The mortgage company definitely has an interest in ANYTHING put into that house - even after purchase. If you were to default, they'd get the whole house, not just the house minus your improvements. Seriously, your damages do affect the value of the current house. If you were to take the money and not repair, that overflow damage issue would affect the value of the home - if left undone. If, however, you had a claim for a damaged deck, or pool that was not part of the original purchase, the bank would happily sign off on the check if you chose to not replace those items. (You would have to properly dispose of them and make certain the evidence of the removal looks reasonable.) If you choose not to re-do the basement, the bank will require the toilet overflow damages to be repaired and have the basement cleaned up to the standards it was at time of purchase. My bank once had someone with the same issue -- homeowner fully finished basement after buying the house. Then the basement flooded. Homeowner did not want to do anything with the basement other than dry it out and then cash the check. He had flaking sheetrock, warped panelling, glue streaks all over the floor from the carpeting, and water stained and damaged woodwork. The residual damages would have lessend the value of the home, but if he ripped evererything back to the concrete walls and floor, no problem.

State Farm may be great on the accident front but let me tell you about the go round I had with them a couple of months ago. DH & I went over to my 83 y.o. mother's house to check out a leak on her car. Since she keeps all of her service receipts in her glove box as I was going through them I saw her insurance card was expiring the next day - and this was late morning on a Friday. I asked her if she had a new insurance card. mmmm - no. Let's look in the checkbook to see if she paid the bill. (She's starting to get forgetful). No. Did she GET the renewal bill? No. So I look on the card for the phone number to call. Only phone number on there is the local agent's number. Call it - it's "out of service" not working. (Not turned off - just not working - that funny ring ring beep beep beep thing). So I look on the bill for an 800 number. No 800 number - nothing! You have to call the agent only!!! So I take her info with me and go home to get on my computer to look up the State Farm website customer service. Now this is Friday - Mom will be w/o insurance tomorrow. State Farm website - no 800 numbers (you can email them - hah! again this is Friday - don't have time for this) they want you to call a local agent. So I find another local agent. THEY can't look up my Mom's info 'cause each agent's client's are in their own database. So they give me the regional office. Their out to lunch. I'm leaving messages all over -by now it's 3pm. I try again at her agent. The phone now works. I'm leaving messages till I get a real person I explain the situation - saying she never got the bill. (Oh that's corporate's problem). We'll take a credit card payment over the phone or she can drive down to the office or mail a check in to the local office - if they get it by Monday she'll be covered. So I tell them she'll mail a check in. I call my Mom - tell her to mail a check to the local office - give her the address info. So she mails it the next day (Saturday) - but I'm sure it's without any of the insurance infor - account number or anything. For the next couple of weeks I asked my mom if she ever got a new insurance card. She never said. So - I certainly hope she did. But IMO - to not have an 800 number on the card is ridiculous and to have to deal strictly with the local office is also frustrating. (Obviuosly I don't have State Farm).

We have had USAA for nearly 16 years. We've had two smaller claims for our house - a leak in our roof that damaged our bedroom wall and a leak in our water heater that flooded our rec room. Both of those were many years ago. We've had at least 1-2 claims from car accidents that were dh's fault. Never had any problems with the homeowner's claims but our auto insurance went up slightly after dh's second accident, but mainly b/c they were within months of each other. I absolutely love USAA - they have always been incredibly helpful whenever we've called about anything (we have several different accounts with them). Dh's family had USAA when he was growing up. Their house caught on fire after faulty wiring in a Sears refrigerator in their garage caused a fire. They had incredible service from USAA. Someone had a horrible time with Allstate years ago. His house burned down after catching fire during renovation. I don't remember the story now, but he ended up suing them. I remember going by the house one day and he had a huge sign posted in front of his house chastising Allstate. I don't recall what exactly happened but I believe he did win the case eventually.

Took me 2 minutes to find this on www.insurance.com: Cost to insure an empty home Coverage limits and premium costs for unoccupied and vacant homes vary, based on how long the dwelling will be empty, its vacant or unoccupied status, and the steps you take to protect your property. For example, an unoccupied home may be covered with the addition of a permit or endorsement, and this typically costs less than $100. Without it, damage that occurs while you're away is unlikely to be covered.  Vacant home insurance, on the other hand, is considerably costlier--between 1.5 and three times as much as standard insurance for occupied properties. However, the higher rate is an annual one. Most property doesn't stay vacant year after year, and many vacant property insurers recognize this, allowing you to prorate the annual cost and only pay for the time you need.