Insurance on a semi-unique property

[Jessica Niles-McDonough]

Hi all!

My husband and I own a property in Falmouth, ME that is 2 single family homes on one lot. We rent both properties. We continue to struggle to get what we consider reasonable insurance quotes, so wanted to get your take on whether we should continue to shop it around or if we are just dealing with a property that may always just have a higher insurance cost. This is the only investment property we have that is like this, therefore, we just don't know if we are being unreasonable or not!

A little insight into the area/properties themselves...Falmouth is a highly desired town in southern Maine, both for rentals and purchase. These are long term rentals  (12mo lease), no flood insurance (not near the water). Homes were built in 1950 and (roughly) 1920. Both rehabbed in the early 2000's and we've done significant work to them (heating systems, siding, basement work, new septic systems, roofs etc.) since we purchased them 6 years ago.

The premiums we are getting quoted are in the vicinity of $1400 for the one built in 1950 (3 bed 1 bath) and about $900 for the one built in 1920-ish (2 bed 1 bath).

This past time we shopped insurances around, we went through a policy genius broker.

Any insight is much appreciated!

[Tony Wilcox]

For a home with reasonable age to roof and other utilities a price around $100/month is pretty standard I would say. If they are both insured at full replacement cost $900/year is a great price, and $1,400 might be a smidge higher than usual but not far off. Of course, I don't know all the details on it, but that is the only one that somewhat stood out to me. Mind me asking what you think would be reasonable?