Rental Property Investor · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2020 · 38 posts · 35 votes
Hi y'all.
I'm closing on a duplex in Ohio and I'm looking for some home insurance advice.
- I will not be living on this property
- Duplex's s price is $90k in a C neighborhood
I already have Umbrella coverage of $5 mil (obviously this is not exclusively for this OH property). So I can count on this to protect me in the event coverage is needed outside of my landlord insurance.
Considering the umbrella policy, what is an appropriate amount of liability coverage needed in my Ohio duplex home/landlord insurance?
@Sandy Metivier there are a number of things to consider while purchasing a rental property when talking about the insurance. First, confirm your current personal lines umbrella will cover you in another state for rental properties. Yes, a lot of carriers will extend coverage for your rental property as an umbrella, but will require you to have an underlying liability limit with the property (could be $500,000 or $1,000,000). If you already have rental properties you will also want to check and see what the total amount of properties you are allowed before the personal umbrella will no longer extend coverage. Some carriers have a 2 limit some have 5 limit, etc. Lastly, your umbrella policy will not help rebuild the duplex if there is property damage, so I would suggest getting insurance on the property incase there is for example a fire and the duplex is destroyed.
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any other questions as I'm an independent insurance agent licensed in Ohio.
Thanks @Steven Foster Wilson, but I already have $5m in umbrella coverage and do not plan to do an LLC. My question is around the insurance needed on that one property.
Taking into consideration the umbrella policy I already hold, what is an appropriate amount of liability coverage needed in my Ohio duplex home/landlord insurance policy?
@Sandy Metivier there are a number of things to consider while purchasing a rental property when talking about the insurance. First, confirm your current personal lines umbrella will cover you in another state for rental properties. Yes, a lot of carriers will extend coverage for your rental property as an umbrella, but will require you to have an underlying liability limit with the property (could be $500,000 or $1,000,000). If you already have rental properties you will also want to check and see what the total amount of properties you are allowed before the personal umbrella will no longer extend coverage. Some carriers have a 2 limit some have 5 limit, etc. Lastly, your umbrella policy will not help rebuild the duplex if there is property damage, so I would suggest getting insurance on the property incase there is for example a fire and the duplex is destroyed.
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any other questions as I'm an independent insurance agent licensed in Ohio.
I would ask your insurance company this. I can't remember what my limit was but I just shopped around and my agent told me the amount I had to have with an umbrella which was higher than standard. I also don't think an LLC is really necessary for a lot of people and an umbrella should be sufficient for the average investor and have settled with a 1M policy. Even if you have an LLC I still think you would want an umbrella for it so you don't loose the company if something goes wrong.
@Adam Martin Thanks for the message Adam! I'll be staying away from an LLC for the foreseeable future, and agree the more coverage the better so a healthy umbrella should help us from losing everything should something go terribly wrong.
@Jason Bott Thank you so much for those questions and advice! That was very helpful, and I was able to get those questions answered by my umbrella agent and all is clear now. Thank you!!!