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Owning an investment property can be lucrative. Over time, you not only get income, but you get your tenants to help in paying to build the equity you have in your property. However, bad things like fire or water damage can happen, leaving you with costly repairs. Therefore, having the right landlord insurance is a crucial business investment.
Protect your investment the easy way with a policy from Obie Insurance. The folks at Obie have revolutionized the process of getting insurance, making it easy and affordable to protect your real estate investment.
The best landlord insurance providers include:
- Obie: Best overall landlord insurance
- State Farm: Best for personalized service
- Allstate: Best for replacement cost coverage
- GEICO: Best for customer service
- Nationwide: Best for bundling policies
- Liberty Mutual: Best for claims process
How We Selected the Best Landlord Insurance
We looked independently at how insurance companies protect rental properties and considered key criteria that we can measure each company against. In particular, we considered:
- Coverage options: We look to include companies with broad insurance coverage options.
- Customizations: Companies with the ability to customize policies fared better than those that didn’t.
- Ratings: We sought carriers with strong third-party ratings with the top financial ratings companies on the market.
- Cost: Our analysis considered affordability as a factor in choosing the best insurance carriers to work with.
Obie: Best Overall Landlord Insurance
Obie Insurance provides landlord insurance to real estate investors throughout the 50 states. Aaron Letzeiser founded the company in 2015, making it a tech innovator in the commercial insurance space. Obie is a brokerage, meaning it shops among carriers to help you get the best possible rate. It works with top-rated insurance carriers to ensure that your property is 100% protected by reputable policies.
Obie Insurance Coverage for Landlords
Obie can insure various types of commercial property. There are policies for renting out single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, and apartment buildings. You can designate policies for long-term or short-term rentals. Landlords can customize policies to include commercial space as part of the policy.
Obie insures the property based on the annual insurable amount plus the rebuilding cost of the structure. This means that a covered claim would include repairing or rebuilding the structure and paying you lost income from the property while it was under repair. This ensures that you don’t lose any income because of covered losses. Besides covering these hard costs, policies also include liability coverage to protect against third-party losses that may result from owning the property.
Cost of Obie Insurance for Landlords
Obie is affordable for many landlords. A policy covering $260,000 in structural coverage, $1,000,000 in liability, and $36,000 in annual income might cost $2,117 annually. Many factors go into determining the cost of the policy.
Factors include what type of building is being protected with the types of materials used in construction. More expensive materials will result in a higher replacement cost, which increases the premium. The rental income is another factor that affects the rate. Landlords should also know that the property's location will affect the rate as each state differs. Landlords with claims in the past five years will also have higher rates than those without claims.
Get a Quote from Obie Insurance
The quote process with Obie is simple. It takes just five minutes to walk through the online prompts to get a quote. In that short period, Obie can pull public record data and use it to generate a quote. The entire process is done online, and a quote is presented on the screen and emailed to you.
State Farm: Best for Personalized Service
State Farm is a national insurance carrier that provides landlord insurance among its many personal and commercial insurance policies. It was founded in 1922 by George J. Mecherle, giving it a century of experience in helping policyholders deal with losses. State Farm maintains an A++ from AM Best and a AA from S&P Global Ratings. This means that the company is financially solvent and maintains the highest financial methods to protect policyholders. Each State Farm agency is run by an independent agent who manages the accounts in his book of business. This personalized attention is what State Farm is known for.
State Farm Insurance Coverage for Landlords
A State Farm landlord policy covers the structure, the income, and the liability of owning an investment property. Unlike some landlord policies, State Farm allows landlords to include personal property on the policy if things like laundry appliances are on the property. This helps further protect the landlord in the event of a loss.
State Farm offers landlord policies in all 50 states. Those who are in known hurricane disaster zones might find it more challenging to get coverage than those out of the common line of danger.
Cost of State Farm Insurance for Landlords
State Farm does not advertise rates as policies do vary widely based on several factors of the home. Factors include the structure’s composition and age. The materials used in construction will determine the replacement cost with more expensive materials in a custom home yielding higher premiums than standard materials in simple construction. The location of the house plays a significant role in policy prices too. Finally, the costs of insuring a home in hurricane-prone Louisiana will be more than that of a policy in Arizona.
Get a Quote from State Farm Insurance
To get started with State Farm, you can contact your local agent. Once you start a policy, this agent will be assigned to service your account. If you are unsure who to call, you can complete an online questionnaire for a quote, and State Farm will assign an agent to you to help. Quotes are customized to your needs and may be bundled with other personal insurance policies to maximize discounts and coverage.
Allstate: Best for Replacement Cost Coverage
Allstate is an insurance carrier providing landlord insurance and other personal and commercial lines of insurance throughout the United States. It was founded in 1931 during the Great Depression. The company receives an A+ from AM Best, which is a superior rating suggesting that the company has plenty of liquidity to handle massive claims during catastrophic scenarios. Allstate uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the replacement cost of your structure to ensure that you are getting the right coverage to protect your investment.
Allstate Insurance Coverage for Landlords
Landlord policies cover three basic areas: the structure, the rental income, and liability. The structure is covered by replacement cost, which is the amount it would take Allstate to rebuild the property. The rental income is protected should you have to displace tenants during the repairs of the building. This means that you won’t be operating at a loss just because there is a claim. The last component of the policy is liability coverage. This protects against third-party claims asserting that you are responsible for their bodily injuries or property damage.
Allstate insures all types of properties, including single-family homes, multi-family homes, apartment buildings, and other commercial properties.
