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09-20-2007, 06:03 PM | #1 |
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Island Property Insurance
The advice has been great so far, so lets try the forum magic eight ball again.
We are in the final stages of purchasing a home on Rattlesnake island, the only remaining thing between us and the closing is getting home owners insurance. We have called every local insurance agency we can find and we have been told that unless we already have our main home owners insurance with that company, they are not insuring island properties any more. Any advice? We have waited a long time to get a place on the lake and it seems like a small thing to lose this opportunity over. Thanks in advance. |
09-20-2007, 06:38 PM | #2 |
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09-20-2007, 07:33 PM | #3 |
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Avery in Wolfeboro
At least they used to.
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09-20-2007, 08:15 PM | #4 |
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The last one we called was Wolfeboro Insurance, I will try Avery in the morning.
Thanks Island Girl! |
09-20-2007, 08:18 PM | #5 |
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Thanks Formula! We'll try Wendy as well.
How can anyone live at the lake and not use the forum? You guys (and girls) are great. |
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09-21-2007, 06:02 AM | #6 |
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Webbs,
You may find that inevitably you'll have to change your homeowners to someone who will do your primary home and your island home. We, and many others, have run into this since 9/11 & Hurricane Katrina. We had our first island home insured with One Beacon for years. When we purchased a different one, they told us they didn't do islands anymore. That is a common theme among the different carriers now. I think you said your closing is coming up soon. Don't delay, get this resolved soon. We almost lost ours over this same issue. Even though I was with the same agent for 20 years, I had to change. In the end, the new guy saved me a ton of money on my primary home and insured my island home no problem. Sometimes, change is good! We now use Farm Family Insurance. They have several agents in Mass and NH. Their web address is http://www.farmfamily.com/ Good Luck Blue Thunder
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09-21-2007, 07:21 AM | #7 |
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We have used Melcher & Prescott in Laconia for many decades.
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09-21-2007, 08:02 AM | #8 |
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We use Farm Family as well in Concord, Mike Bertelone. 223-6686. We did our primary home, auto policies and island with him.
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09-21-2007, 08:48 AM | #9 | |
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Small World
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If I'm not mistaken, I went to school with Mike here in Mass. Top shelf guy. He, myself, and the agent I deal with here were all in the same class. It wouldn't surprise me that the two of them sell for the same company (Farm Family). BT
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09-20-2007, 08:11 PM | #10 |
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try Horne in Meredith, Wendy 279-8122
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09-21-2007, 08:18 AM | #11 |
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Insurance
One thing to note, is that the agent, those being shown here are not actually your insurance carrier. I am sure you probably know that. The best thing to do is to find a agent with multiple carriers and at the same time have a good relationship with. So they can market your insurance needs to different carriers such as One Beacon, Nationwide, Allstate (unsure if they do), and Whom ever might be writing in the state of NH. Some carriers require that if you want your second home or island home or auto policy with them that they want you to have your homeowners with them as well. It is a way of account rounding if you will, and they will not bend on this. And then you have other carriers that might write your homeowners and then not want the second home no matter what, especially an island camp. So then you are in a pickle. You need a great agent, like I am sure some mentioned here are, that can find you a happy medium and good premium. Cause yes this carrier here will write the island home but will only do it if they get your homeowners and then you move your homeowners policy to them and it is much more than what you were currently paying, the same with the auto, so that does not make your position any better.
Talk to three to four agents, look to see and ask what markets they have in there office, some have more than others and that is also sometimes for certain reasons such as capacity, relationships, age of agency and company, etc... Have them quote you with their carriers for all scenarios, you might find one that will be able to just do the island camp and not have to mover anything else, and then later down the line you could if you wanted to move the rest of your insurance to that agency. One major important fact is that the insurance agent gets paid by making commission off of your policy from the carrier and all contracts with carriers and agents are different, so a bad agent might try to force you into a market because they make more that way or have incentives and goals they might need to hit, and then you have agents, which I would have to say most of them, earn your business through relationship and getting you the best coverages possible. Price is not always what you want to go by, you want to compare each policy as they are not all the same. Speaking as someone that works in the industry, I transact with agents everyday. Unfortunately I do not have any in NH that I could Recommend as I do not write in NH, but if you are from MA, let me know and I can refer to agents down here, your agent does not need to be in the area to be able to write in the area, if your current agent is good, check with them to see if they are licensed to write in NH. If you need help let me know, I can do some checking! Good luck |
09-21-2007, 03:48 PM | #12 |
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Island Insurance
From my own experience, island insurance isn't easy to find. I had gone through Avery, great people but the insurance was expensive. I called a couple other places, including Farm Family and there are a few requirements for island property that I, at the time, didn't meet. Most require a heat source, other than a wood/pellet stove. They are afraid of pipes freezing, even though we drain them for the winter. If you're in the position we were in, a pellet stove was our only heat source because we pretty much close up for the winter (except for sno-mobile trips). Also, alot of insurance companies won't insure Island properties but I found Allstate who will, because we have fire boats that can come out to the island. We finished building our Lakehouse this year, installed electric heat strips in addition to our pellet stove, and got a great price from Paul Caron at Allstate. 603-569-0110. (The insurance was 1/3 the price that I paid through Avery.) Paul is very helpful.
