How do I find a reasonable “fire policy” insurance company for my rental properties? I am located in Texas, Thanks…
best thing to do is get a million dollar unbralla , tell them you are invester , and you can put all your property under it. $200 to 250 a yr.
hey!
if the house will burn to the ground, your umbrella policy will have nothing to do with it.
Howdy REImoneymaker:
I used two companies in the past that had cheap rates.
Pioneer Farm Mutual in Round Rock
German American Farm Mutual ?
Both are farm mutual non profit companies and are great to deal with as long as you pay the policy premiums.
Thanks for the replies. I will be getting in contact with each to compare rates, Life Long Member
Try Hocheim Prarie Insurance Company.
Charles E. Brown
If you are ex-military or government employee, I recommend USAA. I have not found any other company that can beat their quotes.
We have just switched from a standard Homeowners policy to a builders risk, through the local homebuilders association, and supplemented it with an umbrella for the liability part. We chose to report the values every month so as to stay away from the one year unreimbursable premium.
Our “standard” homeowners,with State Farm, policy wanted to cancel because it was vacant more than 90 days. I’m told that this is a problem with most homeowners policies.
If you are doing many house at all, find an insurance broker who deals in business insurance and let them shop it for you. It is a business, treat it like one.
Mack,
I am curious about your insurance arrangement. I have three rentals in St. Louis. I am not a builder but do you think I could benefit from your method (builders risk policy)? Is the coverage the same? TIA
Dennis
Ted
Was there anything special about the policies being these units were rentals? I guess what I am asking is …did the ins company trat these differently because they wre rentals?
Did you get a separate liability policy of any kind to protect you?
Many thanks!
Mack,
Be careful on what you “assume” to be covered! Builder’s Risk is a great policy to have for the fire portion of the coverage. Now where is the first $300,000 of liability protection?
Your “Umbrella” goes OVER underlying coverages, and for properties that usually is $300,000. If you have no underlying coverage on this rental, you, in effect, have a $300,000 deductible on a liability lawsuit before the umbrella kicks in.
Umbrella polices are EXCESS coverage and not primary coverage - you still need a primary coverage of $300,000! Check with your agent real soon!
Hi,
Don’t know how much I say will add to the conversation, but thought I’d try.
I work in insurance as an agent/broker in Canada. You’re right about the vacancy (no one wants to touch a vacant property) but to the person who brought up the issue of three rentals, have you checked out with your insurer if you can add them as FEC’s (fire & extended coverages) to your homeowner’s policy with liability? As well, (and I can’t emphasize this enough) ensure your tenants have proof of active tenant’s policies that cover their contents and liability for their acts. God knows, I hate it when I have to tell my insured’s they aren’t covered for acts of their tenants. Most tenants aren’t made aware of their liability and assume that it would be the landlord’s policy that would cover it…and it’s not that way at all.
hope it helps
Suzy
I use American Modern Insurance Group, they pay their claims on the spot, but if the property is empty for over 90 days, they will drop you too!
Even if you have multiple claims, with different properties, they’ll pay, and renew you, as long as your insurance broker is good enough to explain the details of each claim, that they’re not connected.
They’re rates have always been very reasonable.
But shopping around is always the best, and ask the key questions, as are mentioned on this forum.
Good Luck!