Understanding Second Home Insurance: Inclusions And Why It May Cost More

Getting a home insurance policy is a proactive way to ensure you protect the investment that is your home. For a homeowner with more than one property, you will need to ensure each property is covered.

With second home insurance, you can protect all your investments. Here is a breakdown of what you should know about this cover.

Second Home Insurance Defined

Second home insurance is the coverage for other properties apart from your primary residence. As a standard policy, it will have dwelling coverage, as well as optional dwellings and belongings coverage. Again, you can have add-ons depending on the property's specific risk factors.

A Policy for Each Home

Each of your properties needs its own home insurance policy. That's to say that you cannot have more than one property covered under one home insurance policy.

It should also not come as a surprise that the insurance amount will vary from one home to the next. This is expected given the age of the homes, construction material, quality of build, and the location of the homes are different, meaning the risk factor is not the same.

Second Homes Are Considered a Higher Risk

You no doubt spend less time in your second home. This fact increases the risk of burglary, fires, and more insured incidents. Second homes, such as vacations homes, are also often in areas that have a higher risk of events such as flooding. Lastly, some amenities installed in second homes, such as pools, carry with them some risk, especially without full-time supervision.

All this adds to the higher risk home insurance companies associate with second homes. That being a fact, you can expect to pay more in premiums on your second home insurance policy than on the cover for your primary home.

Exceptions on Second Home Insurance

For insurance purposes, certain types of properties would not be considered second homes. This varies from one insurer to the next, and you may need to get a different type of policy for such properties.

Take, for example, unoccupied rentals. These wouldn't be considered a second home, and you'll need a special type of coverage, namely vacant or unoccupied coverage. The same goes for rental properties which are occupied.

Bottom Line

Every single one of your properties needs to be insured. Talk to your home insurance company about a second home insurance policy where applicable. Where not applicable, the insurance company can guide you on a more suited policy option.

Reach out to an insurance agency, such as Binyon Agency, to get started.