The Right Way to Insure Seasonal Homes

San Antonio, TX, can be a great place to live, but sometimes you want to get away. That’s why so many people like vacation homes. As wonderful as it is to have a getaway, the vacation home needs insurance. LeapFrog Insurance has a couple of tips to help you avoid the worst of bad insurance policies.

Protect It

Empty homes are inherently more dangerous to insure. The chance of burglary, squatting and unattended damages all go way up when no one is around. That last is particularly troublesome. If a pipe burst and no one notices, you can be looking at massive damages. Insurers don’t like to be on the hook for that. As a result, vacation homes often have higher insurance premiums than primary residences. You can attack those costs by showing the insurance companies how protected your home is.

The best thing in the world is to have live-in caretakers. That’s obviously not viable for every home, so you can also consider a robust security system. Anything that makes the prospect less risky to the insurer is likely to help you save money.

Realize the Cost of Renting

Since an empty house is a higher risk, you might be tempted to seasonally rent the house and save on insurance costs. This is a two-edged sword. Once the house is rented, it becomes a commercial property, and all of the rules change. Tax structure, minimum insurance requirements and potential liabilities all enter the equation. It’s still possible that you can rent seasonally and come out ahead, but it’s important to realize that it’s a complicated animal.

The most important thing to remember is that you can talk to your LeapFrog Insurance agent. They can help you find the best plan for your vacation home and your assets in San Antonio, TX.