Tuesday night’s 5.6 earthquake reminded me of a brief conversation I had this past weekend. I was out with a client on Sunday afternoon viewing condos in the area when we ventured into one such unit that had an open house. The listing agent was at the open house so I asked him how much the HOA dues were and what those dues covered. He told me the number and then started rattling off what was included in those fees, such as common area maintenance, building insurance, and pool/spa. My followup question to the agent was whether those fees included earthquake insurance. After fumbling for an aswer his response was, “Yes, the fees include liability insurance for the building.” Now I don’t know whether that complex carries earthquake insurance or not, but I was a bit miffed by the listing agent’s answer. Obviously, he didn’t know whether the complex carried earthquake insurance. Moreover, he clearly didn’t understand the difference between liability insurance and earthquake insurance. Worse off, he was willing to make up an answer to this very important question.

Does your HOA carry earthquake insurance? Many HOA’s in the area do not carry earthquake insurance. Why? It’s simply cost prohibitive for the HOA to carry earthquake insurance, which is a cost that would be directly passed on to the individual homeowners. At a minimum, Tuesday night’s tremblor should remind you to make sure that you have the proper personal property insurance coverage protecting your personal contents within your unit. Contacting your insurance agent is a good first step. You may also want to ask your insurance agent to review the master policy for the complex to ensure you are fully protected.