NYC condo insurance deductibles can be adjusted to fit any budget
Photo by Hoboken Condos / Flickr Creative Commons
Insuring your New York City condominium or coop protects your real estate investment as well as everything inside your unit such as clothing, furniture, electronics and sporting equipment. For about $230-280 annually, NYC condo insurance buys you the peace of mind knowing that if the wiring shorts out in your bathroom and starts a fire, your only out-of-pocket expense (up to your policy’s limits) will be the policy’s deductible.
Deductibles for condo and coop insurance are usually set in increments that range from a low of $250 and go from there to $500, $1,000 and $2,500. The higher the deductible, the less money your policy will cost you. A raise in your deductible by just one threshold can typically save you about 10% on your insurance premium. However, that’s also more money out of your bank account if you suffer an insured loss. For example, if a fire guts your apartment and your deductible is $250, that means you have to come up with $250 in replacing the thousands of dollars worth of losses suffered. Having to come up with a relatively small amount of money to help cover your losses can be reassuring at a time when you have so much to think about.
But if having that low deductible means the difference between buying an insurance policy and risking your investment without a policy, then you may want to consider increasing the deductible to make the policy affordable to you. It’s also important to figure out what type of coverage you need for your real property. You should get a copy of your condo association’s master policy to determine if it will cover anything inside your unit, such as carpets and cabinetry, or if the association maintains only a bare-walls policy that would not cover anything in individual units. An experienced professional at Gotham Brokerage can examine your building’s master policy to help you figure out the type and amount of coverage that you need.
When determining how much coverage you need to buy, you should also take a room-by-room inventory of your belongings and figure out how much it would cost to replace everything you own. Some of your pricier belongings, such as jewelry and art, could require a separate personal articles policy to receive a total replacement reimbursement if they fall victim to an insured loss.
Gotham Brokerage, a family-run business in New York City for more than 50 years, can match you up with the right coverage. For more information, give us a call at [telnumlink]212-406-7300[/telnumlink] or fill out the form at right.
