Insurance on strip mall

[Mark Dante]

I am looking into a strip mall that is for sale and am int he process of doing my due diligence.  I have placed a call into an insurance agent but I am wondering if there is anything in particular I should be asking.  Any sort of coverage or special coverage that is recommended for strip mall?  Any other thoughts or guidance would be appreciated.

thanks in advance!

[Joel Owens]

Hi Mark,

Insurance is a very small component of what you should be looking at with these strip malls.

Now I want to make sure when you say strip mall you are talking about small retail strip centers and not an actual mall where people walk inside with shops on each side and a food court.

Those are two very different animals.

The insurance the expense might vary from what the seller has shown. The seller might have  a paid off asset and you might be getting a loan with more lender placed requirements and amounts. The seller also might have a blanket policy that covers many properties and it was real cheap to add this one on.

So it's not that the sellers numbers might be wrong it's that their expenses and your expenses might be different based on a number of factors. You need to include these difference including the loan you will get as it affects returns for offer price.

If you could give me more info I can comment further. I specialize in retail centers across the country. I currently have tens of millions in price under contract with various clients.