All Forum Posts by: Yenipher Barrientos

Farmers!! I've worked for other insurance companies but this one is one of the best!

Hi @Chris H! As far as I know the umbrella policy is NOT a stand alone policy it has to piggy back off the umbrella (thats why you have to have certain limits on your auto policy in order to have an umbrella policy. I am speaking from my personal insurance experience as a Farmers agent... I do hope this helps and you can find what you need.

@Wesley W. go with Farmers! they will write one umbrella policy (with the limits you chose $1, 2, 3  millions, and this will act like a shield between your assetts and everyone else trying to get to them. This wil protect your autos, properties and ultimately yourself! if someone tries to sue you for example first the liability coverage on whatever covered item auto or home will kick in then if those limits are not enough the umbrella will serve as a second layer of protection for you, happy to answer any other questions you can think of, thanks.

Hi Alex! congrats on your home I am a Farmers agent here in California and I'd be happy to hopefully address some of your concerns/questions , what you need to carry on those properties is a landlord policy...these will provide some personal property coverage (this covers items in the property that are yours like maybe appliances that come with the property) the amount shouln't be that high since again its only covering personal items you purchased for the units such as appliances...that policy will also carry liability this is important because lets say there is a fire in the property and it damages the neighborhs property; the neighborh can come after you for the repair funds to rebuild their property again..liability will cover you in this instance (we recommend $500k when the owner is renting the property to others) and the policy will also carry loss of use (loss of rents) since you are renting the property to others. So in the same example I just gave you; the house catches on fire this amount of loss of use will pay you for the rent you would go without while the property is being repaired. As far as an umbrella that is a total separate policy that I would also encourage you to have but it can wait...the first thing is the landlords policy. The umbrella acts as a barrier between your assetts and everyone else trying to get to them! (best way to think of an umbrella insurance)  the umbrella serves as another layer of protection and it piggy backs of your auto policy (you cannot have a stand alone umbrella policy) without having an auto policy with the adequate limits of liability to go with the umbrella althought he umbrella protects your auto and homes as well. So here is how the umbrella works.... you have $500K in liability insurance for some reason you are being sued and there is a judgment against you for $800K your property where the sued occurred will pay the $500K in liability and the umbrella will kick in the additional $300K remainding...if you didn't have an umbrella you would have to pay $300K out of pocket since most people do not havet this amount cash thats when the courts would order assets to be liquidated to pay this debt, including garnishing your wages if necessary, (of course this depends on the severity of the sue/judgement) I AM NOT A LAWYER and I am not giving legal advise, just explainin what you would need as far as insurance. I hope this helps you Alex!

Hi! @Chet Jennings  congrats on your property purchase!! I would ask your insurance agent how did they arrive at such a high reconstruction value...I am a Farmers agent and we use a software called 360 value where you input the address and based on the area/and the number of claims and material used in that particular area the software will tell us a guestimate of the amount it would take to rebuild the home...So this is very important because it directly affects your insurance premium (the money you are paying for that specific coverage) The personal property amount should be lowered if you don't think you need this much because again this is affecting you premium and you're basically being over insured which costs money...liability at 300K is what I suggest when the owner is residing at the property if you are not living in the property and you renting it to others I would suggest 500K the maximum (for Farmers) is 1 million....medical payments to be honest will rarely be used (this is for example someone gets hurt on your property and they come after you for medical payments this would come from here) but to be honest if someone gets hurt on your property and they come after you for money is going to be more than $3K thats why its important to have the right amount of liability this is where the monies would usually come from...and loss of use is the monies that would be applied to a hotel stay while your property is being reconstructed from the covered loss that occurred...on the other hand if you are renting the property these monies would go towards the rents you would go without while the property is inhabitable...hope this helps! :)

Well, those numbers look good to me but I am also a newbie investor, my strenght is insurance so I'll leave the forum open to more experienced investors
:)

Hi Cory L.!! Congrats on your property! I would definitely increase my deductible I find thats always a good way to save on premium (just make sure you have the monies put away if needed for a loss) I would not recommend going down on the replacement value...that is the monies that would be used to rebuild the property if a loss where to occur I hate to sound morbid but if there is a fire and everything is burned to the ground you want to make sure that there are enough funds to rebuilt the property to what it is now and get indemnified to how you are today. Here in California the building and ordinance limit is always 25% at least with Farmers (I'm a farmers agent) and its a good way to be able to lower the dwelling just a tad because you can count on those monies as well...hope this helps! :)

Hi Rob Z. I would try Farmers! If the property was here in California I'd be happy to help but I won't be able to quote you, but I know that Farmers although not competitive in auto insurance it seems to be reasonable for home since we have plenty of customers come to us, hope this helps! :)

Oh, @marco G. I see, yes when you've reached your personal lines limits for properties insured the next option would be to have a commercial policy where you can fit all your investment properties and have a blanket coverage that protects all those. I would try Farmers I know that our commercial team gets lots of business because apparently the price is reasonable. I work in the personal lines department so thats not my specialty, but any personal lines questions I'd be happy to help!

Welcome!! :) @Duane Taylor