Home insurance advice required

CBIZ? Any other ideas in addition, for the uSA?

I moved our insurance to Terri Sheer. They allow holiday rentals.

A great option for insurance to check out is Peers.org. They are strictly focused on insurance for the homesharing economy. Homesharing liability insurance is their premier product. Another option is Comet Home (www.comethome.com). They also provide home insurance specifically for home sharing. If there is anything else I can help with feel free to reach out.

Mark

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We went with CBIZ, they offer both property and liability coverage for short term and vacation rentals. Reasonably priced for commercial coverage, well underwritten and the exclusions were reasonable and not too onerous. Google them and youā€™ll find it.

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Mgyori, did they insist on this through the phone? We actually switched our home insurance to them as we were not able to find any other options and Iā€™ve looked through the policy and water damage is covered as long as your property is not vacant (defined as no plans to be occupied or lived in).

Were you able to find another provider?

Hi Cyn,

Yes, we went with another provider, Optimum West. They created a separate commercial level package for 3rd party liability and some of the appliancesā€¦ They were quite reasonable in price. We had to pay a bit extra for the complete strata plan as well (we are one half of a duplex), but it wasnā€™t too bad. Interesting that Square One defines vacant as no plans to be occupied or lived in. We abandoned them for this vacancy exclusion reason. If I had known that vacant didnā€™t actually mean vacant but no plans for vacancy, we might have used them. But their policy had so many exclusions I lost track of what they actually did cover.

Best,
Michael

Thanks for the info Michael. Their policy does have a lot of exclusions and itā€™s quite expensive. Weā€™re paying close to $300 a month plus a $2,500 ded. Mind you our replacement cost is pretty high and we have guaranteed replacement cost but itā€™s still quite expensive. I donā€™t like their customer service either so Iā€™m going to look for other options before the renewal date.

Hello everyone. New host here. I gather I should sign on with Peers or CBIZ for liability insurance, But what then is the best way to handle oneā€™s existing homeowners insurance company? Just say nothing, and if thereā€™s a claim from a renter, use the new policy for it? Is there a chance that the existing insurance company will find out and cancel my homeowners policy? Iā€™m in California and have State Farm.

Thanks all.

My Cottage policy is with State Farm - I just talked to them today and they said they would cancel my policy if they found out I was posting on a public sharing site like Air BnB. Iā€™m shopping around for other options that will provide a complete policy and allow for Air BnB. (Iā€™m in Canada. Cottage is in Muskoka.)

Thanks, Ruth! (And your answer is why I changed my handle on this site from my real name.)

Airbnb provides $1M liability insurance coverage in US, which makes State Farmā€™s draconian cancelation policy kinda dumb, I think.

Totally agree. And oops. Good point!

I had State Farm and I called to see if my policy covered short term rentals and they dropped me. I had to find another insurer ASAP. The policy is about $200 a month.

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Hi Joshot15,

I just came across this thread ā€¦ Is your insurance company in the USA? Did you ever develop that insurance package for Airbnb short-term rentals ā€¦ Thanks, Lia

Well, that makes it quite usefulā€¦ :fearful:

In Tennesse, my insurance broker found an umbrella fire policy for about $280. My place is a motherinlaw apartment attached but seperate from my house.

I am about to only have people for a month minimum and that will side step a bunch of annoying regulations. Or just go back to renting it by the year.

Hey guys

Has anyone come across/used Belong Safe (www.belongsafe.com) before?

It looks like they have been set up just for Hosts and they offer home, contents and liability cover. I think they are a fairly new outfit and they are only available in the UK but.

You join (its free) and then pay per stay that you log - it didnt seem expensive when i looked at it and it means to get to keep your same insurance in place.

If anyone needs help with insurance I came across a company called Belong Safe (www.belongsafe.com) offering cover on a daily basis. It looks like they have been set up just for Hosts and they automatically offer home, contents and liability cover. I think they are a fairly new outfit and they are only available in the UK.

You join (its free) and then pay per stay that you log - it didnt seem expensive when i looked at it and it means to get to keep your same insurance in place.

For the UK only, Belongsafe is so new that thereā€™s zero feedback out there. The topic of home insurance is sufficiently important that I think each major Airbnb country mentioned so far in various threads at airhostforum should have their own thread, since this service and info about it really does not cross borders.

Hello Moderator, do you agree?

Been checking it out as well. Try square one insurance. They cover airbnb. Based in vancourver but you can do it over phone. Finally a company in the new age!

Canadian options: SquareOne but itā€™s not in all provinces. There is another one called April out of Quebec that Iā€™m just checking out nowā€¦they specialize in short-term for Airbnbā€™rs. Not sure if theyā€™re Canada-wide.

Why are people looking for insurance if AirBnb now has both host protection and host guarantee insurance to cover both the property and liabilities? If your home is valued more than $1MM, or if you think damages to your and/or surrounding properties might exceed $1MM, or if you have some valuables that Airbnb doesnā€™t insure (jewelry, for example), then yes, I understand. But most people donā€™t belong to this category.

So, can you guys let me know why youā€™re asking for additional insurance? Iā€™m only asking because Iā€™m also in the same boat and wondering whether I should do away with my State Farm and host on airbnb with a peace of mind, or whether I should reconsider this whole thing.