Insuring an unoccupied home

[Wes Valour]

I'm in a bit of a pickle and I could seriously use the advice of some professionals. Sorry if this gets a bit long winded.

I live in North Carolina. I own one home which I bought 5 years ago. I put it up for sale in May of this year. I haven't had any offers. I do have an Uncle that is dead set on buying my house, but he has to sell his house first. I'm not overly confident he is going to sell his, so I can't consider that a sure thing. Since putting the house on the market, I have been living full time somewhere else. So the house is currently vacant. Fast forward a few months ago and my Farm Bureau agent asked to come by to do a "5 year policy review". I met him at the house, at which point he noted that it was listed for sale. Being completely naive I let him know that i wasn't actually living in the house.

So when he put in the re-application for my insurance he noted that the house was vacant. They politely declined to renew my coverage. But the agent stated that we could apply for a Dwelling Policy. So we did that. They agreed to insure the property with some exceptions. While it is vacant they will only insure it for "Actual Cash Value". (Which isnt very much as I'm sure you all know.) But the real problem is, they are giving me a deadline of Nov 5th to have the house occupied or they will cancel my policy.

So I have a few questions. What exactly constitutes occupancy? Can I say that I stay at the house 1 night a week when I work a closing shift? Or does it have to be approx. 50% of the time it's occupied. I would like to give my uncle some time to see if he can sell his house. Ideally I would like to give him until at least the new year.

If I attempt to acquire insurance through another company, how should I go about that? Should I not tell them its listed for sale, and that I live there full time? If they ask or find out about the listing, do I still tell them I live there full time? I realize that ALL of you will tell my that it is illegal to lie on an insurance application, and that upon being caught they will cancel my policy. Another question they will ask is "Has any insurer or agency canceled or refused to issue or renew similar insurance to the named applicant or any household member within the past 3 years? If I lie and say no, they will be able to easily find out the truth by calling my agent and asking him, correct?

I'm not sure if it's pertinent or not but I do have a covered loss on my policy as well. They paid out 6k last year for a new roof. I think they were looking for a reason to dump me.

So what do I do? I either have to dupe another insurer into covering my house while not knowing its vacant(which is highly unlikely to happen). Or I have to get it occupied. Either part time by myself or with a renter. Am I missing any other options?

In all honesty, I don't want to rent the house out. I just dont want the stress and hassle of it. I would be inclined to use a property management company if I were to rent it out. Which would cut into any rainy day funds I would want to build up. Ideally though, I would like to be rid of the house. But it would appear based on current info that I am essentially upside down on the house. I can't afford to drop my asking price without coming out of pocket, which I would like to avoid.

So here I am a desperate man asking for help. It's a crappy place to be in but I'm just not sure what else to do. I appreciate any help and advice you can give.

Thanks,

Wes