Question:
Who insures old buildings? We have purchased a building constructed in the 1880s and all insurance companies seem to be terrified of the structure. Most won't insure anything over 75 years old.
We are setting up a ceramics studio on the ground floor and will be living on the second and third floors. We did find one company that will charge us an outrageous amount, but we'd like to find something friendlier.
Does anyone know of any insurance company in the USA that won't respond to requests by sticking their fingers in their ears and going, "LA-LA-LA-Can't-hear-you-LA-LA...
Answers:
OK, your problem isn't just the age . . .it's the occupancy. You're looking at COMMERCIAL building rates, for an OLD building - you're NOT going to find a "homeowners" policy. You're right, unless the building is a gut rehab, not many companies will be interested in writing it.
Expect to pay about 7% of the value of the building for property coverage. Then, maybe $500 for your studio on a commercial policy, and a renters policy to cover your "stuff" and personal liability. And that policy should run you around $200 a year or so.
A local, independent agent should be able to place this, but again, it's NOT going to be cheap.
***in addition to the updates mentioned above, ROOF. And hopefully it's not a FLAT roof, which needs to be replaced every 5 years or so.***
My house was built in 1851 and I had a very difficult time finding an insurer that would touch it. I finally found that Allstate would insure it (at a very good price, too). One caution, though: the agent will probably give you a "generic" quote, then once their inspector views the building there will be an increase -- this happened to me when the inspector saw my wooden wrap-around porch.
Try Nationwide. While the restrictions are different from state to state, i would possibly be able to do it in GA.
Also if the building has been updated or renovated be sure to mention that, it can make a hug difference. I insured a builing not too long ago built in 1820 but had plumbing, roof elect, and HVAC all redone in like 06 so i had no issues...
If you are in one of the states i'm licensed in i can check on it for ya, or i'll be happy to refer you to someone. Good Luck!
Ceramics studios are considered high risk. Mixed residential and commercial are high risk. Old building are high risk. You're off the chart baby. LA-LA-LA (sorry)
Your going to need to convince someone your 1880s building has all the upgrades of a newer building. Make a list of all the upgrades done on the building in the past 15 years. Things they will look for:
Electric - modern three strand wiring with circuit breakers all up to code
Smoke alarms & other security features inspected and up to code
Updated plumbing
Updated HVAC
General good repair of entire building, surrounding area sidewalks, roof.
Sprinklers ? This would be a plus.
If you can show these are all in good repair and have been updated recently, you should eliminate the old building problem; now you just need to deal with ceramics & mixed use commercial issue. Hope you have a good relationship with an insurance guy. Good luck
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