one in five Oregon homeowners have

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Many wonder if they should choose to add earthquake insurance to there home insurance policies. Most choose not to, but after reading this article you may feel differently about adding earthquake insurance to your home insurance policy.

Only about one in five Oregon homeowners have earthquake insurance, state officials say. Among Farmers Insurance policyholders, it’s one in eight, says Jerry Davies, a company spokesman. It’s a low pickup rate for a state that’s among the three likeliest to suffer a severe quake.

More than three centuries ago, the last great Cascadia Subduction Zone quake struck offshore. Scientists think it was a magnitude 9.0.

They’ve documented 40 similarly huge earthquakes over 10,000 years along the fault, says Chris Goldfinger, head of the Active Tectonics and Seafloor Mapping Laboratory at Oregon State University. On only seven occasions did the time between earthquakes span more than 300 years.

Research by Goldfinger for the U.S. Geological Survey puts the odds of a powerful earthquake off the southern Oregon coast in the next 50 years at one in three, Goldfinger says. That’s a lot higher odds than the Oregon lottery. Earthquake insurance is looking better!

Earthquake Insurance Portland Oregon

When the big earthquake hits, it could be stronger than those that have devastated Haiti or Chile. Geologists say the ground here could shake for four minutes. Soon after, a tsunami will wreck the low-lying coastline. Landslides, fires and hazardous spills will follow, possibly along a “hot spot” like the oil tank farms along the Willamette River in Portland. We’ll feel aftershocks for months, too — some up to magnitude 7.

And it doesn’t have to be The Big One to hobble your home. Strong earthquakes centered in Washington’s Puget Sound area have caused damage in Portland.

Linda Mark, 36, bought her first house in February. But she started shopping for earthquake insurance in November — pre-Haiti and Chile. ”I knew the Portland housing earthquake risk,” the Southeast Portland resident says. ”I don’t want to be stuck with a mortgage and a house I couldn’t live in.”

Oregon earthquake insurance is not like health insurance or auto insurance. It’s catastrophic insurance. It’s what insurance was created for in the first place: Protecting yourself against a devastating financial loss that will happen at some point in the future, even if it’s not in your lifetime.

Is it obtainable? Is it too costly? That depends on your home’s insured value, location, age and construction type, as well as your carrier and your deductible. A survey by the Oregon Insurance Division of the 20 insurers that generate 80 percent of homeowner premiums in the state found:

Oregon earthquake insurance isn’t that expensive. Coverage for a 0,000 wood-framed home with 0,000 for personal property protection can cost 0 to 0 a year. That’s an extra on your monthly mortgage payment, or about 10 fewer lattes. Coverage for Mark’s 1,800-square-foot, 1925 home will cost an extra a month, said her broker, Mark Strauss of Leonard Adams Co. in Portland.

Older homes and those made of brick or masonry will cost you more. Some insurers won’t touch homes built before 1940. But retrofitting them can drive premiums down. Mark figures she’ll spend about ,000 bolting her sill plate to her foundation and save a month in premiums. That step pays for itself in 14 years, but it also might save your home.

Jay Kushner, an engineer and owner of Seismic Technologies in Portland, retrofits homes from about to .50 a square foot of basement or crawl space. You can do it yourself for less, but Kushner says he makes his own plates, which are stronger and better fits than those found at big-box stores. Post-Haiti demand for his services has left him booked three to four weeks out.

Oregon earthquake insurance won’t cover incidental damage from a small quake. Policies have high deductibles, ranging from 10 to 25 percent of the insured amount of your home. Mark’s deductible will run from ,500 to ,500 just to replace the structure. Another deductible applies to replacing household contents.

Earthquake insurance policies won’t cover damage from landslides or tsunamis, unless earthquakes caused them, state officials say. Coastal residents can get tsunami protection from flood insurance via the National Flood Insurance Program. They do, however, cover shaking caused by volcanic activity and damage wrought by aftershocks within a 72-hour period.

Renters can get earthquake insurance for their personal belongings. But the endorsement must be specifically requested, and it’ll probably tag 10 to 15 percent to the cost of your policy.

Even if you don’t get earthquake insurance, take other precautions. Strap your water heater to the wall studs, especially a natural-gas heater. Have a stash of emergency water, food and supplies. Have a family convergence or communications plan. Secure columns to the bottom of the house and the floor. That won’t get you earthquake insurance, but it might save your house.

