How Do I Get Home Insurance on a House or Condo in Grayhawk, Scottsdale?

Getting home insurance on a house, condo or townhome in Grayhawk in Scottsdale, Arizona starts with a written quote from a licensed insurance agent for your address. Ask every agent to quote the same coverage, ask for flood coverage as its own quote, and if the home is a condo or townhome, bring the sub-association's insurance details with you.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, helping people buy and sell homes across Scottsdale. I'm not an insurance agent, so I can't tell you which company to use or what a policy will cost, but I can tell you what to ask for and what to have ready. According to the Grayhawk Community Association, Grayhawk has nearly 3,800 homes, and what you ask for depends on which kind of home you're buying.

According to the Grayhawk Community Association, Grayhawk has eight condominium and townhome communities, six in The Park and two in The Retreat, and each one pays its own sub-association. I covered what each assessment pays for in my post on what the Grayhawk HOA covers. For insurance, the first call is to that sub-association's management company, and the association says to contact the management company for information on a condo or townhome.

Ask for the certificate of insurance on the association's policy and give it to your insurance agent. For a condominium, Arizona's Condominium Act (A.R.S. 33-1253) says the association must carry property insurance on the common elements, and on the units only if the condominium documents require it. The same law says that coverage on the units doesn't have to include owner improvements or your personal property. So the agent needs to see what the association insures before telling you what your own policy should cover. A townhome may be set up under a different Arizona law than a condominium, so ask the management company which one applies.

The statute also says a condominium association must tell each owner in writing, every year, what the owner's deductible responsibility is and what the deductible amounts are. Ask for that notice before you buy, because it tells you what you'd owe if the association has a claim. Your lender may have its own requirements for condo coverage, so ask the lender what it needs to see.

The Grayhawk Community Association lists the neighborhoods of single-family homes in The Park (8 of them) and The Retreat (15 of them) as sub-associations too, so ask your agent and the association whether the neighborhood you're looking at carries any insurance of its own. I don't have that for each neighborhood, and I'd rather you hear it from the association than from me.

The quote for a single-family home is for the house itself. Ask the agent how they arrive at the amount of coverage on the structure and what that amount is based on.

Homeowners insurance doesn't cover flood damage in Arizona. The Maricopa County Flood Control District says a regular homeowner's policy does not cover losses caused by flooding, and an Arizona insurance agent quoted by azfamily said standard home insurance doesn't cover water flowing in from ground level, so flood insurance is bought separately. FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program sells it, and your insurance agent can tell you whether they'd also quote a private flood policy.

The county also says one in four flood insurance claims come from outside a floodplain, and that you can buy flood insurance even if you're not in a flood zone. FEMA's Flood Map Service Center lets you search an address for its flood map, and I'd ask your insurance agent to look up the zone for your address and tell you whether they'd recommend flood coverage. According to the Maricopa County Flood Control District, flood insurance is mandatory if the home is in a special flood hazard area and the mortgage is federally backed, and in other zones the lender can still require it. Ask your lender which applies.

A flood insurance policy takes about 30 days to start. FEMA says there's typically a 30-day waiting period from the date of purchase before the policy goes into effect, and the Maricopa County Flood Control District says the same, which is why a policy bought when a storm is already coming won't help.

FEMA's flood insurance manual lists a few exceptions, including coverage bought in connection with a mortgage loan, which can take effect at closing. How that works depends on when the application and payment reach the insurer, so ask your insurance agent and your lender about the timing before you close.

I'd gather these before calling, since any agent will need the details of the home to quote it:

• The address, the year the home was built, and the square footage.
• Any upgrades, such as a remodeled kitchen or a pool.
• Your mortgage lender's name and loan number, if you have a loan.
• For a condo or townhome, the certificate of insurance and the deductible notice from the sub-association's management company.

I don't quote premiums, and the only dollar figure that counts is the one in a written quote for your home.

Ask every agent to quote the same coverage, because a cheaper quote may be a different policy with a higher deductible or a lower limit. Put these in writing with each quote, in the same order: the amount of coverage on the structure, the deductible, the liability limit, what's excluded, and what the flood quote would be if it's separate. If a line mentions water, wind, hail or roof, ask what it means in practice and ask for the answer in writing. Then compare the written quotes line by line.

I'd call an insurance agent as soon as you've picked a home you like and give them the address, so you know what the policy looks like before you're under contract. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners says most mortgage lenders require homeowners coverage, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it's common to pay the first year's premium in advance at closing. Here's what a buyer pays at closing in Arizona, including that line. If you're still deciding on the community, here's my guide to buying in Grayhawk.

If a quote changes what you can afford, tell me before you write the offer, because I'd rather adjust the plan then than after you're under contract. Here's how a purchase moves from offer to closing in Arizona.

Call your agent and ask what changed on the renewal, including the premium, the deductible and the limit on the structure, then ask for a quote from at least one other agent using the list above so you're comparing the same coverage. If you've had work done on the house since you bought it, tell your agent so the coverage amount reflects it. If you own a condo, ask the management company for this year's certificate of insurance too. If you're thinking about selling, here's how I prepare a Grayhawk home for sale, and here's how I work out what a Grayhawk home is worth.

If you want help with what to ask on a specific Grayhawk address, call me at (480) 203-6605 or get in touch with the address or the community name, and I'll tell you which associations apply to it. Here's how I work from the first conversation to closing.