All Forum Posts by: Jason Bott

Quote from @Bruce M.:

I have rental properties in both NV and AZ, all are 1 to 4 unit properties.  Any advice on where I can go get all of them written together?

 Bruce, there are many programs out there that will be able to write the entire portfolio.  I'll send you some recommendations that our AZ/NV investors use.

@Max Servais if this will be your primary residence, you will need to insure this with a Homeowners policy.  A standard Landlord/Apartment policy will not allow the building to be owner occupied, especially if the title is no your personal name.

Quote from @Danielle Crawford:

Thoughts on purchasing a multifamily with fuse boxes..

9 units, so a decent expense to update and the one thing that could make or break the deal.  

Current owner has had no issues in the 6 years of ownership and no issues insuring. The boxes were made by Federal Pacific, but can't find any information on their fuse boxes being an issue-just the breaker panels.

Any experience with these would be greatly appreciated!

Danielle, in order to get reasonable insurance pricing, all of the standard market companies will require the fuses to be updated.  I have seen this requirement being one of the reasons owners are the selling. 

@Matt Wignall I have offices in MN and can say the # of companies willing to insure older buildings has gone from 10 to 1-2 in 2024.  There are a few options out there, but not many.  I'll PM you some info.

Quote from @Michelle Bowes:

We own a residential 10-plex in a small, safe, Nebraska rural community. Our insurance recently off-loaded all multifamily units in the US leaving us hunting for a reasonable replacement. Unfortunately, quotes are coming back at 3x the current cost ($3300/year). Can anyone recommend an insurer that is a bit more reasonable? The building is in great condition with a new roof and is professionally managed. Only 1 claim on our books. Thank you in advance!

Michelle, I have offices in NE and can say 95 % of the companies have pulled out of the market.  The ones still open to adding new policies will only insure buildings built after 2000, or 1980 (depending on the insurer), and you have to be claim free in the last 5 years.

Unfortunately, $9k for a 10u does not surprise me.  No one wants to insure these buildings in 2024.  The clients we have who have been cancelled have needed to go to the nonstandard market, like a Lloyds of London.  

yes, I will send over.

Quote from @Dan N.:

Quote from @Tom S.:

@Dan N.  I believe most house insurance policies have a standard minimum anyway, typically $300k is the standard that comes with a fire insurance policy.  But to the excellent point above, for liability you should definitely go higher and it's usually not too much more expensive.

 Yeah, 300K is the minimum.

If it was under my name, then I would understand that higher is better.

What I am not clear about is if the LLC only has a $180K asset, isn't that the maximum they could sue the LLC for?

 Dan, If there is a death due to fire, they may sue for $1M.  Typically the suit amount is based on damages to the plaintiff, not the assets of the defendant.

You can also note, typically no lawyer wants to wait for an LLC to liquidate to get paid. They want a quick payout from the insurance policy.

We recommend investors carry a minimum of $1M. On a SFR, it is $10-$20 more per year.

An agent would need to review your policy, but in general,

Tenants belongings and vehicle would need to be covered with Renters Insurance and Auto insurance.  The policy for the duplex most likely does not provide any coverage to the tenants belongings or vehicle.

@Ana Vhan there are many commercial options where you can add multiple locations/multiple states onto a single policy.  

In the 2024 insurance market, CA is hard to place, so even though you could force them onto a single policy, it may be more economical to keep them separate.

I'll send you a note with the carriers who can do this for you.

@Andrew Gavre there will continue to be upward pricing pressure for insurance in coastal areas for the next 2 years, just not to the 20%-30% rate increase we have been seeing.  If rates keep going up, and we then have 2-3 years of no hurricanes, the insurance carriers will be very profitable, and will start to chase business, lowering premiums.  If we continue to have storms with billion $ payouts, pricing will continue to climb.

Coastal insurance has always had a high price and it will always be volatile.