When it comes to commercial property risks, not all insurance companies want or can insure a mixed-use building. Mixed-Use means there is some commercial space and some apartment space in the same building. It could be a retail store, an office, a coffee shop and then apartments up above or behind the store.
Often times it is what is in the commercial space that would drive a premium and whom would insurance it. That is the advantages of being an independent insurance broker, when 1 insurance company says “no restaurants in the commercial space” another will say “we are OK with a restaurant”. Every insurance company has a different “risk tolerance” which they know they are good at. The underwriter’s are comfortable & knowledgeable with what is acceptable to their insurance company and what is not.
And sometimes when a mixed-use property is neither 100% acceptable or 100% accepted, it is the insurance broker who can add their opinion to decide a yes or a no. Just as a relationship between a client and the insurance broker is very important, so is the relationship between the insurance broker and the underwriter. Can make all the difference in how an insurance policy gets written but more importantly, how a claim gets covered.
Tom Larsen