Second Home and Snowbird Insurance in Florida

Does a second home in Florida need different insurance? The short answer

Two definitions will help as you read. Your declarations page is the summary sheet at the front of the policy that lists the coverages, limits and endorsements you bought. An endorsement is an add-on that changes what the base policy says. Everything below about seasonal conditions and vacancy limits lives in one of those two places.

Seasonal, secondary or vacant: the three occupancy categories carriers use

Carriers sort homes by how they are occupied, and the sort decides the rate, the form and the conditions. The table gives the three categories in plain words.

The three occupancy categories, in plain words

Unoccupied is not the same as vacant. A furnished home you are away from for six months is unoccupied. An empty home with no plan to return is vacant. The distinction matters because the vacancy limits on most forms are written around the word vacant.

Where the line sits between primary and seasonal is a carrier decision, and most carriers ask for the number of months you live in the home each year. Citizens, the state-created insurer, treats a home occupied less than nine months of the year as a non-primary residence, and Florida law lets it raise rates on non-primary homes faster than on primary ones, with a yearly cap of 50 percent under s. 627.351(6)(n); our takeout offer guide explains what that means when a private carrier makes an offer on the policy. Private carriers set their own primary-residence definitions, and the months you state on the application are the months the policy is priced on. We recommend answering that question with the calendar in front of you, because a misstatement may give the carrier grounds to rescind the policy after a loss.

How a seasonal or secondary home is rated and written

Most Florida carriers that write seasonal homes do it on the same homeowners forms they use for primary homes. An HO-3 policy covers the house for any cause of loss the form does not exclude and your belongings for a list of named causes. An HO-5 policy covers both the house and your belongings for any cause the form does not exclude. Some carriers write a secondary home on a DP-3 form instead, which is the dwelling form landlords use. It insures the structure well but usually carries less contents coverage and no personal liability unless you add it. When you compare quotes, the form matters as much as the price, and we go through the form differences with you before you pick one.

A few things tend to appear on a seasonal home that you will not see on a primary one. Some carriers ask that someone check on the home on a regular schedule while you are away, and a few write that into the policy as a condition. Some ask whether the water is shut off at the main when the home is empty, and many offer a credit for an automatic water shut-off device that closes the main if a leak is detected. Many carriers require an active monitored alarm for burglary, fire or both before they write a seasonal home, and the monitoring contract has to stay in force while you are away. Some carriers write a second home in Florida only when they also insure your primary home, so the carrier that covers your primary residence is often the first one to compare. None of these are Florida rules; they are underwriting questions, every carrier is slightly different, and the honest answers shape the offer.

Three inputs move the price on a seasonal home the same way they move it on any Florida home: the age and shape of the roof, the wind-mitigation features a licensed inspector can document, and the hurricane deductible you pick. Our pages on roof age, the wind-mitigation inspection and the hurricane deductible explain each one. If the home is older, expect a four-point inspection request covering the roof, electrical, plumbing and heating and cooling systems.

Leaving for hurricane season: what to do before you go

Hurricane season runs June through November, and a snowbird home is usually empty for most of it. The policy is the last line, and it is not the first one. The steps below are what we recommend to every seasonal client before they leave, and they also answer most of the questions a carrier asks about an unoccupied home. Our page on homes in a trust or LLC explains how the trust or company is named on the policy.

• Shut the water off at the main, or install an automatic shut-off device and confirm it is armed. A slow leak that runs for three months is the most common large loss on a seasonal home in our experience, and many forms limit water damage that results from repeated seepage over time.
• Leave the air conditioning running on a humidity setting, or install a humidistat. Most Florida policies limit mold remediation to a dollar amount shown on the declarations page, so moisture control does more for you than the policy does.
• Decide who puts up the shutters or closes the storm panels when a storm threatens, and write it down. If your policy carries a discount for opening protection, that discount assumes the protection is in place when the wind arrives.
• Arrange a home-watch service or a neighbor with a written visit schedule, and keep the log. If your policy has a condition about periodic checks, the log is your proof.
• Photograph every room and the exterior before you go, and keep the photos off site. A dated inventory shortens any claim.
• Stop the mail, keep the lawn and pool service running, and leave a contact who can reach you abroad. An obviously empty home is a target for vandalism, which is one of the losses most forms limit after a vacancy period.
• Save the carrier’s claims number and your policy number where you can reach them from the other home. A claim is filed with the carrier directly, and our part comes earlier, in setting the policy up so the claim goes smoothly.

