Property Insurance in Louisiana

[Nick Ysidron]

Does anyone have a good recommendation for getting a property insurance policy in Louisiana? I have a long-term rental property in Baton Rouge and need to find new coverage since my current insurer isn't writing in the state anymore.

[Amy Verges]

Hey @Nick Ysidron! Just sent you a DM with my insurance agent's info. I was in a similar situation and she found me new policies.

[Nick Ysidron]

Quote from @Amy Verges:

Hey @Nick Ysidron! Just sent you a DM with my insurance agent's info. I was in a similar situation and she found me new polic

 Thanks Amy!

[Troy P.]

Good luck.  My rentals just went up 30% from last year and my agent says this was "by far the best deal she could find".  I haven't started calling providers myself, but it's beyond ridiculous.

@Amy Verges sharing is caring! :)

[Joel Case]

Good luck, I am about two hours away and my primary residence just doubled when my previous company pulled out. I would call multiple insurance brokers in the area and get quotes, but this last round was brutal. 

[Cameron Moore]

Whatever you do, hire an insurance broker that can shop multiple carriers year over year. Carriers are businesses, they go into profit mode (higher rates and less new customers) every couple of years and then once they like their margins, they move into growth mode and lower the rates and start attaining more new business in certain areas. Having a broker that can navigate which carriers are in Growth vs profit mode is important to your cash flow. 

[Kevin Hoag]

Louisiana is a difficult state to get good insurance rates. I know Tower Hill has competitive rates but often times will not include wind/hail coverage. Foremost also offers a good landlord policy but will only insure single family homes. 

[Nick Ysidron]

Thanks for all of the info! Insurance is definitely not the fun part of having rentals

[Ryan Letzeiser]

We write in LA and can likely issue you a policy in under 5 min but you may not like the price you can expect this to get worse in the coming years.  We also might not be able to write in that state soon. The cost of reinsurance and the strength of the US dollar adjacent to the inflationary costs to rebuild are crushing everyone with rate adjustment. Take on all the hurricane risk in Louisiana and it’s a recipe for high costs to insure.  @kevin Hoag I would be worried about tower hill going out of business and into receivership in the coming months and everyone getting flat canceled like UPC in Florida. Their AM best and demo tech downgrade are now no longer acceptable for most lenders. 

[Angelle Barnes]

Quote from @Amy Verges:

Hey @Nick Ysidron! Just sent you a DM with my insurance agent's info. I was in a similar situation and she found me new policies.

 Hi Amy

Can you send me that information as well? Thank you!!

[Konstantin Ginzburg]

Quote from @Amy Verges:

Hey @Nick Ysidron! Just sent you a DM with my insurance agent's info. I was in a similar situation and she found me new policies.

 Would you be willing to send me that agent's info as well? I would greatly appreciate that. I am in New Orleans market. I currently have insurance with LA Citizen for a 4-plex but their rates have gone up 60% this year so finding a better option would be very helpful. 

[Amy Verges]

Quote from @Konstantin Ginzburg:

Quote from @Amy Verges:

Hey @Nick Ysidron! Just sent you a DM with my insurance agent's info. I was in a similar situation and she found me new policies.

 Would you be willing to send me that agent's info as well? I would greatly appreciate that. I am in New Orleans market. I currently have insurance with LA Citizen for a 4-plex but their rates have gone up 60% this year so finding a better option would be very helpful. 

 Unfortunately the New Orleans market is a different animal. If you're with LA Citizens, that usually means most of the private companies will not cover that property and you're likely going to continue paying a huge amount in insurance. I'm happy to share my agent's info if you want to shoot me a DM, but she's in Baton Rouge so I'm not sure if she'll be able to help with this one.

[Taylor Stow]

@Nick Ysidron  Property insurance in Louisiana is way up for everyone, and we are just now starting to see its impact for real estate investors.  And its not just small rental property owners, there are big multifamily deals that are falling apart at the last minute because the insurance costs are too high and the deal doesn't pencil.  

That said, as you shop for insurance for your property, make sure your insurance broker is up to date with all of the available options.  

Insurance Companies Writing Policies in Louisiana 

The state legislature recently passed incentive money for insurers to come write policies in Louisiana, and the insurance companies responded.  Here's a list of the insurers that received incentive money that should be writing new policies: 

• Allied Trust Insurance Company 
• Applied Underwriters
• Cajun Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (CURE)
• Constitution Insurance Company
• Elevate Reciprocal Exchange 
• Gulf States Insurance Company 
• SafePoint Insurance Company 
• SafePort Insurance Company 
• SureChoice Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (SURE)

You can check out more info about the incentive program at the Department of Insurance's website: https://www.ldi.la.gov/news/pr...

Risky Insurance Companies

@Ryan Letzeiser makes a good point about watching out for the solvency of insurance companies.  As your shopping for insurance, you'll want to determine if the insurer you're considering is "admitted" in Louisiana such that it is covered by the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association ("LIGA").  If an admitted insurer becomes insolvent, LIGA should cover all or most of a claim amount.  On the other hand, if you go with an unauthorized insurer, you won't get that LIGA protection.  For more, see: https://www.laiga.org/history/...