Historic District Insurance

[Joseph Lyons]

Hey guys! My partner and I are about 2 months from closing around 15 units in a Des Moines historical district! We’ve been having a hard time with our insurance agent. He said he can’t submit the policy to underwriting until we give him the historical district’s architectural requirements.

He wants to know what will be required in the event or significant damage or a total loss. For example, will we have to salvage original materials, source materials similar to the original, rebuild to original spec etc. 

We have made many phone calls to find the documents the agent has requested. We found their regs online with the help of our city planner. He submitted them to underwriting, and the carrier (Auto Owners) doesn’t want the policy. Now, there are dozens and dozens of multifamily properties in this district. I spoke with the senior city planner about my agents concerns. He sort of laughed and said, Insurance shouldn’t be an issue for you. Everyone here is insured…. Exactly! 

So, who are my multifamily owners using to insure your properties in historic districts? And have you had similar issues? Obviously replacement cost is the safer bet, but does anyone just carry an ACV policy on historical multifamily? And what are you paying? The city planner said, if you continue to have a hard time w your agent, make some new contacts, bc it shouldn’t be too difficult. I’m going to see if the seller will give us a copy of their policy, so that may help. However, seller may not provide, as we don’t have that as a required doc for DD in our PSA.

Thanks all!