Landlord Insurance for Multiple Properties

Separate policies vs one portfolio policy

	Separate landlord policies	Portfolio (master) policy
Renewal dates	One per property, spread across the year	One for everything
Paperwork	A policy, bill and certificate for each house	One policy with a schedule of properties
Dwelling limits	Fixed per property	Per property (scheduled) or shared (blanket)
Deductibles	Per policy	Per occurrence; may differ by property
A bad claim	Affects that property’s policy	Can affect renewal of the whole portfolio
Selling one property	Cancel that policy	Remove it from the schedule
Lender requirements	Each lender gets its own policy	Each lender must accept the master policy and its certificate

Neither structure is better in general. A portfolio policy saves time and can buy you better terms. Separate policies keep one property’s problems from spilling onto the rest.

How scheduled and blanket portfolio policies work

Scheduled limits

Each property is listed with its own dwelling limit. A $280,000 limit on one house and $320,000 on another works the same way as two separate policies, but on one contract.

Blanket limits

One dwelling limit is shared across every property on the schedule. Say you own three houses that cost $250,000, $300,000 and $350,000 to rebuild. A blanket limit of $900,000 can, depending on the policy terms, pay up to the full blanket amount for a loss at any one location. If you underestimated the rebuild cost of one house, the blanket gives you room.

The fine print matters. Some blanket policies cap any single location at a percentage of its scheduled value, and the insurer may require a statement of values that you keep current. Obie lists a master policy with blanket limits among its coverage types; ask how it handles per-location caps.

Liability across several rentals

Liability on a portfolio policy usually comes with a per-occurrence limit and an annual aggregate. With one house, the aggregate rarely matters. With eight, two serious claims in the same year could use up a shared aggregate. Ask whether the aggregate applies per location or across the whole policy.

More doors means more equity at risk too. Once your portfolio has real value, an umbrella policy on top of the landlord coverage is usually the cheapest way to add $1 million or more of protection. If your properties sit in LLCs, check that the umbrella covers property owned by those entities, since some personal umbrellas exclude it.

Owning rentals in more than one LLC

Some investors hold each property, or each small group, in its own LLC. That structure has to show up on the insurance:

• Each owning LLC should be a named insured on whatever policy covers its property.
• You as an individual can often be listed as an additional insured.
• Insurers differ on whether they’ll put several LLCs on one master policy. Some will; others want one policy per entity.

Get the ownership right before you bind. A policy that names you personally on a house your LLC owns invites a dispute at claim time.

Different states and different risks

A portfolio spread across states is priced property by property, even on one policy. The 2026 homeowners benchmarks in our state data range from $900 a year in Hawaii to $7,255 in Oklahoma, and landlord policies typically run around 15-25% higher than homeowners. A house in Oklahoma’s hail country and a house in Ohio ($2,080 homeowners benchmark) carry very different risks.

Expect property-specific terms inside a portfolio: a percentage wind or hail deductible on the storm-exposed houses, a higher deductible on an older roof, or an exclusion on a property near the coast. If one property drags the whole quote up, compare insuring it separately.

Steadily and Obie for several properties

Steadily quotes landlord policies online in all 50 states and fits single-family homes and small multifamily buildings. It’s quick to quote each property, which suits an investor adding one house at a time who’s happy with separate policies. Check that your lenders accept its underwriting carrier, since some lenders and umbrella insurers have objected to its rating.

Obie is built around investor portfolios: single-family, two-to-four-unit and five-plus-unit apartment buildings, short-term rentals, vacant and renovation properties, and a master portfolio policy with blanket limits. It places policies with partners such as Markel and MSI. Some reviewers report non-renewal after claims, which matters more on a portfolio policy, because a non-renewal there touches every property at once.

Get quotes from both, and from an independent agent who handles investor accounts, before you decide.

How a claim on one property affects the rest

With separate policies, a claim on one house shows up in that policy’s history and in the industry claims databases insurers check. It can still raise the price of insuring your other properties, but each policy renews on its own and can move to a new insurer on its own.

With a portfolio policy, the claims history belongs to the whole policy. A bad year at one property can raise the renewal price on all of them, and a non-renewal sends you shopping for every property at once, possibly on a deadline. Our research on Obie notes reviewer reports of non-renewal after claims, and that risk applies to any portfolio insurer.

Two habits limit the damage. Keep a cash reserve so you can skip small claims that barely exceed the deductible. And start shopping 60 to 90 days before a portfolio renewal, not two weeks before, so a surprise non-renewal doesn’t leave a lender asking for proof of coverage you don’t have yet.

When to move to a commercial policy

Dwelling policies like DP-3 generally cover buildings with one to four units. A building with five or more units, a mixed-use building with a shop downstairs, or a large portfolio often moves to commercial property and general liability coverage. Obie writes apartments of five or more units; otherwise, an agent who places commercial accounts is the right call. Commercial policies are priced and written differently, so compare carefully.

Keeping a growing portfolio insured

A simple spreadsheet prevents most problems. For each property, track:

• Owner (you or which LLC) and lender
• Insurer, policy number and renewal date
• Dwelling limit and how it was estimated
• Deductibles, including any wind or hail percentage
• Liability limit and whether the umbrella covers it
• Flood policy, if any
• Tenant renters insurance expiration

Review dwelling limits every year or two as construction costs change. When you buy another property, add it to your policy or bind a new one before closing, because your lender will want proof of coverage at the closing table.