Homeowner's Insurance South Florida 2022

[Donald225]

At my wit's end.  We listed our property in December, thought it would be a while before we had any bookings and to our surprise, we were booked 60 days out within a few days.  I should have done more research prior to creating the listing, but I thought it would be a fairly simple matter to obtain insurance (or a rider on our current policy, etc.).

Three months later, we still don't have anything.  I've contacted numerous agencies, and all have come up empty handed.  There are dozens and dozens of short-term rental properties in the area; surely they can't all be uninsured.  

Proper wasn't able to write anything in Florida until very recently, but finally got a quote and the homeowner's insurance is actually very reasonable.  But the windstorm portion is exorbitant, and they don't give discounts for HVHZ compliant shutters or roof clips, which is the highest hurricane rating.  And Citizens, the state-run insurer of last resort, won't write policies for rentals.

I don't know any other Airbnb hosts in this area and don't know what else to do, other than to bend over and sign with Proper.  I've read other threads but there's a lot of old information in most of them that is no longer accurate.

Any hosts out there in South Florida?  Are there any other forums that are popular with short-term rental hosts?  

[Sybe]

Hi @Donald225 ! Have you found any answers to your question yet?

If not, it might be worth trying one of the local Host Clubs. You can find them here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Get-Local/ct-p/en_clubs

I hope that helps. 😃 

[Donald225]

Not really.  Thanks for the tip about local host clubs.  I joined the local one on FB, but no help there either.  

I did however happen to find an independent agent who gave me a very reasonable quote from an insurance company called ReinsurePro.  They seem legit and the agent I'm dealing with has a few vacation rentals of his own and says he's really happy with them.

Not sure why this sort of information is so hard to find, or why so many "professional" insurance agents can't seem to find a single company that writes short term vacation insurance, but for anyone else in South Florida struggling with this, give *** a shout.  He's been very helpful.

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[Virginia210]

Hello @Donald225 

I wonder if you have found guidance for insurance for airbnb owner- hosts, especially personal liability insurance and minimal protection for hurricane damage to the property.

I am in Fort Pierce and book about 100+ days per year at my one bedroom beachside condo and I have HOA status. 

My current homeowners insurance covers the interior space, personal property, and person liability for about $2200 per year but is from an out of state insurer. 

The insurance is issued pursuant to Florida Surplus Lines Law which means

I do not have full protection of Florida Insurance Guaranty Act.

Virginia @ The Perfect Spot

[Donald225]

Hi @Virginia210 .

This is a really old post. Yes, we did find insurance and everything was fine until a month ago. We got an email saying our rates were going up $475 A MONTH starting in June. Our agent inquired and confirmed, and said he had no other options.

However, it didn't go up in June and I have no idea what's going to happen but I don't want to rock the boat so we're in a wait and see mode.

Most likely we will end up selling the property next spring. We can make more money selling it than we will make in 10-15 years renting it as an airbnb, so it's pretty much a no-brainer at this point. But we have reservations until April 2024 and we really don't want to cancel, they are repeat guests and really good people so hopefully we can at least break even until we sell. 

FWIW, we just moved up to Ft. Pierce (actually the unincorporated area by the county line). Love it up here.

[Katelynn15]

We had liability short term rental policy with Fednat and less than a month later they dropped our policy along with 50k other policies.

We called numerous insurance agents in Clearwater/Largo FL and no one was able to find a carrier that would bind us. We searched outside of Clearwater and was so lucky to have found an agent/owner in Orlando that went above and beyond to help us and the premium was similar to what we had.

If you're like us and are looking to a short term insurance policy in the state of FL, we would highly recommend giving Alex Mayer a call. 

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[Helen744]

@Donald225 certainly over here in Australia you would need two insurance policies.

One is the main house insurance. The other is a type of rental or tenants insurance. 

The company that carries your main insurance should also provide STR insurance but it will vary from usual renters insurance as it will not cover probably 'loss of rent'. Start off with your regular insurance company and ask about additional STR insurance.Some companies refused to cover this type of insurance during covid  especially when tenants could not be asked to leave and after reports of big damaging parties. If you have a good hosting record they tend to be happier with you or if you have put hosting policies in place to prevent problems for both the house , your neighbours  and them ,so keep trying you will find someone . In the meantime keep a very close eye on your guests and your house.Many people host without this type of insurance but I would not recommend it , but Airbnb do provide some insurance for damages... Good luck  H 

[Helen744]

sorry if this is a bit out of date.. Ha ha .. H