Real Estate Market Woes Cause Rash of Unpaid Homeowners Claims

Malvern, PA, March 07, 2009 --(PR.com)-- VacantHomeInsuranceNow.com, a company specializing in insuring residence properties that become empty or vacant, and are no longer considered insurable through standard homeowners insurance policies, announced a disturbing trend in the homeowners' insurance marketplace: Thousands of claims for covered perils, submitted against homeowners insurance policies are being denied by the insurers. The reason for the denials comes as a complete shock to the homeowner.

It is estimated that over 90% of homeowners that have high quality HO3 or HO5 insurance policy forms, providing excellent coverage in most instances, do not understand the vacancy terms of their insurance policy. Matthew McKinley, the President of Vacant Home Insurance Now (http://www.vacanthomeinsurancenow.com) describes the situation like this, "Many people are attempting to sell a house that is no longer being lived in, but don't understand that the homeowners insurance policy that they have will no longer work on a vacant property. Even though the insurance premium is paid up for the year, most do not realize that they may have no insurance on the home in the event of total loss."

The poor housing market is causing thousands of homes to sit empty, long past when they become uninsurable.

The percentage of claims that are not being paid by traditional homeowners insurance has gone up exponentially since the housing problem began in late 2007. Homes that are not being lived in by the owner, or a member of the immediate family need to be switched over to a vacant homeowners policy rather quickly or the owner risks losing insurance coverage. Even if coverage is not dropped after a period of unoccupancy, a best case scenario is the policy will not be renewed once the insurer is advised of the situation.

Homeowners do not realize that just because the premium is paid in full for the year, this does not mean coverage in full exists. The homeowners policy can decline many claims related to a vacant property if the insurance company was not properly notified, and they would much rather return $1,000 of premium than pay a $100,000 claim.

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