Red Deer Real Estate Insurance
Custom insurance for realtors or investors in Red Deer real estate
If you’re a realtor or invest in real estate in Red Deer, you want to ensure your business and properties are protected. As a leading independent brokerage in Canada, Acera Insurance offers exceptional experience, knowledge and customer service. With access to nearly 100 insurance markets, we can find you the best protection for the best price. We offer a range of solutions for realtors, property managers, and real estate investors in Red Deer.
Contact us today to get a real estate insurance quote for Red Deer – we’re available online, by phone, or in-person at our Red Deer office. If you’d like to learn more about this protection, read on below.
What kind of insurance does a real estate agent need in Red Deer?
Red Deer’s realtors should protect themselves and their business with insurance. Your coverage should include protection for your physical assets as well as liability coverage in case you are sued.
A Red Deer real estate agent may need these types of insurance coverage:
- Commercial Property
- Commercial General Liability
- Professional Liability
- Cyber Liability
- Crime Coverage
- Consumer Deposit and Commission Protection Insurance
We’ll discuss these types of protection in greater detail later on.
What type of insurance should a property manager in Red Deer have?
Property management insurance is specialized coverage for property managers or management companies. The type of coverage you need will depend on if you own the properties you manage or not.
Here are some types of insurance a property manager should have:
- Commercial Property
- Commercial General Liability
- Professional Liability
- Cyber Liability
- Director’s & Officers Liability
- Crime Coverage
- Equipment Breakdown
If you own a condo or apartment building and manage it, you may need specialized commercial policy known as a master condominium policy.
Real Estate Insurance in Red Deer
If you invest in real estate, you’ll want to protect those assets so that they can continue to give you a return down the road. The type of real estate you invest in and what you plan to do with it affect your insurance coverage. It will also depend on if you’re investing as a company or as an individual.
For example, if you invest in Red Deer’s residential real estate as an individual and plan to rent out the property, you’ll need property insurance that includes coverage for fair rental value. If you own a condominium or apartment building, you’ll need a master policy.
You should talk to one of our experienced Red Deer real estate insurance brokers for more details on how to protect your investment property.
What does Red Deer real estate insurance cover?
Below is a short description of some of your coverage options for your Red Deer real estate insurance. Keep in mind that you don’t need all of this coverage – but if you don’t have it, you won’t be covered for those risks.
Below, we’ll discuss exactly what realtor and property management insurance covers.
Commercial Property
This covers physical damage to your commercial real estate property or your real estate agency offices and their contents. This can help you repair or rebuild your physical structures and outbuildings and replace any belongings inside, including furniture, electronics, and more.
These are most common perils that you’re protected against:
- Fire
- Smoke
- Explosion
- Wind
- Hail
- Lightning
- Weight of snow or ice
- Impact of vehicle or aircraft
- Vandalism and other malicious acts
- Theft
- Sewer backup*
- Overland water (flooding)*
- Groundwater*
- Earthquake*
Your individual policy may vary depending on your coverage options and your insurer. The items marked with an asterisk (*) generally require the purchase of add-on coverage, although some insurers may include them in more comprehensive policy packages.
Commercial General Liability
If someone is hurt or has their property damaged, they can hold you liable. For example, let’s say a family comes to your realtor office in Red Deer to discuss buying a home there. One of them trips over an upturned mat and falls, breaking their arm. They decide to sue you. Commercial general liability insurance could help cover your legal expenses, including defence costs, awards, and settlements.
Professional Liability
This protection is critical for realtors in Red Deer. When you provide a service or professional advice, like a real estate agent does, your clients may decide to sue you if they feel that service or advice has caused them financial loss. Even if you’re innocent, you’ll need to cover your defence costs. Professional liability insurance can help cover your legal expenses if you’re sued for financial loss by a client as a result of your professional service or advice (or failure to provide it).
Cyber Liability
Cybersecurity is very important to all businesses today, as hackers are increasingly targeting a wide range of companies to steal data, disrupt your operations, or hold you for ransom. Cyber liability helps you navigate and recover from a cyberattack or data breach.
Crime Coverage
This protection covers you for crimes such as employee theft and dishonesty, fraud, forgery, and counterfeit funds. Due to the nature of the business for Red Deer realtors and property managers, this is good coverage to have.
Equipment Breakdown
If your essential equipment suffers a mechanical or electrical breakdown, this insurance will help cover repairing or replacing it. Computers and printers also count as equipment!
Directors & Officers Liability
While applicable for any company, this is especially important for property managers in Red Deer. This coverage can help cover your legal expenses if you’re sued for misrepresentation, fraud, wrongful dismissal, discrimination, and more.
Consumer Deposit & Commission Protection
Consumer deposit insurance protects your clients in the event fraud, insolvency or misappropriation occurs with their money.
Commission protection protects you from missing out on your commission due to fraud, misappropriation, or insolvency.
This is coverage commonly required for real estate agents in certain jurisdictions.
What isn’t covered by real estate insurance in Red Deer
Real estate insurance won’t cover everything. Damage caused by wear and tear or rodents or insects is often not covered. Lawsuits involving intentional acts are also often excluded. Of course, if you choose to not have a certain type of insurance coverage, you won’t have the benefit of its protection.
There are also policy limits on insurance. This is the maximum amount that will be paid out in the event of a covered claim. You determine these limits when you purchase insurance; usually, you have a few options although sometimes you won’t have a choice.
Your real estate insurance broker in Red Deer will be able to explain what’s covered and what isn’t. They’ll also be able to help you try to mitigate these risks and protect what you can with insurance.
Cost of real estate insurance in Red Deer
- The cost of realtor and property manager insurance will be different. For real estate agents, the factors impacting pricing include:
- The location of your office, which impacts the claim and crime rate of the area, the frequency and severity of natural disasters, and the proximity to fire hydrants, fire stations and hazards like a river
- The building your office is in, including if you own or rent, the square footage, the age of the building, the type of building, the age and type of roof, the age and type of the systems such as heating and plumbing, and the presence of any damage mitigation or notification devices like alarms and sump pumps
- The number of employees you have
- The value of the contracts/transactions
- Your insurance and claims history
- Your credit rating
- Your insurance options, such as coverage, deductible and policy limits
There may be additional factors, depending on the real estate insurance company. If you manage property or you’re looking to protect your real estate investments in Red Deer, the price factors will be similar.
How to get the cheapest real estate insurance in Red Deer
A note of caution: cheaper isn’t always better when it comes to insurance. While budget is important, you need to balance price with coverage. Our real estate & property management insurance brokers can help you determine your needs and find you the best coverage for the best price.
Here are a few other ways you can save:
- Bundle your insurance with a single Red Deer insurance company
- Pay annually rather than monthly, if possible
- Maintain good credit or work to improve it, as your credit rating can impact your rates
- Increase your deductible
- Install risk mitigation devices
- Install security or damage monitoring devices (like a burglar alarm)
- Establish good risk management practices (we can help!)
- Review your insurance annually with a realtor/property management insurance broker
- Work with the Best Red Deer Real Estate Insurance Brokers
As a leading independent brokerage in Canada, Acera Insurance has the experience to ensure you have the best protection for the best price. Our staff of professional real estate insurance brokers in Red Deer also provides exceptional customer service as part of our hands-on, human-first approach to insurance.
We can deliver competitive Red Deer real estate insurance quotes because we have access to a large number of insurance markets. That means true competition for your business and a choice with your coverage.
Contact us today for a Red Deer real estate insurance quote – online, by phone, or come visit us at our Red Deer office.
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