All Forum Posts by: Jared Townsend

@Andre Fierro The only costs you save by going direct to the seller is closing costs. You still have to pay a few different fees to the government. 

We have seen rate increases from most of our carriers over the last few years. Some of these are even mandated by the state to make sure the carriers have adequate reserve funding for claims. In my opinion the two major drivers of the increase are 1) higher reinsurance rates charged to the carriers, and 2) lawsuit abuse which inflates claim severity. 

Your best bet is to first review your policy to make sure it fits your needs, then comparison shop. Make sure that the new quotes you receive are comparable or better than your current coverage because I often see people excited about lower rates but miss the fact that they lost valuable endorsements and increased their deductible by thousands. 

Best of luck to you!

@Patricia Steiner I would be careful offering insurance advice unless you are a licensed agent. We have written thousands of vacation rental homes over the last 14 years and never had a claim denied for vacation rental use by our personal lines carriers. 

You are correct that not all personal lines carriers allow it though - in FL we have appointments with 25+ carriers and only 6 allow for vacation rentals, but they certainly do pay claims on them. 

There is certainly nothing wrong with the Proper policy on the commercial form, but it does tend to be more expensive than our other carriers. Sometimes they are the only option and we'll write them, but I would be careful suggesting that they are the only option for vacation rentals. 

We have found success with ASI Home (owned by Progressive) for our vacation rental customers. They offer hazard+wind+flood all in one package. 

Estimates show that roughly 30% of flood claims occur in the "low risk" X flood zone. It then becomes a personal question of your risk tolerance whether or not to buy that coverage. A rough estimate for flood premium is typically 50% of the hazard premium. 

@Elenis Camargo has good insight in the area

@Chris Elkendier These communities were designed specifically for vacation rentals, very few people live there year round. Check out  https://encorereunion.com/ and  https://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/Florida/Orlando/Kissimmee/Storey-Lake as well. The amenities and homes are designed for short term stays. Feel free to reach out to me if you have more questions about them - I love talking about our local developments. 

One additional strategy is to buy one larger property using the funds as a down payment. Orlando and the surrounding areas are saturated with 3-5 bedroom homes, but not 10+ bedroom homes. There is a strong market for family reunions and other larger groups that need larger homes. These also tend to have unique offerings so you can stand out from the crowd and charge higher rates. There are a handful of communities with this type of home - one example is https://bearsdenreunion.com/. 

@Owen Franks Sure thing! I'll reach out right away. 

@James Carlson We represent Proper as well - they have a time and place when regional companies are unwilling to write the risk. In our experience they tend to be 20-30% more expensive. They were founded in 2014 and based heavily on a prior Lloyds based insurer (CBIZ). We have been writing vacation rental insurance since 2006 and watched as multiple products have come and gone. 

Hi Owen,

There are a handful of carriers in FL that write short term rental insurance. Some of the best are ASI (owned by Progressive), FedNat, St Johns and Velocity. Best of luck to you!