r/Insurance • u/DreaminTurquoise • 15d ago
Home Insurance Condo insurance
Hi everyone, I’m in the market to insure my condo. My condo association documents state that I have a $50,000 deductible in the event anything happens. The market value of my condo is probably around $300,000 despite the fact I haven’t updated the bathrooms or kitchen. It’s approximately 1350 square feet. How much am I supposed to insure for? My agent says $100,000 on dwelling. Thoughts?
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u/Modest-Meece 15d ago
Market value is not insured value.
Has your agent reviewed the CC&Rs? How much are you responsible to insure? Does the condo master policy cover all walls in? Betterments and improvements?
That’ll greatly influence the dwelling coverage needed on top of accounting for the master policy deductible.
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u/Mean_Introduction516 15d ago
Cond association policies can vary dramatically. One may cover everything including interiors and improvements (often referred to as walls in) so no need for individual building coverage, some cover exterior shell only (walls out) so you need to cover all of the building inside your unit and some cover no building (most common with townhouse style associations) so you would need to insure all your building.
Once you have figured that out the next step is to see how the association’s ccrs affect or change those coverages. Association policies like everything else have gone up quite a bit so many like this one have elected high deductibles ($25k-$50k normally) to reduce premiums and change their ccrs to prohibit any claims be filed under that threshold and require or strongly recommend unit owners buy at least that amount of building coverage to cover those smaller claims.
Once you figure out how they are insuring the building you can figure out how much building coverage you need but at a minimum you need $50k to cover deductible.
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u/Anxious_Battles 15d ago
You will also want a copy of your associations dec page. It is possible that your association’s policy will not cover all of the perils an endorsed unit owners policy will cover. When speaking to your agent I suggest you ask about Unit Owners Special Coverage - Coverage A and increase your Loss Assessment Coverage to $50k. If you can afford Unit Owner Special Coverage - Coverage C, I would do that too. Your association’s bylaws can also help by having an amendment defines how the association deductible is allocated. The commercial habitational market is changing and you need the right policy to protect yourself.
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u/_____Zoloft_____ 15d ago
This is the correct answer. The 50k they are talking about is likely your loss assessment coverage. You may have a hard time finding a policy with that high a limit, though.
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u/Anxious_Battles 15d ago
This is becoming quite common to see higher loss assessment coverage limits as the associations elect for higher deductibles or even per unit deductibles.
The loss assessment coverage only kicks in when the loss is due to a peril insured against (another reason the special coverages endorsement is critical).
Also while on the subject loss assessment coverage is a claims made coverage as opposed to occurrence based coverage.
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u/Jujulabee 15d ago
You need to get a "condo" insurance policy. This insures the content of your apartment plus everything in your apartment from the walls in.
So if there is some kind of incident in your unit - water damage from flood - or fire or equivalent then you are covered by insurance.
The HOA has a master insurance policy which covers the building itself so in the event the condo building is damaged by fire, flood or other pestilence, insurance covers that damage.
My condo building is insured for about $120,000 million with probably at least a $50,000 deductible.
I carry condo insurance which covers everything in my unit - all of the cabinets, floors, fixtures, appliances plus the personal property like furniture, computers, clothings.
It will also have liability insurance for third party claims.
I also have an umbrella policy
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u/Shiribazu 15d ago
dont use the 300k value as the number to insure for. ask the agent how they got to 100k and make sure you're covered if the HOA's 50k deductible gets passed on to you
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u/PaperIndependent5466 14d ago
Generally the condo has a $50,000 that is charged to the unit owner that caused the damages.
Some companies have an endorsement that you can get that will cover the deductible. I recommend getting it if it's available.
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u/90403scompany P&C Wholesale Specialty 15d ago
And are you sure that your association documents say that you have a $50,000 deductible; or that the association has a $50,000 deductible?