“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
— Leo Tolstoy*

March 21, 2022

My wife and I own homes in both Indianapolis and Denver, Colorado. We began using a property management service to list and provide access to our homes when we are traveling or at the other house. As insurance agents, we understand that traditional homeowners are not sufficient to cover the “commercial exposure.” But as I talk to more and more Air B and B owners, they are not aware they need to modify their personal insurance program.

If you are leasing your home on a short-term basis, please call your insurance broker and advise them of this new activity. They can move you from a traditional homeowners program to one that contemplates short-term rentals. Failure to do this might expose you to an uncovered claim.

An analogy can be drawn when using your car for a ride-sharing service. The traditional auto insurance policy does not cover you for using your car to carry passengers for a fee. Therefore, if you are an UBER driver or use your auto for any business purposes, your insurance agent and carrier must know about the increased exposure.

In both cases, you will pay a higher premium but have adequate coverage at the time of loss. I share this information to let folks that don’t bother to think through insurance exposures when modifying their lifestyle. I can attest that Air B and B’ing your home can be very lucrative, but you need to change your homeowner’s policy.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
— Leo Tolstoy