Can you not find anyone (whom you trust!) to live in the house officially for as long as necessary?

We had State Farm on our last home. I had been checking rates and found another company that was cheaper, but hadn't gotten around to switching when we decided to move. I used the new company for the new house, and pretty much just never told State Farm that we'd vacated the other one. Fortunately, we came in under the 60 day clause when I'd need to make the real decision you're facing now.

Is there something in there about what constitues "vacant"? We had several items still in that home until we left and that was one of the things I was going to have to look up if we came to that point..l.

My brother in law experienced this problem when he vacated his home before he sold it. He called his insurance company to make sure the home would be covered while vacant and they told him his would be cancelled after only 30 days with no one in residence. He was able to find insurance that covered a vacant home, but it wasn't cheap. He said he paid as much for 3 months of coverage as he did for a full year of coverage for the home when he occupied it. So there are companies out there that insure vacant homes, it's just gonna cost you.

I don't have anyone to stay in the house. I was only in Austin for a couple years and really only met the next door neighbors and casual acquaintances like that. Plus it's a big (3300 sq ft) empty house...it would need nice furniture to still show well.

The policy says that if you move a substantial portion of your stuff out of the house then they consider it vacant. Since we moved every scrap of furniture out of the house, that definitely qualifies.

I am expecting it to cost a bunch, but some people on the other thread said that their insurance company didn't charge them any more when the house was vacant, so I figured maybe there are other options.

Hmmm, isn't that your "vacation" home? Go visit it once in a while and insure it as your "vacation" home. So what if you are trying to sell your "vacation" home. We owned our retirement/cottage home for 10 years before selling our other house. Never an issue with insurance.
Kathy G in MI

Good post for me to read. I was just going to call my insurer to see if they could reduce the insurance since it is vacant, seems like it'd be cheap to insure a vacant home? Now maybe I won't upset the apple cart before reading the policy. Thanks.

Renting a few pieces of furniture might be cheaper than the vacant home insurance.

"If the insured (underlined) moves from the dwelling and a substantial part of the personal property is removed from that dwelling, the dwelling will be considered vacant. "

and then it says I have 60 days of coverage after that date. So I cannot have a friend move in and I cannot move in a couple pieces of furniture. I need a new policy. :)

Everyone with a vacant house, please check your policy. My policy for the house I just bought says that if the house is vacant for more than 30 days, they do not cover arson or vandalism at all. Luckily the old policy does not have that. Don't take chances with your house! I don't want to put a couple pieces of furniture in there or sleep in there a couple nights with a sleeping bag and hope that qualifies. I want to know that I am covered.

State Farm covered my house while it was vacant. I switched from regular coverage to vacant house coverage and there really was not much of a difference in price. Since insurance is state-regulated, I imagine there are differences between the states on this.

Everyone with a vacant house, please check your policy. My policy for the house I just bought says that if the house is vacant for more than 30 days, they do not cover arson or vandalism at all. Luckily the old policy does not have that. Don't take chances with your house! I don't want to put a couple pieces of furniture in there or sleep in there a couple nights with a sleeping bag and hope that qualifies. I want to know that I am covered.

Good advice, flimsy plans are worthless, you may not have coverage when you need it.

We had a similar problem a few years ago when an uncle passed away and left us with his house to sell in another state (WV). We could only find one company that would insure it at a huge premium. Not only did we have to pay for a minimum 3 month policy at a time, we could not cancel the policy and get a refund once it sold. Naturally it took a long time to sell even then. Good luck.

We came very close to having to purchase vacant home ins. We moved out the end of June and I received a call from my ins. agent the end of September asking if our home was vacant? I believe what tipped them off is our auto policies were canceled as we moved to another state. They held both home and auto policies.
We had a failed Title V that took 3 months to complete. We were advised not to place our house on the market until we had the Title V in hand. Thankfully, when the ins. agent called we had a signed purchase and sale . We were just waiting for the closing. I also informed them I was there daily painting etc. I never gave this issue a thought until I was aware it was a problem.
I am curious how much higher the insurance rates are for a vacant home?

How about hiring a house sitter? You pay the 'rent', they pay the utilities. Might be cheaper than insurance for a vacant house.

A link that might be useful:

www.caretaker.org

"I was just going to call my insurer to see if they could reduce the insurance since it is vacant, seems like it'd be cheap to insure a vacant home?"

It's cheaper on the theft of personal property; more for arson/vandalism. Depends on how those two risks balance out. Obviously tell the ins. co. that you don't want coverage for personal possessions.

As a practical matter, I doubt they're going to cancel the policy on day 60. It's unlikely they'll even know. One approach would be to call your ins. co. and ask them in general terms-- "I'm going to be moving soon, and may not have sold my home . . . "

I would think that, if you filed a claim, they'd point out that the policy AUTOMATICALLY cancelled on day 61.

You may still be holding an active policy, but the terms do not give you coverage. A policy is worthless if it doesn't cover your loss.