More insurers are competing for well-maintained properties heading into 2027 renewals, giving agents a strong incentive to revisit past declinations and find out whether a building can now qualify on its own merits.
Casey Carter (pictured), vice president of risk management at REInsurePro, told Insurance Business that more carriers are participating and capacity has improved in many regions. He said some underwriters are drawing finer geographic distinctions as they decide which risks to take on.
“They’re localizing and making sure that certain areas of the state are going to be much more favorable in terms of rating factors or other items,” Carter said.
Pricing is stabilizing for well-maintained portfolios and build-to-rent communities, he added, as well as commercial properties outside catastrophe-prone regions; however, capacity constraints remain in areas with recurring severe thunderstorms.
Coastal wind and wildfire exposures remain difficult to place, and buildings with aging roofs, deferred maintenance or significant prior losses continue to draw scrutiny.
Read more: Isaias puts $71.8 billion in Gulf Coast commercial property in its path
A broker revisiting a declined account, therefore, can start by asking whether the carrier’s appetite has changed for that address. Where the market is willing to reconsider, the submission can show when the roof or electrical system was updated and how the owner is maintaining the building.
For a portfolio, that means pulling the details for each property, especially if condition varies across locations.
“The difference between a favorable account and a difficult-to-place account often comes down to property condition, maintenance discipline, and demonstrated risk management practices,” Carter said.
Updated valuations can also help a submission compete. Some owners are still relying on replacement-cost figures set before the pandemic, with only the incremental increases built into their policies. Those annual adjustments may have lagged the rise in construction costs, leaving owners with limits that fall short of what it would cost to rebuild.
Read more: Soft property market sets up insurance-to-value reckoning, Amwins warns
Carter pointed to replacement-cost estimators as one way for agents to help owners revisit those figures. He said agents can also use that review to show clients how a higher insured value would affect what they pay out of pocket, especially when comparing renewal quotes that use percentage-based deductibles.
“Let’s say you’re updating the value of your policy from $200,000 to $300,000,” Carter said. “If you have a percentage-based deductible, that deductible is going to go up too.”
If a deductible is 2% of the building’s insured value, that change would take it from $4,000 to $6,000. The dollar figure gives the owner a clearer basis for comparing quotes with different limits and deciding how much cash they would need to have available after a loss.
The renewal discussion is also a chance to ask what the owner plans to do with the property over the coming year. A building can still be listed as occupied after an owner switches from long-term leases to short-term or room-by-room rentals. Carter said that a change in use can materially alter the risk and may require underwriter approval.
Agents can ask when tenants are expected to move out and whether work is planned between leases. A project that moves from routine maintenance to rehabilitation may require different coverage while the work is underway, warned Carter.
“Many policies contain vacancy provisions and clauses that can reduce or in some cases just straight up eliminate coverage after a specified period,” he said.
Before binding, agents can confirm which protective safeguards (i.e., sprinklers and alarms, as well as leak detection systems) the quote depends on and ask the owner whether they are working. If equipment will be taken offline during work, the agent can raise it with the carrier while there is still time to address how it could affect coverage.
“Properties evolve much faster than insurance programs,” said Carter. “Whenever occupancy, operations or conditions change, agents definitely need to revisit every type of coverage that they can.”
