If you are over the age of 30, there is a good chance that you’re already familiar with the term “snowbirds.” For those that aren’t, it’s the word used to affectionately describe the millions of Americans that migrate from cold climates to the welcome warmth of the Sunshine State. Once the snowbirds arrive, many opt to invest in a condominium, which poses its own insurance conundrums. So that’s the topic that our public adjuster in Florida wanted to briefly cover today.

Unlike other seasonal arrangements, condominium living often requires investors to purchase multiple insurance policies. Otherwise, they could end up without sufficient coverage. For starters, most condominium ownership agreements require investors to purchase what’s known as a master policy.

A master policy comes in different forms. However, most can be divided up into two categories, all-in and bare walls-in. The all-in insurance policies tend to cover the building’s interior common areas, fixtures, additions and installations. The bare walls-in insurance policies typically cover nothing more than the building’s exterior/interior framing. Generally, neither type of master policy covers the investor’s personal belongings, condominium unit, unit upgrades, bodily injuries or legal liabilities to others. That’s where the need for other insurance policies comes in.

In most instances, Florida snowbirds that invest in a condominium will want to purchase a basic insurance policy plus add-ons that cover at least five key things. Those key things are water/sewer back-up damages, unit assessment costs, umbrella liability, expensive belongings and damages caused by natural disasters. As far as the disasters go, our public adjuster in Florida would recommend that investors consider covering all of the bases. That includes obtaining flood, wind, sinkhole, hurricane and earthquake coverage.

Of course having all of those different types of insurance policies can make it time consuming, confusing and exasperating to file an insurance claim. As such, condominium owners faced with such a task would do well to contact our public adjuster in Florida at (877) 869-8989. We can help Florida’s condo owners through the claim filing process and argue with the various insurance companies on a condo owner’s behalf.