Just ask Ms. Mark. Earthquake insurance is worth the money and the piece of mind!

To get a quote on Oregon earthquake insurance, complete the form above and receive home insurance quotes (with earthquake insurance included) from the top home insurance companies in Oregon!

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Best Home Insurance :USA Today from Census Reports there could be 14,000,000 vacant homes in the U.S.

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:58:45 +0000

Of the 14,000,000 possible vacant homes in the U.S. reported by the USA Today via the recent census, how many need vacant home insurance (also called vacant homeowners insurance)? Well, certainly not all of them, but we estimate the number to be in the millions.Why wouldn’t a house

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Of the 14,000,000 possible vacant homes in the U.S. reported by the USA Today via the recent census, how many need vacant home insurance (also called vacant homeowners insurance)? Well, certainly not all of them, but we estimate the number to be in the millions.Why wouldn’t a house in this situation need it’s own vacant home insurance? The home is abandonedThe house is boarded up or burnt outThe house in under construction and under a builders risk insurance policy.The house is owned by a bank or mortgage company and under a master group vacant homeowners insurance policy or the bank self insures the vacant dwelling risk.The house is owned by a corporation, perhaps being bought out by a corporate relocating employee because it did not sell in time. Many of these homes are not under a vacant home insurance group policy because the corporation may actually self insure the risk.Other than this, the millions left over, need vacant home insurance or the house in not protected properly. How many are protected properly… we can only guess. We suspect only about 25% are protected in the right way which is a scary statistic meaning there could be over 1,000,000 uninsured or improperly insured right now.

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Home Insurance :Vacant Homeowners Insurance Renewal Process

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:58:44 +0000

Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) would like to remind clients that the responsibility to renew a policy is the responsibility of the insured and/or the owner of the vacant home insurance policy. Although for longer term policies we will make every attempt to contact the policyholder

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Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) would like to remind clients that the responsibility to renew a policy is the responsibility of the insured and/or the owner of the vacant home insurance policy. Although for longer term policies we will make every attempt to contact the policyholder about the renewal, email addresses can change as can phone numbers. We do not mail a “hard copy renewal” letter.Vacant home insurance is a “special needs” policy written for a limited term of insurance like 90 days, six months or one year. Most policyholders end up selling the home, or it is no longer empty and don’t even need a renewal. It is for this reason, if a renewal is requested it is the responsibility of the insured to contact us at least 4 days before the termination date of the vacant home insurance policy.If the policy is allowed to lapse, it is not the responsibility of the owners of this website, nor the Lloyd’s of London coverholder. Please call us if you have any questions.

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Cheap Home Insurance :When a Vacant Home Becomes Rented, is vacant home insurance still needed?

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:56:09 +0000

Many clients of Vacant Home Insurance now are looking to rent their home, but can’t find a renter. A home should not sit unoccupied for more than 60 days in most cases, and if a renter cannot be found for a home, vacant homeowners insurance is almost always necessary.But what if

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Many clients of Vacant Home Insurance now are looking to rent their home, but can’t find a renter. A home should not sit unoccupied for more than 60 days in most cases, and if a renter cannot be found for a home, vacant homeowners insurance is almost always necessary.But what if vacant homeowners insurance is put in place, and then a renter is found. Here is our policy. If a client buys, say for example, a six month vacant home insurance policy, the owner of the policy can put a renter into the home at any time. This in no way violates the policy and is an advantage of VHIN policies. With other insurers, some clients could be forced to cancel the vacant home insurance policy and set up a new landlord policy which is administrative aggravation.At renewal time, VHIN’s insurance company and underwriters are able to continue the insurance but apply a discount because the home is now occupied, which means less risk. To insureds, it’s a seamless transition with a discount. Our process could not be any easier and is does NOT require a cancellation of the vacant home insurance policy to be replaced with another.

