Your Vacation Home or Rental Property

While owning your own vacation home has many advantages, it also carries added responsibility. Whether you use it year-round, all summer or weekends only, you want to make sure your vacation home is as well-protected and well-cared for as your primary residence.

In addition, if you rent or loan your vacation home frequently to family and friends, there are a few things you should know about your insurance coverage to protect your home and preserve your relationships should your best friend accidentally drive the boat into your dock.

Insurance Tips
• Make sure that your homeowners policy covering your primary residence extends your liability coverage to your vacation or rental property. You may have to purchase a separate policy.
• Check the amount of liability insurance to make sure you are covered adequately since there is a higher risk of accidents associated with a rental property than your own home.
• Consider purchasing extra liability insurance called a Personal Umbrella Policy (PUP). This can increase your liability coverage on your home or auto up to $1 million or more.
• Check to see if you have proper coverage for hurricane or windstorm damage if you own a home near the coast. In many cases, homeowners policies may provide limited coverage on hurricane damage and may or may not provide windstorm protection.
• Call your insurance company for information on flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program. Most homeowners policies do not provide flood coverage and the national program requires a thirty day waiting period before it becomes effective.

Learn more about Homesite homeowners policies .

Maintenance Tips
• Don't keep valuable items in your rental property or your vacation home.
• Provide helpful phone numbers and information for guests or renters (trash pickup, beach stickers, appliance directions, emergency numbers)
• Keep utilities on minimum coverage even if you are gone for an extended period of time.
• Check on your property frequently (even if you have a management company rent or clean the property on a regular basis)
• Maintain a checklist of house contents.
• Make sure walkways and stairs are free of clutter.
• Check porch and deck railings for loose boards.
• Check outside lighting and all electrical appliances.