Journalist, Author & Detroit-Home Renovator

The Escrow Check Cleared! Now for Insurance…

May 19, 2013

This is Livernois Avenue, the hot area of Detroit way, way back in the day. The Lions players and Marvin Gaye would tear it up here. I visited the strip for a story on Friday. Just thought y’all might like to see more of Detroit.

Things are quiet right now over in Detroit house land. We’re just waiting to close on the sale. Our contractor is working on getting our city inspection so that we can have all of our paperwork finalized. Then, once the title company is ready, we can go sit down and sign on the dotted line for this crazy dream.

The only big news lately is that our $1,500 escrow check cleared the bank yesterday. That means we are for real, we’re not backing out. Well, we could; we’d just lose $1,500. Hey wait… maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Kidding. Maybe. Huh. No. We’re doing this. Right?

The next big hurdle to clear is vacant property insurance. Hadn’t heard of that before? Yeah, me neither. The magic Googles are a little vague on it, too. Basically, it protects the house while it’s empty but being renovated. It also protects the contractors, et al. (I vague-ishy think; that’s what I’ve sussed out so far.)

Once we move in, we’d need another type of insurance because it would no longer be vacant. But of course, that can’t be homeowner’s insurance because the house is still under construction. Oh, the land of insurance… may favorite, favorite place.

The current sellers gave us the name of their VPI agent, and he came back with a quote: $1,500 for three months. Ack!

So now I’m doing some research. Turns out, I’m not even sure what we need. Does it have to be vacant property insurance (which is expensive and few places will underwrite it)? Or can it be umbrella insurance? Or does it need to be a builder’s risk policy. And since I will require insurance — both liability and workman’s comp — from the contractors, what would a VPI policy really cover?

Can we just skip it? Inquiring minds want to know.

Inquiring minds also want to know how to figure that out. But, I guess, that’s why I’m here. So hopefully, someone else can find the answers wrapped up in a pretty, pretty package. Maybe even with a bow.

More on this to come…

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2 Responses to “The Escrow Check Cleared! Now for Insurance…”

I should think the contractor and subs would carry the workman’s comp. I suppose vacant buildings, and especially those with work going on, might be specially liable to vandalism etc. But $1500? Ouch, indeed. Your blogs are going to go a godsend to future adventurists.