I need advice from US citizens who rent out their homes while traveling as long-term/permanent petsitters. I am looking for a home insurance company to insure my property while I am away. I am planning ahead–I’ll be making the jump in approximately one year. I just learned today that my current insurance company doesn’t provide coverage if/when the owner lives outside the US. Online search shows a few companies: Clements, Allianz, Intasure. Anyone had experience with these? How’s the coverage, pricing, and customer service? Thanks in advance.
Greetings @cherylfah,
You are very smart to think about the insurance and legal angles while navigating. The insurance carriers first reaction to a claim is to figure out how to get out of paying and the insurance carriers look for any reason to void the contract and not pay. This isn’t life insurance where it is black and white…what you are describing has so many gray areas.
It may be a simple matter of a supplemental policy and/or a commercial insurance policy as opposed to simply residential.
You may want to connect with a real-estate attorney as well as an insurance agent that specializes in commercial and residential insurance policies.
One way I know will work though. HOPEFULLY…you don’t have to do all this. But what you could do is create an LLC, transfer ownership of the home to your LLC, non-homestead your home (assume taxes will go up 50% as well) and essentially…it becomes a rental property. The sitter would then become a tenant. IF that were to take place, a commercial insurance policy would cover such circumstance as long as you had a lease agreement signed in good order with the sitter (essentially, a tenant). A nominal lease of course ($1/month) would have to apply as well. That is worst case…
Hopefully someone else may have something to add as well!!!
Good luck, please update us!
Thanks for this input.
I’ll remember to speak with my real estate attorney as well as the property manager about their recommendations. For now I want to find the insurance companies that THS folks recommend.
The LLC option with a sitter in the house doesn’t compute for me. The property must be rented to a genuine tenant paying the market rate to fund a portion of traveling expenses.
AH…so you re not utilizing THS for a sitter, simply for information. My mistake!
Either way, do keep us updated when you have a solution. Interesting topic.
I can’t help from a homeowner’s position, but I’ve been a long-term renter and part of the contract stipulated that I must have renter’s insurance. You can do that as well.
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Some questions to consider so you can seek advice from your attorney and accountant. No need to share here, but to find out so you know.
Do you plan to actually reside in another country outside the US, or do you just plan to rent out your home and travel as a nomad with your US passport?
If you have a mortgage on your property, does the bank or mortgage company allow you to rent it out? There are different types of mortgages for owner occupied properties and different mortgages for rental properties. It’s the same for insurance.
If you can rent it out, there are many insurance companies who offer rental property insurance. All policies are different and based on many variables, so pricing is going to depend on your specific property, where you are located, any higher risk features it may have like a pool or water on the property, what type of coverage and deductibles you seek, rental loss protection, etc.
If you don’t plan to formally move to another country, but simply want to rent your home and pet sit/travel, some nomads will still maintain a residence of some sort in the country where they are a citizen and maintain their health insurance, bank accounts, drivers licenses, credit, etc.
Indeed that is always a requirement of the renter.
Thanks.
Title/mortgage only stipulated that house couldn’t be a rental until one year after purchase and we’re past that.
Correct, I have landlord insurance already. The insurance agent just said “We can’t work with you if you leave the US”
I don’t know what moving “formally” means but if you mean if I have someone who’s address I can say is my address in the US, then yeah, maybe. But I doubt it. I’ll be using a virtual mailbox service for all my mail.
Formally means you file and are granted a residence permit in another country, or have a passport from another country and plan to relocate there, use your foreign address to file your US taxes, file foreign taxes as required, etc. If you don’t plan to do this, then you are not leaving the US, you are a US citizen traveling frequently, have a US address, in whatever way you decide works best for your situation.
If you do want to formally leave the US, it would be worthwhile to discuss what you would like to do with an attorney who works with US citizens who want to reside abroad, and an accountant who works with US citizens in the country where you want to reside. What they say will help guide you with the best course of action to take over the next year until you formally make your jump in a year.
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Thanks, that’s a useful distinction.