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Kent Lee, CEO, Power Insurance & Risk Management Group and www.pirmg.com

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Flooding is Number One Cause of Property Losses

Floods cause more losses than any other type of natural disaster, Period. Not hurricanes, not fires. So why do floods rank in that dubious #1 position? Floods happen everywhere throughout the country, resulting from rising rivers, torrential storms, fast and furious snow melts and the aftermath of hurricanes.

Just ask the residents of Minot, North Dakota about flooding. In June 2011 over 11,000 people fled their Minot homes as warning sirens blared and airboat squads and the National Guard were dispatched. People watched in despair as entire neighborhoods were literally submerged in raging waters that had overflowed the levees…the projected cost to rebuild and repair has been estimated at $130 million.

Knowing you have the right flood insurance for your property is the only comforting factor in the wake of a flood.
And for commercial real estate property owners, the right flood insurance can literally save your business and your real estate investment.

“We have insured hundreds of thousands of multifamily units over the years,” reports Ernest Oriente, President of Power Insurance & Risk Management GroupTM (PIRMG), “and can proudly state that we have true expertise in multifamily community, residential real estate, and apartment building flood insurance needs.”

As we all know, banks mandate various types of insurances to satisfy loan requirements. It’s likely that the lender for commercial real estate property, apartment buildings, and multifamily communities has required an analysis of property elevation and whether or not the property lies within a flood zone in order to determine flood insurance needs.
The question is, do all the buildings lie within the flood zone?

“We recently placed apartment building flood insurance on a community of 20 buildings, only two of which were in a flood zone. Because of our extensive experience and expertise in commercial property and apartment building flood insurance, we knew to review the flood maps, evaluate the elevations, and satisfy the bank’s requirements on a per-building basis. We really know how to develop a flood insurance plan, and are comfortable dealing with banks and their directives,” says Oriente. “But here’s the kicker in this case: The prior insurance broker had placed multifamily flood insurance on all the buildings. By doing some investigation, we were able to reduce the cost of the apartment building flood insurance by 90%! And it still fulfilled all the bank requirements. We take special care to not over- or under-insure any of our commercial property, apartment building, or multifamily community clients. Our goal is to distribute the right amount of flood insurance coverage per building.

“We know how to evaluate each situation,” continues Oriente. “We know how to distribute the coverage’s properly, building by building. We also know how to be cost effective for our clients. That’s a top priority. Value of service, cost effectiveness, responsiveness, and knowledge of the best practices within the insurance sector are what we pride ourselves on.”
Here’s something else to consider. Flood insurance coverage for apartment buildings or multifamily communities is available whether or not the property lies in a flood zone. Unfortunately, many commercial property owners are not aware of this, and have suffered from uninsured flood losses that could easily have been covered.

When it comes to making insurance claims, the entire PIRMG team plays a major role in the process, acting as liaison with the insurance carriers. “We are fully engaged when it comes to the claims aspect of commercial, apartment building and multifamily flood insurance. We remain involved until the commercial real estate property owner is fully satisfied with the outcome of their insurance claim,” states Oriente.

As most commercial property and apartment building owners are aware, in 2009 FEMA remapped the country for flood-designated areas. This remapping may affect lending institution’s requirements for flood insurance, which may then directly impact the bottom line for multifamily communities. PIRMG can offer affordable flood insurance quotes, and may be able to help re-assess the property through a comprehensive engineering analysis and the accurate classification of the property.

“We view ourselves as your insurance partner, in addition to being your insurance broker for your multifamily and commercial real estate building,” says Oriente. “Once we develop a relationship with a multifamily and commercial real estate client, they know they can trust us and rely on us. We know how important individually-crafted insurance portfolios are to a property management company and their apartment communities. Give us a call at 877-602-6030 and so we can discuss flood insurance for your multifamily and commercial real estate buildings.”