Cost of Allstate Insurance for Landlords
Allstate customizes policies based on location, replacement cost, and desired liability coverage. Your agent will go through a questionnaire to determine the replacement cost of the building, and then they will ask you about your liability risk. Policy prices vary based on the location of the policy, meaning a 50-year-old building in Oklahoma will have a different price than the same building in California.
Get a Quote from Allstate Insurance
Allstate sells policies through its team of agents dispersed throughout the country. These are local agents who understand the local market risks and needs. You can request a quote online, which will be transferred to a local agent who will run the quote and service your account.
GEICO: Best for Customer Service
You probably recognized GEICO for its famous mascot, the GEICO Gecko, who stars in their personal lines insurance commercials. GEICO offers more than just personal lines, such as homeowners and auto insurance. It has a full gamut of commercial insurance policies to help you with all your insurance needs.
GEICO was founded in 1936 in Fort Worth, Texas. It gets the highest possible rating from AM Best, an A++ which demonstrates the conservative financial nature that the company operates by. GEICO operates through national phone centers where customer service training is prioritized. This gives GEICO an edge over the competition when it comes to friendly and helpful representatives.
GEICO Insurance Coverage for Landlords
GEICO Insurance provides comprehensive coverage for rental properties. This coverage includes the replacement value of the property, the rental income it yields, and the liability incurred by owning the property. GEICO also allows landlords to have a limited amount of personal property covered in the policy to protect things like appliances and tools that may be left on site for the tenants to use.
GEICO is offered in all 50 states with representatives versed in the specific regulations that may affect your property.
Cost of GEICO Insurance for Landlords
Because so many factors affect the price of a policy, GEICO advises landlords to call and get a customized quote.
GEICO uses a property evaluation system that uses landlords' answers to assess the home's replacement value. This value is a significant factor in determining the insurance rate on policies. Along with this is the amount of rental income coverage the landlord needs; the more rental income you have, the more expensive your policy will be. The same is true for liability coverage. GEICO has specific pricing based on location, so where the property is will also play a role in the policy rate.
Get a Quote from GEICO Insurance
GEICO will provide a quote through its online quote generator, or you can call (800) 841-2964 for a free quote.
Nationwide: Best for Bundling Policies
Nationwide is a popular insurance carrier that offers home, auto, and commercial insurance. In their bag of policies is landlord insurance that protects your interests in a rental property. Nationwide was founded in 1926 and offers policies throughout the United States. It has a financial strength rating of an A+ from AM Best, which is one of the highest ratings possible. This rating reflects Nationwide’s commitment to sound financial practices that make it solvent. Nationwide offers discounts to policyholders who bundle policies with the carrier.
Nationwide Insurance Coverage for Landlords
Nationwide landlord insurance covers everything a landlord needs in a policy. The first component of coverage is the replacement cost of the building. Whether this is a single-family home or an apartment building, the replacement cost of the structure is determined by what type of construction the house is, when it was made, and the types of materials used to make it. The replacement cost pays to replace the structure if you need to rebuild it from the ground up. Another component covered is the loss of rents. This pays to make you whole if you can’t rent the building out during a covered claim because it is uninhabitable. Nationwide policies also provide liability coverage to protect you from third-party property damage or injury claims.
Cost of Nationwide Insurance for Landlords
Nationwide offers competitive prices on policies throughout the United States. Many factors go into the cost of a policy, which is why Nationwide can’t advertise rates. It is best to get a quote that is specific to your property. Policy costs are affected by the building's age, building materials, size, and location. Landlords who want more coverage will pay an additional premium for the upgrades.
Get a Quote from Nationwide Insurance
Nationwide makes it easy to get a quote for landlord insurance. You can use the online quote system or call (888)869-5727 to speak with a knowledgeable representative.
Liberty Mutual: Best for Claims Process
Liberty Mutual is a popular national insurance carrier that is known for letting personal lines policyholders get only the coverage they need for a policy, thus helping them save on costs. This approach extends to landlord insurance. Liberty Mutual was founded in 1912 in Boston, Massachusetts. It received an A rating from AM Best, the third highest rating for financial strength that a company can get. It takes only five to ten minutes to file a claim online, and the claims team is dedicated to completing your claim as quickly as possible so that you can get back to business sooner than later.
Liberty Mutual Insurance Coverage for Landlords
Landlord insurance policies cover rental properties and their owners from covered losses such as fire and water damage. Each policy provides a dollar value known as a replacement cost, which is the amount it takes to rebuild the structure from top to bottom. The policy also covers your loss of rental income should you not get rent during a covered loss. Additionally, policies cover landlords for liability risk. Liability risk includes things like your property’s tree falling on a neighbor's car or someone slipping on porch stairs where a railing is broken and getting hurt from the event.
Cost of Liberty Mutual Insurance for Landlords
Liberty Mutual does not advertise its policy prices because so many factors affect the rate of a landlord policy. The first factors go into the replacement cost; these factors include the age of the building, the type of building materials used in the construction, and the size of the building. The amount of coverage also affects that rate. So, if you want higher rental income or liability coverage, you’ll pay more for the policy. A final significant factor that goes into the policy's price is the location. Policies in high-risk areas will be more expensive than those in low-risk areas.
Get a Quote from Liberty Mutual Insurance
Liberty Mutual doesn’t have an online quote engine to provide you with a landlord insurance quote. You’ll need to call and speak with a representative at (844) 237-5603 to get a free, custom quote.
Takeaway
There are a lot of options when it comes to landlord insurance. Obie Insurance earns our top spot because it shops for the best rate in a quick and easy online system. We like State Farm and Allstate for their personalized attention to landlords. Shop among the top carriers to get the best policy for your needs.
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