CHUBB or TRAVELLERS?
Hello all! I am in the process of closing on a 3-family brownstone in Bed-Stuy. I am very excited, but have to be careful about budgeting (after I close I will only have @$70K remaining and some of that — like $35,000 — needs to go to touch up some of the rentals). I have…
Hello all!
I am in the process of closing on a 3-family brownstone in Bed-Stuy. I am very excited, but have to be careful about budgeting (after I close I will only have @$70K remaining and some of that — like $35,000 — needs to go to touch up some of the rentals). I have done the lleg work in terms of insurance coverage and pricing and am deciding between CHUBB who is offering me insurance @ $5,000 per year, and TRAVELLERS who is offering insurance @ $2,900 per year (both with $2,500 deductable, and are contingent upon a burgler and fire alarm system connected to the police and fire stations). At any rate, CHUBB seems to be the gold standard, offering full replacement with like materials, while TRAVELLERS is a solid company that will probably give me a bit of a headache should I ever need to settle a claim). My question is, on my budget, should I take the safer, more expensive route and go with CHUBB, or should I take on a little more risk, hope nothing goes wrong, save some money and go with TRAVELLERS? As an alternative, I am considering going with CHUBB for at least the first year until I know my building a little better, and then if/when I get more comfortable, opting for the lower priced TRAVELLERS service.
Everyone on this board is always really helpful with issues like this, so I look forward to your thoughts and hearing about some of your experiences. Thank you!
The above poster w/ 2 brownstones is probably underinsuring his/her property.
You have to figure rebuilding costs and not just market value or your obligation to the bank. The bank will require that you cover only your liability to them but you risk losing whatever equity you have in the buildings if you go that route.
Also, if you have to file a claim you will want to rebuild with like materials and $700K won’t cover it for a 100+ year old building if there’s a total loss..
I have AMICA for my coop and love them. I called to ask about covering my brownstone and they said they don’t cover turn of the century brownstones with flat roof. I will miss them.
We chose Chubb for our limestone rowhouse. I’m still waiting to get the appraisal from them. I did not know Amica insured houses here. I had Amica for auto insurance before I moved to NYC, and really liked them. I had that insurance for over a decade and always stayed with them. I might check them out for the future, for insuring our house.
Your numbers don’t look high. Worth the money to not deal with Brownstone Agency in case of a claim, from what I’ve heard.
I was in the same situation as you a year ago, and chose to go with Liberty Mutual because the construction premium from Chubb was ridiculous. I may look at Chubb again once our renovations are done, but so far Liberty Mutual has been fine. I also changed out car insurance over to them. It didn’t save me any money on my car insurance – it actually went up – but my homeowners insurance went down enough to make it worthwhile.
I own 2 brownstones. On one I have allstate and pay 2300 per year for $850k coverage. On the other, I went with Brownstone Agency and pay about 5k every 3 years for 700k coverage. I never made a claim. OP’s numbers look high to me.
I faced the identical dilemma seven months ago when I closed on my brownstone–Chubb vs. Liberty Mutual. I finally went with Liberty Mutual despite the fact that the Chubb agent worked very hard to make me feel guilty for not choosing the gold standard. Our house was in good shape and we have had no claims yet, so I can’t tell you how Liberty Mutual is going to behave. That’s what it comes down to, of course, but there is no way of knowing until you actually have a claim. I think if you feel reasonably confident about the state of the house, then save yourself a few bucks. . .
OP here – The comparison should be between Chubb and Liberty Mutual. Sorry I wrote Travellers, guess I did too much research and all of the insurance companies began to sound the same. So, same question, different companies: Chubb vs. Liberty Mutual. Thanks.
Your first year/chubb reasoning is sound. You don’t know the quirks of your house and, guaranteed, many of them will surface in the first year.
I have Fireman’s Fund and it’s pretty much the same deal as Chubb, however the premium is about 20% lower.
Traveller’s is a good solid company, however the issue is also if they will raise your premium, or worse, drop you if you ever file a claim. I’ve heard Chubb is pretty good about this sort of thing.
Definitely avoid State Farm. They won’t pay your claim and then they’ll drop you. I’ve heard also to avoid AIG.
Also, the appraisal is a double-edged sword. They will ask you to change things they don’t like, but if you need to file a claim, you will also have documentation of the state of your house so they won’t try to replace your original moldings and ceiling medallions with cheap drywall from Home Depot. Regardless of the company, document EVERYTHING about your house and your posessions now and keep the records off-site.
Chubb is the gold standard and they usually pay a legit claim the way we wish all insurance companies would. However, Chubb will come out to make an “appraisal” and insist that you have changes made to your security and fire systems, and anything else that they don’t like about your current set-up. They will charge a construction premium if and when you have work done. I was with them for more than 20 years but when I bought a brownstone they were ridiculous.