Homeowners insurance for brownstones
I called Geico and Allstate to get quotes on homeowners insurance for a North Slope 100 yr old 3 family brownstone (3 floors plus finished cellar), and they said they don’t even offer insurance for this area. Can people recommend companies to a) provide homeowners and b) give me a reasonable estimate of what it…
I called Geico and Allstate to get quotes on homeowners insurance for a North Slope 100 yr old 3 family brownstone (3 floors plus finished cellar), and they said they don’t even offer insurance for this area.
Can people recommend companies to a) provide homeowners and b) give me a reasonable estimate of what it would cost to insure the place?
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.
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.
Another vote for Liberty Mutual … 2k per year for 900k of coverage, (you don’t have to insure the land)
try a company calld chubb..
call ny state insurance board and maybe they have reccommendations.
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.
I insured my 4 family brownstone in Bed-Stuy with State Farm. Premium is about $3600 per year.
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.
State Farm
Call the Brownstone Agency – (212) 699-8981. I have been using them for 14 years, 4 properties in brownstone Brooklyn.