My husband and his sister inherited their father's house last spring. It has been mostly vacant since (estate auction, rehab) and now their cousin is moving in, preparing to sell her house and buy this one. We're not charging her rent, but she's paying utilities.
Until recently, the old insurance policy through Nationwide was still in effect, since it had been renewed shortly before their dad died. Now we're trying to find a policy that will just cover the house - a landlord policy, I suppose. There are no liens on the property, so no actual obligation, but in case of fire, tornado, whatever, we'd like it to be insured.
The house is 1600 sqft 3/2 ranch built in the late 50's, in a small town in the middle of the state. Tax value is $110k, and Nationwide had the replacement cost as $110k. We got a quote via the Nationwide for a policy with American Modern (a company I've never heard of). First they quoted $400 for the year, then when we said yes, they decided the replacement cost of the house must be set no lower than $160k, and bumped the rate up to $540 (with a $2500 deductible).
Because I'm cheap, I asked if there was any way to get it lower. If we go with "Actual Cash Value" instead of replacement cost, the rate drops to about $350. The agent doesn't know how they compute the actual cash value of a 50+ year old house.
Should we just pay the extra for replacement cost for the (hopefully only a) few months until the ownership transfers?