Rental Insurance via Airbnb

[Zach Milburn]

This is my first post on here so I apologize in advance if this is slightly off the mark. 

I am interested in renting one of my properties for a short period of time before either selling it, listing on Airbnb as a day-to-day thing, or rolling it into a full-time regular rental unit. That said, I don't necessarily want to go through the process of setting up regular renter's insurance, contracts, credit checks etc. with a 2-3 month rental. 

I've looked into Airbnb's rental policy, and it seems to be pretty comprehensive. Considering that their commission rates are relatively low, it almost seems like the logical thing to do to just rent it out month-to-month using the Airbnb platform. The tenant would then be covered under Airbnb's typical insurance policy - and although I understand it is highly recommended to have backup insurance - they don't require it. 

Has anyone had any experience here? Again, I would rather be over-insured than under insured, but there might be some less cumbersome ways to set up a legitimate system for a situation like this with the help of the Airbnb platform.

[Sean Walton]

I ran into a challenge doing airbnb long term because like you I would rather be over insured than under. If you are not living in the place between guests it is more of a commercial policy that you need at least that is what State Farm told me. The catch was in order to get a commercial policy they wanted a signed lease. You should talk to your insurance agent some are fine with keeping the homeowner policy in place some aren't. I ended up having to go with CBIZ which I have been happy with. Only about 50% more than state farm was. I haven't thankfully had to make a claim so can't speak to that. Having a "innkeeper's policy" also allows me to use other sites like Homesuite so I like the flexibility.