From the Front Lines: Condominiums
Sharilyn Tanaka
Vice President, Personal Lines
Atlas Insurance Agency
Honolulu, Hawaii
How did you get started at your agency?
I started at the agency in 2008. At that time, I had been in the insurance industry for about five years. Prior to joining Atlas Insurance, I was with an insurance carrier. Upon learning about the agency side of the business and how agents advocate on their client’s behalf I was intrigued about what an independent agency could offer in terms of the lines of business, such as commercial insurance, surety bonds, and employee benefits.
Why condo insurance?
Being in Hawaii, we have a lot of high-rise condos, apartment walk-ups, and townhomes, so we sell a substantial amount of HO6 condo policies. In some instances, our team also insures the entire building, offering the master policy for associations. In the past few years, there have been a number of new high-rise condos that have been completed and more are on the way. Ensuring that each unit owner has the appropriate insurance is our mission. We provide educational seminars to first-time buyers, realtors, mortgage lenders, and property managers.
Challenges in the condo market?
In the past 10 years, changes to HO6 policies have been immense. When I first started, the thought of someone purchasing an HO6 policy was rare. A lot of condo owners just depended on their master policy to cover them and didn’t really understand that the master policy only covers the structure of the building and common areas and not the interior.
In 2009, the 514B-143D statute was passed. Within that bill, owners were required to purchase the HO6 policy. This statute also set the requirements as far as what types of coverage the condo associations needed to purchase and maintain.
Future trends?
The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is conducting a study about whether implementing state laws similar to Massachusetts’ captive insurance laws would address our state’s condominium property insurance needs.
Advice for a fellow condo insurance agent?
Stay in touch with the insurance carriers and make sure you understand all the different policy forms from the different carriers—because they are different and do change. Also, keep up to date with claims handling because, at a carrier, underwriting can say one thing, but the claims adjuster may be handling the claim differently.
Olivia Overman is the IA content editor.
