15 JanDwelling Policies vs. Builder’s Risk

Not all houses are created equal – and neither are insurance policies. If you are an investor and you have ever purchased a rehab property using only ‘builder’s risk’ insurance – you’d better continue reading. Few people, including investors and full-time real estate professionals, have any real understanding of what property insurance is, the various coverages used, endorsements, and, most important, exclusions.

14 JanProblems with Insuring Seller-Financed Properties

Seller-financing a property is a great alternative to traditional mortgages and the difficulties that they involve; however, insuring these seller-financed properties is complicated at best and somewhat risky.

14 JanBuilder’s Risk 101

contrary to its name, a Builder’s Risk policy may not be applicable in many remodeling and construction projects and this is the most commonly mis-sold policy in the market – which means that thousands of people each year pay for insurance which they never really even have.

14 JanHow a Property’s Reconstruction Cost is Determined

When it comes to determining how much value you should insure your property for, one issue that seems to continually cause confusion and misunderstanding is that of a property’s reconstruction amount, also commonly referred to as its replacement cost.

14 JanInsuring Vacant and Actively For-Sale Properties

To get right to the point, there is no one-size-fits-all policy and properties which are either vacant or held for sale at the time an insurance policy is applied for cannot be written with a standard-market insurance carrier and they require different types of coverages.

14 JanInsuring Short-Term & Vacation Rentals

Are you an investor who owns short-term vacation or rental property? Or, are you a homeowner with a nice home located near an area of interest that you lease out periodically for vacationers or weekend travelers looking for a three-day getaway? If so, this question is for you: What’s the difference between a rental home occupied by a full time tenant and another home occupied by multiple tenants, each for a short period of time?

09 JanUnderstanding Reconstruction Cost

A property’s ‘reconstruction cost’, often referred to as its ‘replacement value’ is the amount that the insurance company estimates it will cost to completely rebuild the property from the ‘ground up’ with like-kind materials at the current labor rate and materials cost for the geographic area in which the property is located.

This amount also includes often disregarded or forgotten ‘soft costs’ such as architectural fees, permitting fees, and the cost of demolishing and/or removing the damaged structure prior to rebuilding.

08 JanUnderstanding the Most Common Coverages in a Property Policy

A brief explanation of the most common coverages provided by most property insurance policies, including dwelling coverage, accidental discharge of water, personal liability, premises liability, and others.

08 JanUndertstanding Your Insurance Score

Your insurance score is a snapshot of your specific ‘insurance risk’ at a particular point in time – but it is important to know that it is not the same thing as your credit (FICO) score, although they are similar in nature.