Calgary Real
Estate Insurance
What is Calgary real estate insurance?
Calgary real estate insurance provides protection for your properties, business, and tenants. Essentially, it helps you protect your investment and operations from unexpected, catastrophic events.
Why do you need real estate insurance?
Calgary is a great city to live in and invest in. It does have a lot of risks, however. This includes many things that we can’t control, including the boom-bust economy, severe weather, and the regular perils that come with investing in property and running a business. We can, however, mitigate some of these risks and help ourselves recover. That’s where real estate insurance can help.
What does real estate insurance cover?
In Calgary, real estate insurance can cover many different perils. We’ll review the different insurance products that may be included in a Calgary real estate insurance package as well as what risks may be covered.
What insurance products are included in Calgary real estate insurance?
- Property Insurance – This helps cover repairing or rebuilding a property after it suffers physical damage. It can also help cover replacing damaged property such as furniture, equipment and more. (Keep in mind this only applies for what belongs to your business, not your tenants.)
- Commercial General Liability Insurance – This helps cover you if someone is hurt or has their property damaged and sues.
- Income Interruption Coverage – If your business is forced to close due to a covered claim or mandatory evacuation, this protection will help cover your basic operating expenses.
- Equipment Breakdown – Many commercial properties are reliant on special equipment such as air conditioners, heating systems, and more. This coverage can help cover repairs or replacement of equipment if it suffers an electrical or mechanical breakdown.
- Cyber Liability – Helps your business deal with and recover from a cyberattack.
Depending on your business, you may have other products included in your Calgary real estate insurance package. Our experienced brokers will help you determine what protection you need.
Risks marked with an asterisk (*) is usually an additional coverage that may not be available for all properties.
Commercial general liability insurance will help cover legal expenses if you’re sued after someone is hurt or has their property damaged. This includes defence costs, settlements and awards.
Income interruption coverage can help keep your business afloat by providing funds to replace lost income if you have a covered claim or are under a mandatory evacuation. This can include rental income.
Equipment breakdown can cover the repair or replacement of essential equipment if it suffers and electrical or mechanical breakdown. Equipment can be expensive to repair or replace and essential to your property. This coverage can help reduce the financial impact of having to suddenly fix or replace it.
Cyber liability can help your business deal with and recover from a cyberattack. This can include legal expenses, fines, ransoms, and fees associated with the notification, reputation management, data recovery, and mitigation.
Keep in mind that what is covered will depend on your insurance company and coverage options. A policy limit will always apply. This is the maximum amount that will be paid out on a specific section or on your overall insurance policy. Your business may also not be eligible for or need all the above coverage.
Talk to one of our experienced Calgary real estate insurance brokers to help determine what coverage fits your needs and budget.
What affects the cost of real estate insurance in Calgary?
The cost of real estate insurance in Calgary is affected by:
- The number of properties you have
- The number of employees you have
- Your annual revenue
- Your insurance history
- Your properties, including:
- Proximity to a fire hydrant and fire station
- Building type and age
- Roofing type and age
- Heating, electrical, and plumbing system type and age
- Square footage
- Additional structures such as pools, garages, and decks
- Crime rate of the neighbourhood
- Claim rate of the neighbourhood
- Distance from risks such as rivers
- Damage mitigation or prevention devices
- Your insurance protection including deductible, policy limit, and coverage options
Exactly what impacts the cost of real estate insurance in Calgary may vary by the insurance company. Our brokers have great advice on risk management and how to keep your rates as low as possible.
What is the difference between real estate and realtor insurance?
Realtor insurance is different from real estate insurance. Realtor insurance needs to protect a professional and their business, whereas real estate insurance protects a physical location and a business. The coverage is similar, but not the same.
For example, realtor insurance could include:
- Commercial property coverage – if the realtor has a physical office, this will protect the space as well as its contents such as furniture, equipment, and more.
- Commercial general liability insurance – this protects the realtor if someone gets hurt or has their belongings damaged.
- Commercial vehicle insurance – for the realtor’s vehicle if they’re driving to different properties or client’s homes.
- Professional liability insurance – helps cover the realtor if they’re sued for causing financial loss due to their advice or service.
The exact insurance portfolio will depend on the individual realtor’s business, needs, and budget.
We offer both realtor and real estate insurance for Calgary at Rogers Insurance. Contact us today for more information.