Recommendations for Insurance brokers

[Ratna Gundewar]

Hello,

I am looking for recommendations for investor friendly insurance brokers who service South Dakota and North Dakota. 

Thanks in advance

[Joe Splitrock]

@Ratna Gundewar when shopping insurance, there are two different type of agents. There are brokers and there are company specific agents. For example, someone like State Farm is company specific. They will give you rates on State Farm. A broker can shop multiple insurance companies. I wouldn't say one is better than the other, accept the broker has more options for you. 

Ultimately insurance rates are set by insurance companies. You won't find that insurance companies are investor friendly. They calculate rates based on risk. Three factors play into that, your claims history, the properties claims history and the areas claim history. For example, if an area was hit with storms, they may increase the premium for the entire area. I wish that insurance companies cared if you were an investor or even cared if you had a bunch of policies with them. In my experience investors are just a number like anyone else.

My advice is shop multiple insurance providers. I have changed insurance companies four times over twenty years. Each time I saved 15-20% by moving. I always give my existing agent a chance to match the rates, but insurance companies don't price match. I have had Allstate, State Farm, Auto Owners and Nationwide. I have shopped multiple other companies.

My current company, Nationwide, is about to push a 25% increase to my entire region. They are already doing it on new policies. It has to do with hail and tornado claims in the area most likely. 

Most any insurance company will insure small investment properties (1-4 units). When you get into 5+ units, that is commercial and some providers don't do that. Same with short term rental, some companies don't insure a property if used as STR.

One thing to consider is having a blanket liability policy. This policy goes beyond your standard liability coverage and you can add millions of coverage. Usually that coverage only applies to properties that are listed with that company. For example, my liability policy covers my personal home, car and all my rental properties. If I got my rental properties insured with a different company, the liability policy would not cover. 

Contact several insurance providers in your area. Ask what companies they represent. That will tell you if they just represent one or if they are a broker. Start with your insurance agent that covers your personal property currently and go from there. In my experience it is better to have all your policies with the same agent. Not only due to the blanket liability but also for simplicity of paying bills and dealing with issues.