Short-term rental insurance

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Hi again! What do you use for your short-term rental insurance? Our first quote shows an added $800 a year, so basically it doubles what we already pay. Is this the norm? Thanks!

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I can’t speak to the ‘norm’ but we use Proper insurance, here in the U.S. Off hand, my recollection is its premium was twice our homeowner’s premium, or more.

That doesn’t sound like a lot to me especially if it gives you $1,000,000 of liability insurance.

One thing I like about Proper was that as we went through its underwriting they had requirements based on our particular property. Some was signage; some was preventative.

That’s valuable because you really don’t want an accident, regardless of whether you’re insured. Even if insurance ‘covers’ what otherwise would a time sink and an immediate BIG financial loss – the lawsuit’s legal costs and fees – you’ll still suffer an emotional toll over the years in litigation.

Although insurance might cover that immediate financial loss, I suspect that future insurance premiums would climb, IF you could even get insurance. Insurance is your fail-safe but Prevention is your go-to.

That’s why it made sense for us to get insurance AND ALSO focus on making and keeping our property safe, which develops a safety mindset. For starters, here’s a checklist.

Over 80% of all lawsuits arise because of trips and falls. So, as a minimum, make sure your property complies with your local building code, inside and out and I’m especially thinking railings, no trip hazards, appropriate lighting.

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Great advice thank you!

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Grab it - sounds like a real bargain.

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I was paying an extra $1800 to cover my property with Proper insurance ($3200 total) in Massachusetts.

Through this forum, I found a plan with Allstate that would cover a rider for the short term rental that took cost about $1800 from $1200 (regular homeowner insurance).

Proper does cover things like bed bug remediation and also when you have to close the place due to some repairs but they also wanted an electrical and plumbing inspection every year and made me take down one of my cameras that was in a share location inside my house at the front entrance. (Not in the STR) .

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That’s why they call it “Proper” lol.

Seriously, I would love it if all STRS had inspections every year and were required to be accurate. Competing with unsafe airbnbs usually means we are lowballed out of stays.

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