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09-21-2007, 11:06 PM | #13 |
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Never realized that island property would be so hard to get insurence for.... put there seems to be good advice here.... Something I want to bring up though for people that have primary residences outside of NH..... Is before you just call insurence companies in NH trying to get insurance, talk to your agent at home and have them recomend someone. (lots of time they recomend someone that uses the same underwriter) I have found that to be the best way. Then your going to someone via a recomondation which sometimes get you a better response. My parents own the camp and keep it insured.... so when I bought my own boat I was worried about insuring it in NH with out insurring anything else.....When I talked to my agent in VT they gave me the name of someone in NH, whom they talked to first....when I called them it was a piece of cake, and they did tell me that had I not had a recommedation from the agent in Vt that handled my homeowners and car insurance they might not have wanted to take on just my boat.......
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09-22-2007, 09:05 AM | #14 |
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We were having trouble finding a lender and an insurance company for our island property. It made for some very interesting phone calls. How far is the nearest fire hydrant? How do the police respond to a problem? The fire department has a boat? How do the trucks get to the island? No roads? No street address?
We got referred to Laconia Savings bank for the money. They were great and knew exactly what an Island on Wini was and how great it is. They understood why it cost so much for such a small place with such limited facilities. The Bank then referred us to a local Insurance company who again was super and did not have many questions. They only needed a picture and directions on how to get here on their boat to check things out. When we bought the lot next door they added it to the same policy at no charge. They explained to me that Island properties are expected to burn to the ground in the event of a fire. They also cost more to rebuild than a mainland property. (Was cheaper for the do it yourselfer but the insurance company is going to have to hire someone.) I can't remember the name of the place but I don't think it was more than $700 bucks a year. Sounds like you have plenty of recommendations here. PM if you want more. |
09-23-2007, 06:31 AM | #15 |
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Thanks for all of the great advice!
I never thought my wife would be this into owning an island property (her first question when we started looking was "where's the driveway" I pointed to the boat launch ). But the way she has been calling all over to get this insurance has shown me that she is really on board and not just doing this for me (that is great news). We have a few good leads and should have insurance by Tuesday. The information I gained from starting this post was invaluable, thanks to everyone who responded. I will let everyone know the outcome and the names of the companies that were able to help. I can only wonder what this will do to island property values, but that is not why we are doing this, it is for our daughters and the memories they will gain from the lake. Thanks again! |
09-23-2007, 08:53 AM | #16 |
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our lender is meredith village savings bank, our insurance company is MMG out of maine.....our place is a 4 season home...but so in addition to the "how close to the fire hydrant"., and all that, ..we have a cold weather alarm....set up to dial..our # and one other phone # ...if the power is out too long..and temp in house drops too low for too long its supposed to auto dial to warn of pipes freezing. Insurance Co. required it. I think that's kind of funny, myself, being the likelyhood that if the power goes out, there's a good chance you're going to lose phone service too! So, we got the stupid expensive alarm, had to pay an electrician to hook it up.....and we shut off the water every time we leave any way!!
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09-23-2007, 08:56 AM | #17 |
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our lender is meredith village savings bank, our insurance company is MMG out of maine.....our place is a 4 season home...but so in addition to the "how close to the fire hydrant"., and all that, ..we have a cold weather alarm....set up to dial..our # and one other phone # ...if the power is out too long..and temp in house drops too low for too long its supposed to auto dial to warn of pipes freezing. Insurance Co. required it. I think that's kind of funny, myself, being the likelyhood that if the power goes out, there's a good chance you're going to lose phone service too! So, we got the stupid expensive alarm, had to pay an electrician to hook it up.....and we shut off the water every time! Good luck!...don't know if either of these will work for you as this is an island home.
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09-23-2007, 09:25 PM | #18 | |
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We bought while the kids were young enough to enjoy it. We got about 4 years in before the jobs, school and girl friends kicked in. We know the seed has been planted deep enough to keep them coming back. |
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09-24-2007, 03:43 PM | #19 |
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Insurance
Funny, I saw an airboat out there this sunday. Anyway, I am an independent agent in Massachusetts and when I have a customer who has a home on an island on Winni I refer them to Avery in Wolfeboro. They have the markets to insure island property. best of Luck!
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09-24-2007, 04:01 PM | #20 |
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Island Property Insurance
I hope you have been able to secure coverage by now. I truly do. As I read through these postings one thing jumped out at me (unless I missed it) - no mention of the realestate agent. I would certainly think that an agent representing island property would have a handle on insuring island property, at least the name of the company insuring the property you are buying. My experience has been that agents usually have a pretty good "book" of people to call to make the buying experience go smoothly. Again, I sure hope you get it.
