 |
Ask Christine #2: Damage Insurance for Vacation Rentals
Christine explains the best way to prevent damages at your vacation rental
Note: This is an edited transcript of Christine Karpinski's How To Rent Vacation Properties by Owner podcast.
 Christine Karpinski: Today's question comes from Melanie, an owner with a vacation home in Bodega Bay, California. She asks:
Q: "I was wondering if you know any companies that would do damage insurance? I'd like to have insurance for smaller claim items that would not go against my homeowner's policy for my vacation home. I have a luxury property, and someone could easily do $5,000 worth of damage, and I wouldn't be able to get that amount in a refundable deposit. Any suggestions?"
A: Melanie, there isn't any damage insurance that I personally know of. Now if you know of any, please email me, call me and let me know and we'll share it with everybody. But, there's not really any damage insurance that I know about.
Actually, your best damage insurance is...you. You should be doing a really good job of screening all of your guests. One of the first things I always ask is, "How many children do you have?" If the answer is "None" then I'm going to be doing a heck of a lot more screening then I would do if you say you've got, two, three, four children, because if you have no children, I want to know what your group is made up of. Is it a bunch of young college kids? Just tell me what it is, and why you're going to be going there.I find that families make the best renters possible.
I really truly believe that you screening your guests properly are your best damage insurance. And a lot of people live far away from their vacation homes. The average vacation homeowner on HomeAway.com lives four to six hours away from their home. So, none of us are there to be able to check up on our vacationers that are checking in.
One of the alternatives you could do is you could try to set up a housekeeper, or maintenance people to let your guests in, and hopefully that will allow a little bit more screening. But I do think that your best bet is to screen your guests properly.
As far as your damage deposit goes, you're right. You could charge $5,000, but I don't think very many people would want to rent your home if they have to put up $5,000 worth of damage deposit up front. So, definitely screen your guests very well.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of "Ask Christine." If you have a question we would love to hear from you. Please leave a message at 512‑493‑4340.
Listen to the original audio version of this podcast
|
.gif)
Do you have any advice for other owners about obtaining insurance for their vacation rental homes?
|
|
© Copyright, HomeAway, Inc. 2009. U.090721.AK
|
|
|