What type of Home Owners Insurance do we need for our San Francisco condo?
May 14, 2010 by
Filed under condo insurance
We own a 1 unit of a 2 unit condo in San Francisco. We have a separate policy that covers our personal property within the walls of our unit. We and the owners of the other unit form the Home Owners Association, and are trying to figure out if we need a separate policy to cover the exterior and the yard, or if we can each get separate policies to cover our share. Any advice?
Do you live in a condo community, because if you do you should get your HOA guidelines and all information about what the HOA fees cover at the time of your closing on your mortgage. Typically your HOA is run by a management company who collects all fees. The HOA pays for a master insurance policy. Which covers exterior maintenance, rebuilding of structure to original condition if damaged by fire, earth quake etc. This does not include any upgrades that may have been made. It also covers common areas, like if someone slipped outside and sued. If it is just the two of you who own each side of a dwelling, I don’t think you could really call it a HOA. It sounds like you need to see a lawyer to draw up an agreement for monthly fees to go into an account and what the money is to be spent on and what kind of insurance policy that you jointly want to purchase for your dwelling.
if it is possible to harm something, insure it.
that is the rule of insurance.
get more insurance.
a single policy would make more sense
with you both being beneficiaries.
The HOA should get the master policy for the exterior and common areas. Do this so that you’re each not personally liable if something goes wrong – the HOA will be liable. For example, if a part of the building falls down and kills someone, you don’t want that on your personal insurance – that will likeley be excess and you’ll be responsible for what the insurance doesn’t cover.