For more information about Power Insurance & Risk Management GroupTM, visit:
http://www.pirmg.com and http://www.powerhour.com/propertymanagement/commercialpropertyownersinsurance.html

Why Insure For Wind Damage?
Hurricanes are devastating for commercial property owners, even for areas inland.
Wind is a force to be feared, especially in the form of hurricanes in the Gulf Coast area. Remember the line, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down?” No matter whether the source is the Big Bad Wolf or hurricanes of Herculean strength, wind can wreak damage beyond belief for apartment buildings. Commercial real estate and apartment buildings are crumbled and tossed around, debris becomes flying missiles, windows are blown out, and lives are literally shattered.

Recent headlines sadly reflect how ripping winds have devastated areas and caused horrendous tragedies for multifamily apartment building owners, including deaths of their residents. The heartbreaking stories and financial catastrophes for commercial property owners that result from these overwhelming winds are shocking.

“It’s important to note, however, that multifamily wind insurance for named windstorms can still be found at an affordable rate for apartment building and commercial property owners,” states Ernest Oriente, President of Power Insurance & Risk Management GroupTM (PIRMG). Apartment building owners, commercial property owners, and property management companies in Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties need to research the market for the right type of wind insurance for their apartment building and commercial property assets. “We can make it easier, however,” says Oriente. “We specialize in residential apartment building real estate and commercial property insurance coverage, and as an independent broker we have access to over 50 insurance companies. So there’s no need for our multifamily and commercial real estate clients to shop for windstorm insurance — we do it for them.

“Remember, it’s not a matter of whether these areas will be impacted by these storms, it’s a matter of when,” comments Oriente. “We understand that, and PIRMG is glad to share that we offer a number of carefully crafted multifamily insurance portfolios for catastrophic wind exposure.”

For the first time in six years, Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has remodeled their wind program, which drastically impacts the way insurance companies rate their high-hazard wind counties related to commercial property owners insurance. “Significant advances have occurred around the understanding and representation of windstorm clustering,” says Oriente, “which gives us a scientific guideline for how to best serve our multifamily and commercial real estate insurance clients who have needs for wind insurance.”

RMS now has a revised weather modeling system that predicts how these storms cluster together. “This has really helped us focus on the needs for the multifamily and commercial real estate wind insurance market, especially in coastal territories,” states Oriente. “As a result of the model changes, RMS expects to see wind risk increase for all hurricane areas on an industry-wide basis. However, individual apartment building and commercial property portfolios will differ considerably, depending on the region they are in. On a wind-only basis, apartment building and commercial property portfolios may increase or may even decrease in some regions.”

It’s important to note that wind damage from hurricanes isn’t limited to coastal towns. Winds can stay above hurricane strength well inland. “For instance,” says Oriente, “In 1989 Hurricane Hugo battered apartment buildings and commercial real estate in Charlotte, North Carolina — which is 175 miles inland — with wind gusts up to 100 miles per hour.
“During Katrina,” continues Oriente, “in addition to the damage of multifamily apartment buildings from central Florida to Texas along the Gulf Coast, Katrina sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, maintaining that strength 150 miles inland near Meridian, Mississippi.”

To put it in another perspective, the federal disaster declarations for Katrina covered 90,000 square miles — obviously not just along the coast. “And as we all sadly remember,” reflects Oriente, “the cost of Katrina was 1,836 lives and $81 billion worth of commercial real estate and residential damages.”

Knowing how to blueprint the projection of windstorms in a specific area helps tailor the right type of wind insurance for apartment buildings and commercial real estate owners. “Reconstruction is obviously costly,” reports Oriente. “Just replacing a roof or siding can be a huge expense for one community. A roof on an apartment building or commercial real estate building can easily cost a half million dollars just from the damage of one storm. And let’s not overlook how windstorm insurance can affect an apartment community’s loan rate or approval, as well as the net operating income (NOI) of each multifamily community. It’s important to assess all the advantages of having windstorm insurance for a commercial property owner.

