It can get up to 15%+ combining the home and auto and other policies.

I hope you have strict cancellation policy with all your listing sites.

The insurance companies pass the cost on to the policy holder and we end up paying for the dam lawyers.

If the answer is no they won’t touch it unless the landlord has not provided the necessary services (ability to heat to 60,  water services, door is able to be secured, no safety violations).Housing folks up here will not defend a bad tenant because they don’t want landlords to why fis on their clients.

She advised me to not start a business entity and use a personal liability umbrella policy to safeguard my family.

An engineer signing off on the repairs is a great thing because reality is they are taking on the liability of the repairs providing their stamp thus tend to over engineer things for a measure of safety.

You can get a vacant dwelling policy through American Modern or Foremost Insurance.

Some people will say, "Take out a quality Insurance Policy and you will be protected."

I have hazard insurance and an umbrella policy. 

The second option carries risk because they may end up paying for more than a month of vacancy if I have a hard time finding a new tenant.It is worth spending some time to research what other property managers in your market are doing and then develop a written policy.