Homeowners insurance for brownstones

Hi there - we've just gone through a very similar process. There would appear only to be limited options as many insurers are pulling out / reducing exposure to the north east for various reasons.

Companies who would quote us were :
Chubb - most expensive but had the best reputation.

AIG - they are currently expanding in the tri-state and were more competitive than Chubb. The sales person we went through noted they are very good when it comes to settlement but I have yet to prove this. (we chose these guys ourselves.

Firemans fund insurance - Our next door neighbours use these and they were competitive to our quote with AIG.

Other items (but not all) to consider to lower your premium would be - Deductible level / home alarm systems / Underlying mortage value / property value

If you check out the forum there are other threads on this topic with similarly useful information.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 12:44 PM

My research found similar results as first poster. Fireman's had a competitive quote, but only if you also added an umbrella and/or auto policy, which we didn't want to do.

Make sure you know whether your lender requires you to insure for mortgaged value before you get the quotes. Often, the insurance brokers will volunteer to do the quotes at an estimated replacement value. Because in many expensive neighborhoods the replacement value is lower than your mortgage amount, this results in a lower quote. But it doesn't represent the price you'd actually pay if your lender requires a higher insurance level, and skews the comparison because not all insurers are equally competitive at higher values.

I also got State Farm to give us a quote that was much lower than the others. Caveat Emptor.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 12:58 PM

We went with Chubb. It was the only insurance company I approached after doing my research and learning about companies canceling policies in Brooklyn. It stinks how costly it is, we pay $5,000 a year for our 2 story with English basement one-family house, which is about $1,000 more per year than it reasonably should cost IMO. But if God forbid there was a reason to file a big claim we'd want the best company and policy available. Fire or flood in your home is difficult enough to endure without some dishonest insurance company giving you a hard time on top of it.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 1:25 PM

The Brownstone Company was the only one who would write a policy for our brownstone in a landmark section. They are located in lower Manhattan.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 2:59 PM

We have Liberty Mutual. It costs about $4,000 per year for our four story two family in Park Slope. No claims yet, so I can't comment on that.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 3:27 PM

I went with Tower. It was the least expensive of all of the companies mentioned. I don't know anyone who has had to settle a claim with any of the above mentined companies. aneighbor of mine who went with Tower settled a claim with Tower for a small kitchen fire that she started with a dish towel. After the paperwork she did get all new cabinets and a new countertop. IMHO all of the companies will probably try not to pay a claim if they can get away with it.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 3:56 PM

Call the Brownstone Agency - (212) 699-8981. I have been using them for 14 years, 4 properties in brownstone Brooklyn.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 4:01 PM

State Farm

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 4:06 PM

Avoid Brownstone Agency. They took a year to pay a claim on a flood I had. I can't tell you how many times I heard "the check is in the mail". They rep AIG, who is a good company, but Brownstone authorizes the claim payments and they are unbelievably bad. Also, check the credit rating of the company you use (for example, AIG is, I think, AAA, Tower is A-). My Dad had an insurance company go bust on him after making a claim, but before it was paid. He eventually got some cash from the State Fund backing busted insurance companies -- 10 years later.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 4:28 PM

I insured my 4 family brownstone in Bed-Stuy with State Farm. Premium is about $3600 per year.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 5:04 PM

We have Allstate and they are about $1700/ year for our 2 story with English basement in Red Hook. Are they good? Or should we switch? We also have our Flood Insurance through them for an additional $1800.

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 5:36 PM

Another vote for Liberty Mutual ... 2k per year for 900k of coverage, (you don't have to insure the land)

Posted by: guest at October 10, 2007 9:40 PM

9:40 - not true if you have a lender who insists on coverage at least equal to the value of your mortgage. Anyone with a big old brownstore or townhouse that might cost $750K-$1MM in replacement value (even with a like materials and construction policy) but whose property is valued more than $1MM or so because of the land value of Brownstoner neighborhoods, could potentially have a mortgage that exceeds the replacement cost.

Posted by: guest at October 11, 2007 12:00 AM

Try Travelers. There's an agent on Vanderbilt Avenue at Dean Street. He keeps a slightly messy office but he knows his stuff. He takes his time when working out a replacement cost, and will even come out to the house to make sure he doesn't miss anything.

Posted by: guest at November 4, 2007 11:08 PM