Do you insure your flips?

Question

Curious to know what everyone does in terms of buying homeowners insurance during a flip?  Do you typically do it? Only under certain circumstances? Or just skip it altogether?

Ben Sears · Answer

I hold my Builder's Risk and property insurance through Erie. They've been great with me and all I have to do is call the office when I need to add or subtract a property. State Farm does my rentals for next to nothing. In the end, my advice would be to find a local agent that knows your area and risks and work with them if most of your properties are in one place.

J Scott · Answer

I've been self-insuring for about 8 years now.  If you don't do much volume, it may not be worth it.  But, if you do a reasonable volume, it may be.  Personally, given the cost, deductibles and coverages, I've found that self-insuring has saved me a good bit of money over the years.

Kyle J. · Answer

You should buy insurance but you need to make sure you buy the proper insurance (i.e. vacant dwelling, builders risk, etc). You can’t just buy a regular homeowners insurance policy for most flip properties.

David Hanor · Answer

Every post here is concerning property damage but you should really be concerned about liability. If it’s a run down property and someone decides to go on the porch and knock on the door but someone injured themselves because you don’t have handrails, you’re sued for $100ks.

If you decide to not buy a traditional policy that repairs or replaces the dwelling, please at least buy a liability policy. The ones I sell are just $50 per unit for $1M.

Frank Geiger · Answer

I absolutely insure my flips. Runs me a little over 1k for the year. Then I sell in 6 months and get half my prepaid back. The deductible is rather high. But I’d gladly pay it if someone broke into my house and messed a bunch of my work up.

Mark S. · Answer

@Thuy Pham-Satrappe I NEVER buy a property without insuring it. But the stuff I buy runs in the 250-500k range. Would be way too much risk vs. cost to not do so. I suppose if you were buying 25k properties it may be okay. But why risk it? The cost is minimal.

Sam Shueh · Answer

What do you do if someone or faulty wire ignites the entire home. Say squatters moved in heating themselves.

Pratik P. · Answer

I think you've gotten your answer but I ALWAYS get insurance on all of our flips, even if I intend on buying and immediately re-selling it within a month. Also make sure it has the right coverage.

Azeez K. · Answer

Hi @Thuy Pham-Satrappe

I always buy insurance. For flips I use REIGUARD just search on google. I don’t want to put a link as moderators may delete post. they do flip type insurance low cost and affordable in my experience.

Good luck

Mindy Jensen · Answer

@Azeez K., as long as it isn't your company, you can put a link in the forums.

Do you insure your flips?

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