What to look out for, Spring/Summer edition

[Tony Wilcox]

Hello BP! I just wanted to put a post out here with some info for investors on what to check and look out for in the coming months, in regard to insurance.

Spring and Summer can come with extremes in weather. Of course, Spring brings a lot of water and crazy swings in temperature. The biggest things to make sure you are aware of on your policy is water backup, and service/utility line coverage. Water backup coverage is not something standard on a landlord home policy. This will add coverage for the home in case of a sump pump failure, blockage, and various other problems that can cause water to backup into your basement, or home. Something many people with sump pumps do not realize is that there isn’t always a backup power source for the pump. The greatest chance for water to accumulate is during a bad storm, which can knock out the power and render the pump useless. The water backup coverage would still provide protection in this case. Make sure to get enough coverage for cleanup and replacement of damaged items.

Service Line coverage is something somewhat new to landlord insurance, and not offered by all carriers. This coverage provides protection for the service/utility lines that run from the house to wherever it connects to the city/county lines near the road. These lines are typically 10 feet under ground and cost around $10,000 to fix or replace. This is something that is typically around $40/year to add.

When it comes to summer heat and wind, I always recommend checking on your roof and siding coverage. If you want to make sure your roof is covered in full make sure it is covered under replacement cost, and not actual cash value (depreciated amount). Some companies will automatically switch your roof to actual cash value coverage after a certain age (15 to 20 years), so you always need to check. Lastly, I would think about checking on roof/siding matching coverage. This is a low-cost endorsement that can assure your entire siding or roof would be replaced in case any of it is damaged. The big thing on this is if part of your roof is damaged you will not have to pay out of pocket to replace all the non-damaged portions.

As long as you are educated on what you are being covered for you can make your decisions from there based on cost.

I hope this helps some!