What type of insurance am I supposed to get for a buy and hold rental property?

[Jeff L.]

Is it home owner's insurance, or liability insurance, or both? With an umbrella policy is that three separate things?

[Doug McLeod]

Some insurers call it a Fire policy or a Rental policy. Others call it a dwelling policy. Key features are insurance against damage or loss to the house itself and attached/related structures (garage, covered patio, etc) and some degree of liability (I like to get $300k). You generally want little or no coverage of contents (you renters should insure their stuff and your lease should make that clear).

It can be a Replacement Cost policy or an Actual Cash Value policy.  Flexibility in how much dwelling coverage you can (or must) get is a key driver of cost along with the deductible and additional coverages (like lost rent, damage from water leaks, etc).

Many investors get an Umbrella policy ($1-3M additional liability coverage) over a group of properties (or all of them) in addition to the liability coverage they have per property.