Professional landlords: Lowest insurance costs possible

[Nicholas Nicastro]

I feel like insurance on my business/rentals is a complete scam. I feel rushed each year (partly my fault) to renew for an entire year, and then I feel like I have completely overpaid. 

Our business model is such that we control expenses and never plan to use insurance for anything under say $20k - and never have in the past (we own a maintenance company and keep our homes in great shape - insurance would literally only be for an "act of god" type thing - we handle everything else very cost effectively.) 

Am I right to think that coverage should be simply for what we owe the bank and not a penny more. I am wondering if I screwed this up and gave a bad directive and now we are being charged too much unnecessarily?

As a victim of a house fire myself, I understand the importance of some insurance but presently between property coverage, General Liability and Umbrella, costs through the roof. 

I am curious what other professional landlords think when it comes to insurance?

[Jason Bott]

@Nicholas Nicastro great comments by everyone.  I'd add the following;

1)  Due to rates increasing as @Cameron Moore references, most insurance carriers are inundated with underwriting their own renewals as well as receiving tons of requests for quotes.  In the last part of 2022 we are not getting client renewals more than 4 weeks ahead of time...many times 10 days before renewal.

2)  It is possible you are working with a smaller broker who doesn't have access to the carriers currently looking to write SF portfolios.  If this is the case, then they are trying to stick you with underwriters who are not really interested in writing your business.  

3)  Most insurance carriers will have minimum sq/ft values in order to insure the building.  Right now we are seeing $70 per sq/ft  for ACV and $100 per sq/ft for RC.  So regardless of the market value, if you have a 2,000 sq/ft home, the lowest value most insurance carriers will insure for is $140k for ACV and $200k for RC.