“We view ourselves as your insurance partner, in addition to being your insurance broker for your multifamily and commercial real estate building,” says Oriente. “Once we develop a relationship with a multifamily and commercial real estate client, they know they can trust us and rely on us. We know how important individually-crafted insurance portfolios are to a property management company and their apartment communities. Give us a call at 435.615.8486 and we’ll talk about the importance of wind insurance for your multifamily and commercial real estate buildings.”

For more information about Power Insurance & Risk Management GroupTM, visit:
http://www.pirmg.com and http://www.powerhour.com/propertymanagement/commercialpropertyownersinsurance.html

Specializing in nationwide insurance for apartment building owners, commercial property owners and property management companies, Power Insurance & Risk Management GroupTM offers a wide array of insurance products designed to provide optimum real estate insurance.

“Our team has over 23 years of nationwide experience in the property management, apartment building, multifamily and commercial insurance industry,” states Ernest Oriente, President of Power Insurance & Risk Management GroupTM (PIRMG). “We specialize in residential apartment building real estate and commercial property insurance coverage, and as an independent broker we represent over 40 insurance companies. So there’s no need for tour clients to shop for insurance — we do it for them.”

This diversity of insurance carrier availability allows PIRMG to provide in-depth insurance coverage for apartment building owners and commercial property owners at competitive and aggressive prices, in addition to mediating coverage and negotiating terms with the insurance carriers. They also strive to find lower insurance rates and better cost-effective insurance coverage.

In making major business decisions related to insurance, one of the most significant factors is service. “Our client retention rate reflects how our clients are remarkably satisfied with our service,” says Oriente. “This year our retention rate was 99.7% and the only reason it wasn’t 100% was because one apartment building went back to the bank and the bank had their own insurance carrier! Last year, we retained 100% of our renewals. Whether it’s a burst pipe, wind damage, or the complete rebuilding of a structure, we step up to the plate and make sure our clients get the very best response from our insurance carriers.”

The wide array of insurance products offered by PIRMG eliminates product duplication and associated overhead costs by consolidating numerous apartment buildings and commercial properties into one policy. Insurance products include coverage for apartment and commercial buildings, loss of rent or general liability, umbrella coverage, director and officer liability coverage, building ordinance law, equipment breakdown, workers’ compensation and employee dishonesty coverage. PIRMG offers over 15 distinctive apartment-specific and commercial real estate insurance programs, giving them a competitive edge for pricing.

“As proud experts in apartment building insurance, commercial real estate insurance, apartment owners’ insurance, and commercial building insurance, it’s our responsibility to offer the very best coverage for our clients — and we’re very proactive about that,” reports Oriente. “We also pride ourselves in being able to provide our clients with information such as 48 steps for reducing insurance risks, how to minimize insurance loss, and the difference between basic, broad and special coverage. For instance, do you know that the type of construction materials used to build an apartment building or a commercial real estate building impact insurance options and choices? We stay informed and pass that knowledge along to our apartment and commercial building clients and their property management companies.

“We stay in touch with our clients, too — by telephone, if you can believe that!,” smiles Oriente. “Every 60 days we pick up the phone and touch base with each of our clients, just to check in and to see if there’s anything we can do for them. And each month, our apartment and commercial building clients receive an E-newsletter filled with strategies, recommendations and emerging insurance news that will help them reduce their insurance risk and lower their upcoming insurance premiums. We view ourselves as your insurance partner, in addition to being your insurance broker. Once we develop a relationship with a client, they know they can trust us and rely on us.”

PowerHour® is a thought-leader in executive recruiting services, search engine optimization {SEO}, search engine marketing {SEM}, national WiFi , national real estate building insurance, utility bill auditing and investment banking services for our property management clients around North America. Since 1995 PowerHour is the industry leader and author of the SmartMatch Alliances book and runs/moderates the largest property management LinkedIn® professional networking groups in the world circulating leading edge industry knowledge.