Umbrella insurance on multiple properties.

[Chad S.]

Any recommendations for a new insurance agency for my situation would be appreciated.

I have four rental property's, and my personal home listed on my umbrella policy, but I recently purchased another property and the insurance company I'm with (allstate) won't allow me to add it to the umbrella policy as they can only allow four investment properties, I'm told.

I have all my auto's and property insured through Allstate and they have been good to me, but I'm going to have to find another agency that will put my 5th investment property and future property's under an umbrella, or get a second umbrella. None of my property's are in LLC's at this time.

[Dave G.]

I initially used Allstate for my rentals since, like you, I had all my personal stuff with Allstate. Then a few years ago I learned about the policies State Farm issues for rental properties and switched my investment props to them. I like it segregated from my personal stuff and the coverage was better tailored to rental property than what Allstate offered. 

I should note that I do not have an umbrella with State Farm, just individual policies for each property. I do have an umbrella with Allstate but never did try to put any of my rentals on it. So not sure this is answering your question specific to umbrella coverage.

[Sheena Drake]

State Farm will be very helpful to you. They just included a STR under our personal umbrella policy. This is our 2nd rental along with our personal home that is included, so not 100% sure I would have been told otherwise if it were our 5th, but worth checking out since they are long established company.

[Chad S.]

@Dave G.

Thanks. I may call them.

[Chad S.]

@Sheena Drake

Thanks.

[Andrew S.]

Quote from @Chad S.:

Any recommendations for a new insurance agency for my situation would be appreciated.

I have four rental property's, and my personal home listed on my umbrella policy, but I recently purchased another property and the insurance company I'm with (allstate) won't allow me to add it to the umbrella policy as they can only allow four investment properties, I'm told.

I have all my auto's and property insured through Allstate and they have been good to me, but I'm going to have to find another agency that will put my 5th investment property and future property's under an umbrella, or get a second umbrella. None of my property's are in LLC's at this time.

 That's not uncommon.  StateFarm also limits the number of rentals it will cover under your regular umbrella to 4 (other companies have different limits).  StateFarm (and many others, I suspect) offer a "Commercial Umbrella policy" that you can add for additional rentals in addition to the "personal umbrella" policy for your home/cars, atc..  It isn't crazy expensive, and this is what I ended up doing (I have about a dozen doors).

[John Mocker]

Chad,

Your situation is common with Insurance Companies that use Captive Agents (the agent represents just that company in many cases).  You may want to seek out quotes from a couple of independent agents (that represent multiple companies).  I would suggest contacting ones that write both Personal & Commercial Insurance.  

For the umbrella coverage, there are several Insurance companies that write Umbrella Coverage on a Stand alone basis (PersonalUmbrella.com, RLI, ...).  Even if you keep the existing policies, you may be able to get an Umbrella to cover all those rentals, your house, and autos.  

[Bill B.]

Chad: my allstate agent wrote a business case letter to allstate about why they should cover more than 4 rentals I own. They currently insure 10 rentals and my primary. My MN rental is with State Farm. They are all covered by an umbrella through my allstate insurance through USLI. 

[Jason Bott]

Quote from @Chad S.:

Any recommendations for a new insurance agency for my situation would be appreciated.

I have four rental property's, and my personal home listed on my umbrella policy, but I recently purchased another property and the insurance company I'm with (allstate) won't allow me to add it to the umbrella policy as they can only allow four investment properties, I'm told.

I have all my auto's and property insured through Allstate and they have been good to me, but I'm going to have to find another agency that will put my 5th investment property and future property's under an umbrella, or get a second umbrella. None of my property's are in LLC's at this time.

 Chad, as the OP have stated, the personal insurance carriers are a good fit when you have your first few locations, but you will grow out of most of those options when you get to 5-10 locations.

Our REI clients will have an insurance program for their Home & auto, then a completely separate program for their rentals. It is easier to manage and one will not adversely effect the other when there are claims. I'd recommend taking a look at some commercial options from an independent insurance broker.

[Chad S.]

@Bill Brandt

That's interesting. I might mention that to my agent.

[Bill B.]

No problem chad. He can reach out to Gregory k Robinson in vegas if has questions. (I’m sure they can all find each other.) and ask him about he got allstate to cover 10 properties for Bill Brandt. Maybe he’ll give him a Copy of the business case, maybe it was too much work to share, I dunno. But it can’t come up very often.