Vacancy clauses: what many standard forms say after 30 or 60 days

Every standard homeowners form has language about a home that is vacant, and most of it is written around a count of days. On the most widely used form language, vandalism, malicious mischief and glass breakage are excluded if the dwelling has been vacant for more than 60 consecutive days immediately before the loss. Some carriers shorten that window to 30 days on their own forms, and some add other losses to the list, such as water damage from a plumbing failure or theft. The count starts when the home becomes vacant, and it does not reset because you drove by.

The word that matters is vacant, and the forms usually mean a home without enough furniture to live in and with no one intending to live in it. A snowbird home with the furniture in place and a return date on the calendar is unoccupied, and the vacancy limits generally do not reach it. A home you have moved out of and listed for sale is vacant, and after the stated number of days some of the coverage you thought you had is gone.

Once a standard carrier learns a home is vacant, it almost always issues a cancellation or non-renewal notice, and in nearly every case the house is rewritten on a DP-1 vacant-home policy, which covers a short list of named causes of loss and may settle at actual cash value, meaning the depreciated value rather than the cost to replace. A few carriers offer a short vacancy endorsement for a home on the market; it is worth asking the carrier whether one exists, and we recommend planning on the vacant-home policy rather than the exception. If you are selling, settling an estate or renovating for more than a month, we recommend telling the carrier before the home empties out, so the vacant-home policy is bound on your schedule rather than after a gap. Our vacant home insurance page covers the windows, the forms and the common situations in detail.

Condo or house: the second-home policy follows the property type

A seasonal house is written on a homeowners form, HO-3 or HO-5, with the house, the other structures on the lot, your belongings, loss of use and personal liability all on one policy. A seasonal condominium unit is written on an HO-6 form, which insures the interior of the unit and your belongings and leaves the building itself to the association’s master policy. Florida’s condo statute sets where the master policy stops and your HO-6 starts; your declaration can add items to your side, and the master policy’s deductible and any opt-out vote change how much of a loss reaches you, so request a copy of the master policy and go through it together with your agent. Some carriers require a seasonal condo to sit in a secured community, behind a locked gate or in a building with controlled entry, and they ask about it on the application. Our HO-6 condo insurance page explains the split, the loss-assessment coverage that matters after a storm, and the deductible rules Florida sets for condo owners.

For a seasonal condo, we recommend asking the association for a copy of the master policy declarations before you buy the unit policy, so you know the building’s coverage and its hurricane deductible, and then going through both documents with your agent to set the unit limits. The condo insurance hub covers the rest, including the questions to ask a board before you close.

Flood on a second home: how much, and the three ways to buy it

The flood question on a second home is the same one we ask on every Florida home: how much flood coverage do you want. A mapped zone is a poor test on its own, because distance to water, elevation and the home’s construction drive both the risk and the price, and homes outside the high-risk zones flood in Florida every year. A seasonal home carries one extra reason to buy it: you will not be there to move things off the floor when the water comes.

There are three ways to buy flood coverage. The federal program sells a standard flood policy through carriers and agents, with a 30-day waiting period on most new policies and building and contents limits set by the program. One difference matters on a second home: the federal flood policy settles the building at actual cash value when the home is not your principal residence, so a private flood policy that offers replacement cost is worth comparing. Private flood carriers write their own forms, often with higher limits, shorter waits and coverage for things the federal form leaves out. Some homeowners carriers offer a flood endorsement on the homeowners policy itself. Which route fits depends on the home and the limits you want, and we quote more than one route when the home is near water. Our flood insurance page explains the three routes in detail, and if your wind coverage is with the state-created insurer, the flood requirement that comes with that wind policy phases in by the dwelling limit on the policy.

Umbrella, cars and golf carts when your life is split between two states

An umbrella policy adds a layer of liability coverage above the limits on your homeowners and auto policies, and one umbrella can list both homes and the cars registered in both states. One rule shapes how it is bought: an umbrella is written in the state where you primarily reside. A snowbird whose primary home is up north buys the umbrella there and lists the Florida home and any Florida car on it, and a full-time Florida resident with a home up north buys it here. Either way, the umbrella carrier sets the underlying limits it requires on each policy beneath it, so the Florida homeowners and auto policies have to meet those minimums, and the umbrella has to know about every home and car you own. When Florida is your primary residence, we quote the umbrella with the rest of the package, and we recommend adding uninsured-motorist coverage to it, because the most common large injury claim in Florida involves a driver with little or no coverage. When your primary residence is in another state, we recommend Florida limits that meet what your umbrella carrier requires, and we share the declarations pages with the agent who writes the umbrella. Our umbrella insurance page walks through how the limit is chosen.

