condo insurance coverage question

SmrBrd2012 · June 2014

Hi all!

I was wondering if anyone out there has condo insurance and if I could ask a couple questions since I have zero experience with homeowners insurance. H and I just got quoted for our new condo that we move into next month. The amount is $230 for the entire year for the interior of the condo.

It says that the basic limit for the dwelling itself is only 15,000. For personal property it is 35,000. Do those numbers sound normal do you? I would have thought that dwelling coverage would be a LOT higher. I know there is a separate exterior insurance as well, but still. The condo is worth ~230k.

Thoughts?

jjbmstinco · June 2014

I am not familiar with condo coverage, only renters insurance.

Could you call another place and compare their prices/limits to the one you just got quoted for?

Those limits seem really small to me, but again, I am not familiar with that coverage.

smerka · June 2014

In a condo you usually own the drywall in. The condo association is responsible for the drywall out. If your place had to be completely rebuilt, you would need wood trim, flooring, painting, kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, furnace/AC, hot water heater, etc. I think appliances would go under personal property along with clothes, furniture, dishes, electronics, etc. The coverage limits seem low to me but I don't know how big your place is and if you own the heating system, etc.

brij2006 · June 2014

The coverage limit does seem to be on the lower end, but they calculate that amount based on the square footage of the condo. You insure from the studs in, and the association insures from the studs out. So I would definitely ask for a quote with a higher value. For condo's we insure, an average $1,000 sq ft condo is insured at $100,000. Then you receive 70% of that value in personal property. So $70,000. $15,000 really does not seem like enough to me at all. Especially if the condo value is $230k.

Also keep in mind that you will want to insure it for at least as much as your mortgage is for. So if the mortgage is $230k, then you will need to insure it for a minimum of that value. A normal condo policy will be treated the same as a homeowners and give you a percentage of coverage for Personal Property and Additional Living Expenses (in case your condo were to be damaged and you needed to live elsewhere for a period of time).

CuriousKiddosMama · June 2014

Yeah, that seems like a VERY small number. For both personal property and the dwelling- there is no way you could rebuild the inside of a condo for 15k, and for the personal property absolutely no way. Just look around the house- if you had to go repurchase EVERYTHING right now because you had a fire, would 35K cover it?

Erikan73 · June 2014

I agree it's a small number for dwelling. Not sure how big your kitchen is, but say you have a kitchen fire, it's big but contained to your apartment. Between fire, water & smoke damage, your whole kitchen has to be replaced. What would you be looking at to replace all the cabinets, countertops with at least equal quality stuff at today's prices?

SmrBrd2012 · June 2014

Thank you for your input everyone!

I honestly have no idea what it would cost to replace a kitchen, etc. There's nothing over the top fancy or high end in the condo and FTR it's about 1100 sq ft and our CURRENT furniture is pretty crappy but I'm sure that will change once we move. H inquired about upping it to at least 25k for dwelling, but it still seems low...It's really hard to find any information about condo insurance needs online. Personal property at 35k seems acceptable to me.

I'm surprised the insurance company didn't try to oversell us insurance instead of underselling.

condo insurance coverage question

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