Estimating Insurance Costs - Best Practices

[William Bryan]

Hi everyone! I've started the research phase of my real estate investing journey over the last few weeks with the hopes of diving in soon. I'm hoping for some insight into insurance costs. I've been evaluating deals as they show up on the MLS the last week or so just to get some practice and get a feel for what is out there and how to evaluate a deal. At this point, I've just been using the 50% rule for expenses, but when I get to the point of actually wanting to dig into the specifics of a deal, what is a good estimate for insurance costs, specifically in West Michigan (Grand Rapids/Muskegon). How does everyone go about estimating those costs at the point of potentially putting in an offer? Do you have an insurance agent you work with and get a quote from before putting an offer in so that you have an accurate estimate? Or do you just use an estimate using a rule of thumb/experience? With my personality, I like to have as much hard information as I can before making a decision, so I would tend to want to have an exact number or something that has some serious backing. Knowing that it could take offers on a number of properties before landing a deal, I wouldn't necessarily want to waste an insurance agents time with quoting every single potential deal. I'd appreciate any insight you have to offer!