Home Owners Insurance from "no-name" insurance companies

[Matt F.]

Hi everyone,

I have a policy with State Farm on homeowners for one of my rentals, the price is $1400 and most other companies ive quoted (all state, travelers) are around 1200 (so basically the same).

I also got a quote from a company called Centauri Specialty Insurance for the same coverage that I have now and its only $800 a year. Obviously this would greatly impact my monthly cash flow. What is everyone's opinion on no name insurance companies such as Centaui Insurance?

[Chanté Owens]

If you ever want to know the "health" (so to speak) of an insurance carrier, you can always check the A.M. Best Rating. It's a wealth of knowledge and information. You have to have an account with them, but it's free. Additionally, there are some mortgage/finance companies that will require an insurance carrier have at least a certain rating, example, B+/A- or better in order to lend the money for the loan - just an FYI.

Additionally, the general population may only be aware of the most "popular" insurance companies (see: commercials), like, Allstate, State Farm, Nationwide, etc; however, there is a multitude of insurance companies out there; especially for rental types of policies and investment properties, because the Allstate's, State Farms, etc are much more risk adverse and prefer NOT to insure certain types of risks. I won't go into all the Surplus Lines type of carriers, but there are a plethora of them that are NOT commonly known by the general public, but are excellent A+/A++ rated insurance companies that have been around for years.