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Home Insurance :Housing Market Stalls Causing More Vacant Homes

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:56:09 +0000

The housing market in the Spring of 2010 made a “dead cat bounce” and homes not selling and sitting empty this summer means the need for vacant home insurance. Most people are overly optimistic regarding how quickly their home will sell. Everyone thinks their home is special and

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The housing market in the Spring of 2010 made a “dead cat bounce” and homes not selling and sitting empty this summer means the need for vacant home insurance. Most people are overly optimistic regarding how quickly their home will sell. Everyone thinks their home is special and will out-compete the competition. Many of these people will move into a new house while the old one sits on the market. In 2010 this is extremely dangerous.After the home sits empty for just 60 to 90 days homeowners may need to purchase vacant home insurance. Their existing homeowners insurance company will not offer a vacant homeowners insurance policy so they will have to switch carriers. Their existing homeowners insurance company will not continue to cover the empty home while the family moves into a new home as you cannot have two “primary residences.” Vacant home insurance is also expensive, and will cost about 3 x to 4 x the previous cost of homeowners insurance.Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) has noticed many people having to continually re-up and renew their vacant home insurance and vacant dwelling insurance program because, to but it simply, homes are not selling well in the summer of 2010. The market is not an F, but no better than a C-.

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Home Insurance :Approximately 15% of International Property Insurance Group Clients Have an Unprotected Vacant Home

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:56:08 +0000

International Property Insurance Group provides international property insurance to expatriates that reside globally. Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) works closely with IPI Group to meet the vacant home insurance needs of expatriates residing abroad that keep an empty or unoccupied

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International Property Insurance Group provides international property insurance to expatriates that reside globally. Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) works closely with IPI Group to meet the vacant home insurance needs of expatriates residing abroad that keep an empty or unoccupied house in their home country that need vacant homeowners insurance.IPI Group is beginning to ask U.S. expatriates about vacant home insurance needs and the results have been almost shocking. Only about 1/3 of U.S. expatriates living abroad working for a U.S. or foreign company keep a home. Of those that keep their home, about 1/2 have the house empty and the other 1/2 have a family member or someone else living in the house. For those that have an empty home, over 90% had not secured vacant home insurance! Of those that did not buy vacant homeowners insurance for the house, about 95% were totally unaware that it was even necessary.When a house sits empty for over 90 days, vacant home insurance is absolutely necessary in almost all cases, and without exception. The more time a house is unoccupied over 90 days, the better chance the current insurer would not cover claims or losses. Also, the existing insurer in almost all cases does not have a vacant home insurance product they can offer clients.

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Home Insurance :The Vacant Home Insurance Refund Process

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:30:54 +0000

Many people have asked us, if a Lloyd’s of London policy is chosen for vacant homeowners insurance do they have to commit for the entire six month policy period and if not, what is the refund process for vacant home insurance policies.The Lloyd’s of London vacant home insurance plan

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Many people have asked us, if a Lloyd’s of London policy is chosen for vacant homeowners insurance do they have to commit for the entire six month policy period and if not, what is the refund process for vacant home insurance policies.The Lloyd’s of London vacant home insurance plan is a minimum six month program paid in full but 90 days of premium can be refunded for early cancellation. There is a one time policy cost typically of about that is not refundable but 1/2 of the pure premium is fully refundable.The bottom line is, clients are only “on the hook” for 90 days of paid coverage and the rest of the premium in these vacant homeowners insurance policies is fully refundable. This also applies to policies for vacant condo insurance and vacant townhouse insurance in all States where the program is available.

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Cheap Home Insurance :Vacant Homeowners Insurance for Vacation Homes?

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:14:45 +0000

At Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) perhaps the # 1 question we are asked is the following:”I am selling my home and moving into another home so I need to buy vacant home insurance on the house I am selling that will be empty for several months while I sell. Why do I have to buy

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At Vacant Home Insurance Now (.com) perhaps the # 1 question we are asked is the following:”I am selling my home and moving into another home so I need to buy vacant home insurance on the house I am selling that will be empty for several months while I sell. Why do I have to buy vacant home insurance which is expensive when my neighbor has a second home insured, a vacation home, that’s empty most of the year, and he pays 60% less!”This is an excellent question regarding vacant homeowners insurance. The answer is:If you can call your empty home a “second home” or “vacation home” by all means do so to save money, but you can’t manipulate the facts or risk insurance fraud. Don’t let your agent “manipulate” the policy either. Your neighbor may have a legitimate second home or a vacation home, and if he/she can insure this home along side the primary home, it will be much less expensive than buying vacant home insurance. Here the insurer is able to insure the “second home” at a lower rate because they have all of the other client’s business in one big package: primary home, car 1, car 2, liability blanket, second home, life insurance, more? Those that attempt to game the system will mostly likely lose. A major claim on the “second home” that’s not really a second home or vacation home will be investigated by an insurance adjuster, and in person. If they find you had set the house up as a second home or a vacation home, and it’s really just a home for sale or another situation, the claim will be denied.

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