Newbie 42 Unit Condo . . .

[PotentialFarmer]

Hi folks,

I'm coming into an opportunity where I can handle the commercial insurance for a 42 unit condo building in SoCal, good friend of mine is handling the private financing and will be given participation in lieu (not sure on that spelling) of a broker fee. He's already put in a good word and when the deal goes through they'll be looking for me to put together some numbers. Problem being that I've never written anything to do with condo's. I do however have some good intel on which markets to approach. But what I'm hoping is one of the long winded members here give me a quick schooling on the basics that I'll need to know a little about before I start bumping into these folks for dinner meetings etc. etc. They know I'm a little green but I don't want to sound like a complete baffoon. I guess I'm asking for a commercial condo policy Class 101...

 

[1manshow]

For future reference...Best's Underwriting Guide (Database)

 

[Gregoryd]

I would suggest you obtain literature from the carriers you are going to quote. If you are affiliated with farmers, they have manuals that will offer all the info you are looking for from a coverage standpoint.

 

[PotentialFarmer]

I would suggest you obtain literature from the carriers you are going to quote. If you are affiliated with farmers, they have manuals that will offer all the info you are looking for from a coverage standpoint.

I'm not affiliated with Farmers, I'm going to grab some literature from Travelers as I've been informed that in my area they're up to 25% under the competition, and just killing it on rates right now. Got that from another marketing guy from Philladelphia Insurance.

 

[Cranson]

You are right about Travelers. One coverage to focus on with Condos is the Directors & Officers (D&O) coverage. Study that thoroughly as its an important coverage for condos to protect the board members. Your Philly rep porbably mentioned that they offer a great D&O policy but Travelers should be able to put it on the BOP (assuming it fits on a BOP).

Good luck!

 

[DurAmerica]

I just write a 40 family co-op in NYS and one of the most important things I came across is that not all of the units in the building were owner occupied. There were some that were owned and occupied by the owner, some were owned by someone but were rented out and then some were owned by the building owner and were rented out.

Some insurance companies required that at least 80% of the units be owner occupied, so that was a hurdle.

There is a great wholesaler that I work with here that has offices in SoCal, there name is Bass Underwriters. If you want give me a call at 718-626-0700 ext 14 and I will put you in contact with them.

George.

 

[PotentialFarmer]

Can I ask you what the premium was on your 40 family co-op? Obviously everything is different, but I'm trying to get a ballpark idea at how big this thing is. I mean 25k 50k 75k? Also did you mean to say NYC? Cause NYS doesn't make sense to me, I'm originally from the east coast.

 

[saieddie]

Ask them what their expiring premium is. The underwriters need to know what to shoot for, or even if their interested in it at all.

 

[DurAmerica]

The property is in the Bronx, The premium came to $21,452

 

[PotentialFarmer]

The property is in the Bronx, The premium came to $21,452

That's not a bad payday. Especially if you can hold the relationship. I'd imagine that premiums are higher in SoCal due to the increased chance of Fire which is probably the most destructive potential loss.