How to protect myself once I move.

[adviceplease]

We have found a rental house and plan on starting to move in on March 1st. We have a lot of stuff since we have lived in our home so long that it is going to take us most of the time left on our redemption period to go through everything and slowly move it over. The question I have is what should I do to protect ourselves from people breaking in once they figure out we are not "living" in the home? I was going to leave the renters insurance on the old house until the redemption period is over to protect any items that are still in it and come to the house for a couple of hours each day to make it look occupied but people aren't stupid and they are going to figure out the cars aren't there anymore overnight, any advice? Also should I put the home owners insurance back on in case someone decides to break in a strip the house? Thanks!

[AngelinaCat]

You have a real problem here, because no insurance company will insure a vacant house. And if you DO manage to get a 'dwelling' policy--the basic bare-bones, fire insurance coverage, once an incident happens and the insurance company finds out that you haven't been living IN the house, they will drop you like a box of hot rocks.

You may need to look at storing some of your things in a storage unit at a reputable company. I know that isn't a really good solution because the monthly bill adds up.

If you are going to be fairly close perhaps you can arrange to have one or the other car left at the old place overnight. Do you have neighbors that can help look after the place?

[tobee43]

as AC has just explained it is in fact difficult to protect yourself in such a situation. we left with all we were taking. i would suggest you rent a storage unit as AC has state, unless, if you can't move everything out at once. however, make CERTAIN you pay the storage company or we will see your stuff on that new show "storage wars"......

[ValleYum]

as AC has just explained it is in fact difficult to protect yourself in such a situation. we left with all we were taking. i would suggest you rent a storage unit as AC has state, unless, if you can't move everything out at once. however, make CERTAIN you pay the storage company or we will see your stuff on that new show "storage wars"......

Off Topic: I LOVE Storage Wars. Yuuuuuuuppppppppp!!

[adviceplease]

Do they consider it vacant if you still go there daily? I really do not plan to sleep there but I will be there on a daily basis. I am worried about leaving the house vacant once we do move out completely because I am technically not the owner anymore but have ties to the home until the redemption period ends. I just feel like if it looks vacant then someone will assume it is okay to break in and strip it. What happens if someone does or it catches on fire, or a pipe breaks? No, my neighbors are jerks and most likely the ones that would break in so they are no help plus I am sure they are not going to feel extra friendly once they find out we were foreclosed on. Also I am still hoping maybe the lender will go for cash for keys so I plan on leaving some old furniture there until they approach us to get out (or can I ask them to so I can leave).

[tobee43]

off topic: I love storage wars. Yuuuuuuuppppppppp!!

me too!!!

[tobee43]

Do they consider it vacant if you still go there daily? I really do not plan to sleep there but I will be there on a daily basis. I am worried about leaving the house vacant once we do move out completely because I am technically not the owner anymore but have ties to the home until the redemption period ends. I just feel like if it looks vacant then someone will assume it is okay to break in and strip it. What happens if someone does or it catches on fire, or a pipe breaks? No, my neighbors are jerks and most likely the ones that would break in so they are no help plus I am sure they are not going to feel extra friendly once they find out we were foreclosed on. Also I am still hoping maybe the lender will go for cash for keys so I plan on leaving some old furniture there until they approach us to get out (or can I ask them to so I can leave).

it's most likely not what we consider vacant as much as the lender does. i would think vacant is when no one is sleeping and cooking there.

i don't know how the bank views a rental property, but i do know that in nj where our old primary house property was or is, we were not able to obtain homeowners insurance after we left and vacated the house. it then went on the banks umbrella policy for fire , broken pipes etc.

[AngelinaCat]

Do they consider it vacant if you still go there daily?

Yes. You must be spending the night there.

We had that problem when shopping for insurance in 2009. We were renovating the house and though we were staying in a camper along side the house on the same piece of property, our house was considered 'vacant' by the underwriters for one company we were trying for. After that, I learned to keep my mouth shut.

However, I need to add here that some companies WILL send someone to inspect the property before issuing a policy.

Also I am still hoping maybe the lender will go for cash for keys so I plan on leaving some old furniture there until they approach us to get out (or can I ask them to so I can leave).

I heard something yesterday on Clark Howard's radio program about 'Cash for keys' being essentially a dead dog. I did not hear all of that segment, so I could be wrong about what I did hear. It does not hurt to ask. If you ask, you have a 50/50 chance. If you DON'T ask, the answer is always 100% no.