All Forum Posts by: Tony Wilcox

As mentioned above, you should landlord insurance with enough liability and an umbrella. Also I recommend having your tenants get renters insurance and listing you as the additional insured. This way if there is a claim they are liable for it can be claimed against their renters liability and will go directly to you. You also get any info on if it is cancelled.

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!

You will need to make sure it has replacement cost and it depends what state you are in. Florida will be much harder for example. 

@Kevin Panella I would also love to connect as I am local to the Indy area with numerous connections. 

 A lot depends on the age and coverage amount on the building. I would consider talking with an independent agent.

Many carriers are pulling out of Florida so I would expect those to keep going up every single year. 

Indy is a great place to invest! I know of some great property managers and contractors in the area as well. Of course, that is more down the road!

It is rare, but they are meant to protect you in extreme cases. Of course it would have to be a claim over the liability on the property for the umbrella to take effect. If the property is in the LLC and there a claim that is high enough to go over the property liability I have heard of people getting around the LLC and going after the owner of the llc as a heads up. For the cost of an umbrella ($180-$400) a year it is worth the protection. Also most of the companies would help in court if it came to it if you have an umbrella policy.

I would just get a landlord policy with an endorsement for short term rentals. Not every carrier will do this, however.

DEFINITELY DONT RECCOMEND going with a 

‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy when it comes to fuses, knob and tube wiring, etc.

as mentioned above. Don't give a carrier an excuse to deny a claim. Be up front and get a carrier who will cover what you need.