[squiggs96]

I bought a detached home this year with the intent on tearing it down. As such, I didn't want insurance. After talking with a few people they said I needed it to close, since there was a mortgage. I didn't think I did, as I'd bought several places without it before. It turned out because all of those places were condos, the strata had the insurance. On those I only needed content insurance, which I did purchase. I asked my RBC mortgage guy and he said there was no need for insurance, but it was recommended. I asked several times, and got it in writing. Sure enough, RBC wouldn't release the funds without insurance. Luckily my lawyer had informed me this would happen, and made sure I had insurance. If not, RBC wouldn't have released the funds, I would be in default on the purchase agreement, and the seller likely could have taken by deposit of $50,000. When I went back to the RBC mortgage "specialist", he had no idea that was a requirement. I showed him the closing letter that the insurance part is multiple pages. He shrugged and said he'll know for next time. It infuriated me.

Looking back, it also makes no sense why I wouldn't want the liability insurance in case my house burns down my neighbor's house, or someone is injured on my property. That was really poor planning and lack of thinking on my part.

I had trouble getting insurance on the place, as it was built in 1921, had an old roof, old boiler, some poor wiring, etc. TD said no, as they are a direct writer of insurance, and have a much lower risk tolerance. This is after me being with them for five years. Some places would automatically say no based on age of the roof, and age of the water tank. Others said no based on the wiring. Some would do it with an inspection, but I knew I'd fail it. Others quoted me very high prices. I believe co-operators priced it at about $5,000 for the year. I ended up getting it through BCAA for about $800 for the year.

Long story short, check out AMA.