All Forum Posts by: Colleen Esposito

A home insurance policy is for an owner occupied property; depending on the company you can insure 1 to 4 family properties on an HO3 or HO5 class policy if you live in it.

If you do not live in a property, you need a landlord policy -  DP3 class policy with replacement cost coverage is normally best - for 1 to 4 families.  If the property has more than 5 families it is an apartment and would require a business policy, not a DP3.

Home insurance is generally less expensive than landlord insurance because it is assumed that an owner living in a house will maintain it better than one that is rented to others.  If you have home insurance in a situation when you should have had a landlord policy, a company may deny a claim.

We've posted some information for landlords on our website: 
https://www.espositoins.com/blog/

If the company can recover the money they pay you from the contractors policy it may have no impact on you at all price wise.

Good luck.

We are licensed in Missouri and work with over 30 companies, please feel free to contact us.

ESPOSITOINSURANCE.com

We suggest landlords put a requirement into leases that tenants carry renters insurance with a minimum of $500,000 in liability.  This protects tenants from damage to their  belongings from covered perils, provides money to them to stay elsewhere and gives another liability pocket if the tenant creates a situation where there is a resulting lawsuit.

EspositoInsurance.com

Ron - 

I suggest that you contact your insurance company and file the claim, and let them contact the contractor's insurance company for reimbursement.  The process is called subrogation, and if your insurer has grounds to collect on this they will do so more readily than you can.  $7,000 is a significant amount of money, and even though you may have an increase in rates in the future it's likely to be considerably less than the claim payout.

Do you have an agent?  If so, you should discuss with her or him, they should be providing this type of guidance as part of the services they provide.

My name is Rocco Esposito from Esposito Insurance Group in NJ. We specialize in insurance for the real estate investor, and are a member of several REIAs. Our agency is licensed in 14 states, including NJ, NY, PA, MD and CT, and works with over 25 nationally known companies including Travelers, MetLife, Nationwide, Progressive and Farmers Mutual.

Please visit our website at www.espositoinsurance.com or call us at 973-284-1083.

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