Insurance Professionals Adjust to Cover HOAs

In today’s challenging insurance market, agents and brokers have had to adjust to keep serving community associations effectively. Those modifications can run the gambit from substantial changes to small tweaks in perspective.

For example, Berg Insurance Agency recently made a fundamental change to shift access to carriers. “With changes in our carrier’s offering in our core marketplace, we were forced to make a difficult decision to terminate a relationship more than 50-years in the making,” says agency owner Michael Berg, CMCA, CIRMS. “We opted to partner with a large broker to give us access to products we can deliver to service our longtime client base.”

Others are increasing state advocacy efforts to tackle the insurance crisis. “Without a doubt we are working harder than ever to uncover solutions for our clients,” says Charlotte Allen, CIRMS, with Socher Insurance Agency in Pleasanton, Calif. “Along with the creativity, determination, and expertise it takes to find results, we also have dedicated much time and energy to educating and advocating on a legislative level to seek outside support to restore the market for prolonged resolutions.”

The hard market made some ponder a more personal change. A.J. Scott, CIRMS, from Community Partners Insurance Agency in Meridian, Idaho, considered getting out of the insurance industry when she moved to the Gem State. “When our move became a reality in 2022, the fallout in the marketplace, the need for specialization, and the dramatic growth of community associations in the state painted a compelling picture for opening my own agency here in the Treasure Valley,” she says. Treasure Valley is the most populous area in the state.

Despite the frustrations and pressure, a bit of humor also can help professionals get some relief. “I’ve had to reimagine myself with more grey hair,” says Ryan Gesell, CMCA, CIRMS, with the Cline Agency in Los Angeles. “We had plenty of experience with surplus line markets, but the angry mobs at the townhall meetings after premiums increased exponentially were a new wrinkle we had to get used to.”