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Semester Abroad for University Faculty; Who's Protecting the Vacant Home in the U.S.?

Today, almost every major university in the United States sends employees abroad "on university business." This can range from faculty members spending up to one year abroad working at an overseas campus or medical center, or an archiology professor spending 3 weeks at a dig site in Egypt. No matter why university faculty or staff are travelling abroad, one thing is certain, they don't understand when they need to purchase vacant home insurance in order to protect their home in the U.S. while they are abroad.

However, it appears these faculty members are no different from anyone else in the U.S. No one seems to understand the vacant home insurance issue and when they will lose coverage relying on their existing homeowners insurance policy while their home is vacant. Many faculty have returned from their trip overseas this year to find there has been damage to their home, condo, or townhome while the home was temporially empty. They have submitted claims to their homeowners insurance company and found that the claim was denied or the payment they expect to get was reduced because they failed to inform the insurance company that no one was living in the home.

Coverage can be lost in as little as 30 days in some instances. People think that if they hide the vacant home from the insurance company, and don't report it, they can retain coverage and do not need to go out and purchase a vacant home insurance policy. This is an assumption that can cost. Upon investigation and the discovery that the home was not being lived in, the insurance company can deny most claims leaving the claimant with nothing.

Again, looking at the situation with university faculty, we have seen faculty return to the U.S. because there has been a major claim on their home (look at the recent wildfires in California for example), to find they have no coverage and need to assume a loss of several hundred thousand dollars themselves. Their chances of recovery from the insurance company is very low.

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