A car that stays in Florida year-round is generally rated and registered where it is garaged, and a registered Florida vehicle has to carry personal injury protection and property damage liability. A car you drive down and back is rated in your home state, and its carrier needs to know how many months it spends in Florida. Tell both carriers, because an undisclosed garaging address may be treated as a misrepresentation. One more reason to keep the Florida policy’s uninsured motorist coverage stacked: if the car up north carries no uninsured motorist coverage, a stacked Florida policy responds when you are hurt in that car and a non-stacked one does not, because the non-stacked form excludes a vehicle you own that is not insured for UM under the policy. If you keep a car here, our Florida auto insurance page covers the limits most households carry and the uninsured-motorist decision. Our pages on how much car insurance you need in Florida and who has to be on the policy cover the limits and the driver list.

Golf carts and low-speed vehicles are two different things under Florida law. A golf cart is built to run at 20 miles per hour or less and generally does not have to be titled, registered or insured. A low-speed vehicle runs between 20 and 25 miles per hour, has to be titled and registered like a car, and has to carry the same $10,000 personal injury protection and $10,000 property damage liability minimums, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Many standard homeowners forms extend liability to a golf cart only in narrow situations, such as on a golf course or inside the private community where the home sits, and only subject to the form’s conditions. If your cart leaves the community or crosses a public road, we recommend a separate golf cart policy, which is inexpensive to quote alongside the home.

Canadian and other non-resident owners buy Florida home insurance the same way residents do, and Florida carriers write those homes routinely. Expect a few extra questions: a mailing address for the policy, who watches the home while you are out of the country, and how you would handle a claim from abroad. Some carriers ask for a contact in the United States. Your home-country auto policy may not extend to a car kept in Florida for the season, so that is a question for that carrier before you drive down.

Renting the home out part of the year changes the policy

A homeowners policy assumes the people living in the home are you and your family. When you rent the home out for any part of the year alongside your own seasonal or secondary use, the home belongs on a dwelling fire form, usually a DP-3, rather than a homeowners form. The dwelling form insures the structure, and contents, loss of rent and liability are added to it by endorsement; it is the form carriers use when tenants or paying guests are in the home. Our DP-3 landlord insurance page explains how it works. Short stays through a rental platform are a separate underwriting question again: many carriers decline short-term rentals outright, and some write them on a dwelling form with an endorsement, so tell us before the first booking. Lending the home to friends or family for a few weeks without payment is usually fine on a homeowners form, and it is still worth a call to the carrier before it happens. We focus on owner-occupied and seasonal homes, and when a client’s plans include rental we help them move the policy to the dwelling form before the first tenant arrives.

What to have ready when you compare second-home quotes

A second-home quote goes faster and comes back more accurate when these are in hand. Working with you, we compare carriers to find one that offers the coverage you want, and the list below is what the carriers will ask us for.

• The months of the year you live in the home, and which home is your primary residence.
• Who checks on the home while you are away, and how often.
• Whether the water is shut off at the main when you leave, or whether a shut-off device is installed.
• Roof age and material, the permit year if the roof was replaced, and any wind-mitigation report you have.
• A four-point inspection if the home is older, and the age of the water heater and electrical panel.
• Whether the home is in a trust or a company name, and the exact name on the deed.
• Whether the home has an active monitored alarm for burglary and fire, plus any shutters or impact glass, and whether the pool is fenced or screened.
• Who insures your primary home, because some carriers write a Florida second home only alongside the primary.
• The hurricane deductible you would like to compare, worked out in dollars against the dwelling limit.
• Whether you want flood quoted alongside, whether a car or a golf cart should go on the same review, and the underlying limits your umbrella carrier requires if the umbrella is written in your home state.

From there we recommend comparing at least two carriers on the same form and the same limits, so the difference you see is price and conditions rather than coverage. If you are relocating full time rather than seasonally, our moving to Florida page covers the order that avoids trouble at closing, and our Florida homeowners insurance page explains the base policy every second home is built on.