Insurance premiums

Hi Everyone - I own an old 2 story home in which I do short term rentals with 3 bedrooms on the 2nd floor via Airbnb. I also have a two room lounge with a small fridge, coffee maker and I provide yogurt, water and juices and also provide whatever fruit is in season (apples, oranges, bananas etc…). No cooking whatsoever. I have the typical home owners policy and on the advice of my previous insurance agent, I added an 1M umbrella. I recently transferred my policy to another agent (with the same company) and she is telling me I have to purchase a commercial policy for the upstairs Airbnb and then purchase a separate policy for my contents and home owners since I live there. I currently pay about $1300 annually but should I do this, I will be paying $4325 annually. I called a friend who runs a bed and breakfast in my town and she’s paying about 4k. Was hoping there might be a cheaper solution and asking for any advice/suggestions. I live in Georgia in the USA. Best regards, Roger

You are lucky that your insurance company is giving you an option. Other hosts have been cancelled when they told their insurance company about Airbnb. You may have to bite the bullet and try to raise your rates to cover the extra cost.

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Thanks Maggie - I was hoping someone that has had a similar experience might have some cost saving advice. Appreciate your reply though.

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You are probably being underwritten as a business. I would ask for a policy as a rental property. This will likely give you the liability protection you need. Business policies assume all sorts of items you will not need. Employees, signage, equipment. ect…

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There is a company that provides on demand insurance called Slice. I don’t know if it’s a cheaper option. You only pay when you have guests.

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We were dropped by the original insurer the moment they heard we were doing AirBnb. Previously we paid about $1300 year (Florida, tourists, hurricanes, few insurers) not we’re paying nearly $5K and only one insurer can in that cheap. One company wanted $5000 a year just for “wind damage”, and $3000 for the business policy.

Then we had Irma run over us. No damage here, at all; but you can bet insurance will go up 30% next year!!!

I wouldn’t trust and “on demand” company. They may suddenly not cover your demand…

Thanks Brandt & Maggie - they did say it had to be considered a business since I both live and run the airbnb out of the same home (I had to do a business & tourist license with the little town I live in) and have to pay 5% tax on monthly earnings. I will check out rental policies & Slice for sure…really appreciate the info.

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We shopped around for an insurance policy and found the answers vary widely. It takes time but is worth it to find a policy that will cover STR in an owner occupied house similar to having a day care center. Slice seems pretty expensive unless you can raise your rates to cover it - I think for our area it was $5 per night.

Slice really only makes sense if you only rent for a finite number of days, such as your own 2-week vacation, every other weekend, etc. For anyone aiming for something like 92%-98% occupancy, the fee is far too high,

Doesn’t Airbnb provide some coverage for hosts? Like if a guest slips and falls in the shower or on the stairs? We were told that they do…

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We got a quote from Proper insurance which replaces your homeowner’s insurance while also covering your STR. Their quote FWIW was $1800, only around $500 over what we currently pay. I’ve been meaning to compare coverage to our homeowners policy. In the meantime, we have Comet insurance just for the STR.

Proper insurance looks promising. I’m going to contact them for a quote.

How is 5/night expensive - or do you mean it’s $150/month?

Since this would be in addition to our regular homeowners I consider it to be expensive. As it is we are paying just about the same premium as we did with our old company but have better, clearer coverage for STR. It just took a lot of phone calls and shopping around.

It would be one thing to link to an article with actual information, but it’s another to fish for contact information of participants of this forum to get your e-book.

Sorry this is just an ad for a guidebook. We can’t allow it.

I have heard that Proper doesn’t cover things like hurricanes or flooding. Let us know what you find out.

I started this original message ref Insurance Premiums… I’m only interested in the info mentioned in my post and sharing what has happened to me. I haven’t added any links…maybe others did along the way? Only phishing for advice…thanks

Well, not sure what you are objecting to? Our forum is known for going off topic. When you say phishing, that is a bad word, it means scamming. So I am not sure what your concern is??

He thinks you are scolding him. Globetrotter’s post is hidden and your post saying it can’t be allowed isn’t linked to globetrotter’s hidden post so the OP thinks you are talking to him.

This site doesn’t work well on handheld devices and the threads can be quite confusing.

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