All Forum Posts by: Jared Townsend

@Feng Ye Insurance costs are rising every year here in FL. I have moved my policies to excess and surplus carriers that bundle all my properties onto a single policy. I pay about $800 per concrete house and $1200 per frame house (ranging between $75k-150k coverage limits) with $1mil liability. 

The catch is that they want to see that the houses are updated nicely. Its great for BRRR houses where you need to replace everything anyways. Hope this helps!

@Sue Chen Yes, our agency does provide landlord insurance in FL. I'll send you a message to see if we can help. 

@Sue Chen Many carriers will provide coverage an LLC owned investment property if the LLC is used only for real estate and owned by family only.

If however you have other partners in the LLC or the LLC is used for other business activities you can simply remove liability from the landlord policy and write a separate commercial liability policy. 

The short of it is that you are best served to find a reputable insurance agency that has experience working with investors. 

@Jibu V.

Most carriers require you to have at least $300k liability coverage before they will offer an umbrella. You would have to buy a gap policy (coverage from 100k -300k) and then you would be eligible for the umbrella. Just some extra hoops (and cost) to get you there. 

@Jibu V. One issue is that Citizens coverage limits are often lower/more restrictive (only $100k liability). We have seen a lot of properties go to Excess & Surplus carriers instead of Citizens. They are less regulated than admitted carriers (like Universal) and are willing to accept different risks. For example some will offer Actual Cash Value (ACV) coverage for older roofs. While not ideal, it is often better than writing with Citizens or getting a new roof. 

@Raja Panyala, we help investors in your circumstances on a regular basis - we would be happy to help! I'll send you a message with our info. 

All joking aside, rates are going up significantly across the entire state for a multitude of reasons, so you're not alone. My own policy jumped from $1900-2350 in Central FL this year so I know that frustration. I would encourage you to request a re-shop with your current agent if they have done a good job in the past. It is worthwhile to build a strong relationship with your agent and give them the opportunity to retain your business. 

If they are unable or unwilling to help though, thats when you should move on to a better agent. 

If you own the property outright, there is no law requiring you have to have any insurance on a property. You should have no issues getting a liability only policy for that property. 

@Mark Vivanco The rates are adjusted annually and must be filed with the FL Office of Insurance Regulation so no, they don't adjust rates seasonally. It is hard to compare rates on different homes since there are so many rating variables (location, age, materials used, size, etc). 

If the home is empty for a few months while you complete renovations I would recommend you look at a short term (3-6 month) vacant home policy. When you write a 2nd home policy it is assumed that you are living there some part of the year and the home is furnished. If there is a claim you want to make sure that you have accurately represented the actual use of the home. 

@Ryan Thomas That may be true in most of the US but due to the nature of our local insurance environment that is generally untrue for Florida. You certainly can insure with a blanket policy, and sometimes it makes sense, but most of the time it is less expensive to insure individually here.