What kind of insurance should I have on my rental house?

Situation

I am not able to sell my house so I have turned it into a rental.  What kind of insurance do I need?

Response

When you were living in your home you had Home Owner's Insurance.  This covered you for liability issues like personal injury to guests, the physical replacement or repair of your home and it covered your possessions.

Now that you are not living in this home you should still carry liability and repair or replacement coverage but you do not need to cover your physical possessions.  You do not need to cover the physical possessions of your tenant either.  Their possessions are their responsibility.

You should talk to your insurance agent about a Landlord Policy.  It is usually cheaper than a Homeowners policy.  I would recommend that you get at least $500,000 in coverage and maybe even an umbrella policy for all of your real estate that is for up to $5M.  It is not very expensive and gives you a broad range of coverage.

It might even be possible to extend coverage from your current residence to your rental property in an umbrella policy and not have to purchase a separate policy for your rental property.

Shop around.  There are a lot of programs out there.