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09-25-2007, 10:28 AM | #21 |
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Hooray! Yippeee!
We have insurance!
We worked with Gail at Avery Insurance and the policy is through Phoenix Mutual. This was tougher than we thought, the prices and options varied greatly in range and went from, nobody will insure it to ok they will within a day. The lead for Gail came from the forum and not from the real estate agent. Thank s to all for the help, I know we will enjoy the island. We will be out there after the closing on the weekend of Oct 19 and start living the island life (at least for a weekend or two). Thanks to all! |
09-25-2007, 11:00 AM | #22 |
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Temperature monitoring
If your insurance requires you to monitor/alert for sub-freezing temps or water, try the products made by Sensatronics in Bow, N.H. (www.sensatronics.com)
They make monitors for IT (computer) server rooms that can monitor temp/humidity, wetness, open doors, etc. The monitors have built-in mini-computers with their own IP addresses so all you have to do is plug them into an internet outlet (or router) and you can start your remote monitoring. I believe they can also email you or send a text message to alert you of various conditions. There are also a number of temperature monitoring devices that can send remote alerts on www.ambientweather.com. To defend against power outages you can use a surge protector with battery backup (available at Staples and similar stores.) They'll run a computer & monitor for 30 minutes or so (their intended purpose, so you have time to save your work and shut down), but if you only use the battery for modem/router and temp monitoring device it lasts a lot longer, especially if you have a top-of-the-line battery backup. I do recommend testing the whole system when you're present, just to see exactly how long the battery will last. It can vary. |
09-25-2007, 08:21 PM | #23 |
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Insurance Found!
Congradulations! I also use Avery and have my policies through Phonix. No problem with them at all, but of course the true test is if you have a claim, which I haven't (TG). I found renewals to be fairly simple, as they send a local rep out to inspect the cottage each fall. Guess they just want to see that property and cottage are maintained without hazards as I've never been there when they visit. This is the second season at my place and I can attest the excitement and anticipation of each trip to the lake has not faded at all!
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09-25-2007, 08:44 PM | #24 |
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I can tell you that power outages on the Island during the summer last a lot longer than they do on the mainland for obvious reasons. When the power goes out we usually plan for 24 hours. We keep an ice cube on a shelf in the freezer to tell if we lost power while we were gone.
I can only imagine that in the winter it gets a lot worse, especially if no one is present to report it. It must be very difficult if a tree goes down on the lines and there are no roads, no trucks and no real emergency. I think if I wanted to spend significant time on the island in the off season, I would get a generator. |
09-27-2007, 02:21 PM | #25 |
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insurance & taxes
If the towns actually covered the islands (thinking about Alton & Rattlesnake Island), then the insurance companies would cover us,.....but, the towns hit us up for property tax,claiming that we have fire and police coverage, but provide zip.
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09-27-2007, 02:43 PM | #26 | |
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Have to agree here
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What infastructure is the city providing you on the island, yes I can see tax the land you park on on the mainland, but on the island what d they provide you with? If you have electricity you're paying the electrical company and there are taxes on that so what else can you give me? |
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10-03-2007, 06:58 AM | #27 |
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Just when you thought is was safe to go in the water!
We are back to square 1, the insurance quote was for their estimate of 100% replacement cost, the mortgage company has a higher number in mind based on the appraisal.
The search continues, we are looking for an insurance carrier to match the mort gage lender's number or get the lender to agree to the current insurance number. With the closing approaching fast, the anticipation is building. Again, thanks to everyone for their great advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
10-03-2007, 07:33 AM | #28 | |
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Wait a minute must read here!!!!!
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In the event of a loss the mortgage company will be made whole again by a rebuilding of the property, their investment is protected by the insurance policy. every Mortgage company tries to do this because they feel that if they can bully their position in, they are better protected, just another case of mortgage people not knowing insurance policies and how insurance acts. I deal with this every single day Monday through Friday (in the industry). Case in Point. I purchased my place for well over $100,000, it is a 400sqft building with no foundation. Max to replace this bldg to the same footprint, because i am in an assoc, would be 40k to $60 depending on types of materials and contractors. I placed $100k on the bldg because NH is a policy value state and in the event of a total loss I would receive $100k to do with as I please. The mortgage company tried to say something, cited the rule, did not even have to find it (which I would have if need and and would have been able to tell you where to find it. and they immediately backed off. The insurance company is not going to insure a bldg barley worth $20k as it stands now just because the market demands that it is worth $150k, the mortgage companies know this they just try to get the loan completely covered. |
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10-03-2007, 01:09 PM | #29 |
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Are we at the Lake or the Ocean?
It's beginning to smell like low tide...
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