Gotham Brokerage can help you gauge your needs and deliver the right policy
"The Renwick" co-op apartment building. (Photo courtesy of Beyond My Ken, via Wikimedia Commons)
How much insurance do you need for my NYC co-op? It depends. Many, though not all, co-op buyers in New York City have substantial personal wealth that needs to be protected in the event of a personal liability claim, theft, fire or other hazard.
Your co-op’s insurance — the coverage carried by the corporation that owns the building — won’t do much to help you if you suffer a catastrophic loss. The building policy generally will only pay to restore common spaces; after a fire, these policies generally pay only to rebuild the shell of your unit. If you’ve ever watched a remodeling show on HGTV, pause about halfway through: That’s what your “rebuilt apartment” would look like if you lack your own insurance.
The right individual co-op insurance policy will pay to put in new walls and new hardware fixtures. It will also pay to replace your wardrobe, your furniture, your TV, your computers, your jewelry.
That’s not all. A good individual co-op insurance policy should also provide plenty of liability coverage. If a broken pipe rots out your floorboards, sending your grand piano crashing into your downstairs neighbor’s Dale Chihuly sculpture, you’ll want to have some help writing the replacement check.
If you’ve noticed that we keep saying “generally” and “probably,” it’s because co-op insurance policies can vary quite a bit. Gotham Brokerage has been helping New York co-op owners find the best insurance for 50 years, and those decades of experience mean we know how to decipher your building policy to craft an insurance package for you.
To find out how we can help you, give us a call at (212) 406-7300.
