The gap between the master policy and your unit
Every condo owner in South Florida is exposed to a gap they have never measured. It takes one document and fifteen minutes to measure it.
Two kinds of master policy
An all-in master policy insures the original fixtures inside your unit and leaves you responsible for improvements and contents. A bare walls policy stops at the unfinished surfaces, which makes your drywall, cabinets, floors and fixtures your problem entirely. The association's declaration of condominium says which one you have and almost nobody has read it.
How to close it
Get the declaration and the master policy declarations page
The association has to provide them. Two documents, and they answer everything.
Set your Coverage A to match the real gap
In a bare walls building this is a much larger number than the default an online quote gives you.
Raise loss assessment
The default limit is frequently a fraction of what South Florida buildings have actually assessed. It costs very little to increase.
Ask about the master deductible
That deductible is what gets assessed to owners after a large loss, and it can be a very large number in a coastal building.
What the gap is worth
In a bare walls building, a kitchen, flooring and drywall for a two bedroom unit is a serious five figure number, and it is uninsured unless your HO-6 was written for it. Loss assessment adds a second exposure on top that has nothing to do with your unit at all.
Structural inspections changed this market
Florida's milestone inspection and reserve requirements have pushed associations into larger assessments and, in some buildings, into worse master policy terms. That flows straight through to unit owners. It is worth reviewing your HO-6 in the year your building reports.
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The association is insured, so why do I need this?
Because the association's policy insures the association's property, and in most buildings that stops well before your kitchen.
Work it out before anybody sells you anything
Four calculators that run in your browser, a page for every situation Florida puts people in, and the claims data for your own county. All of it free, and none of it behind a form. The form is for the other half of the job: when you have read enough and want a person on the phone.
Leave a name and a number and a licensed Florida agent gets in touch. No obligation, and no call from six companies you have never heard of.
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