Real Estate Investor Insurance: 3 Risks Most Investors Miss | Ian Bertini

Ian Bertini (00:00)
look, the chances of something happening are pretty slim, but when it does happen, it’s not small. And so that’s the exposure, right? And so to me, that’s that’s where the benefit of the education comes in, understanding what that exposure is. The other piece is I’ve seen a lot of

policies that I’ve reviewed that don’t account for loss of rents, right? One of the things that should be a traditional landlord policy is coverage for loss of your rents. and a lot of folks don’t realize, I guess, that’s part of it, but it should be, because again, to me, that’s another one of my three pillars, right?

Scott Bursey (02:08)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey Glad you’re with us. Today we’re joined by Ian Bertini, the co-owner of BPI Insurance Advisors. Ian is widely known across the Texas real estate community as the Professor.

Because he actively teaches continuing education on property risk, making him a true authority in the space. In this conversation we’re going to pull back the curtain on risk management and learn how to properly protect the assets you’ve worked so hard to build. Ian, welcome to the show.

Ian Bertini (02:43)
Thank you so much, Scott. I appreciate

Scott Bursey (02:45)
It’s awesome having you here. And to help our listeners get up to speed, please give us the ninety second highlight reel of how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Ian Bertini (02:55)
Well, career ignited totally by accident. I was in the optical field for about eight years when I was young. I was married and had two young kids looking to for a better opportunity. started applying for places, was hired by Nationwide after several interviews of

not knowing who I was interviewing with and spent eight years with Nationwide on the corporate side, spent some time in the life insurance and financial planning side of insurance, a little time in the the agency side so both with independent and captive agents and then started my agency in twenty twenty one

Right at the kind of tail end of the COVID experience that we all had. So and now I’m I’m pouring my focus, my attention into growing the agency and educating folks and not just the real estate space, but overall. I’ve started teaching classes for the general public, which I really love. So yeah, that’s where I’m at today.

Scott Bursey (04:02)
That’s an incredible journey, Ian. And thank you for giving the listeners that roadmap. It really paints a clear picture of how you got to where you are today. And what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to break down intimidating insurance jargon into practical shield like strategies for your property owners. Sure. And on that note, curious to know, what do you consider the biggest

strength of a well insured real estate portfolio in today’s market.

Ian Bertini (04:33)
Well, so for me, what I’ve noticed, having been in the investor space now for a little over a year and a half, is I think investors have three major exposures, right? They have the exposure of the loss of the structure, which obviously could lead to the loss of rents or income from that structure. and it doesn’t require the full loss of structure to lose those things. So that’s number two is loss of rents or income.

And then the third thing is liability. So to me, those are the three big exposures that any investor has. And so that’s what we focus on first when we’re building protection for them or those three things. And then we can kind of build out from there if we need to.

Scott Bursey (05:12)
the trifecta, if you will. And following up on that, how do you suggest an investor measures that strength on an annual basis?

Ian Bertini (05:20)
That’s a great question.

I mean, I from what I’ve seen now for all transparency, I’m not an investor myself currently. but again, having been in that space and had many conversations, a lot of investors will come up and ask me questions that I don’t have the answer to, which I absolutely love. because it makes me put that that fine-tuning lens back on and go figure that information out. But from what I’ve seen

investors are always focused on the dollars being spent right for every transaction and every long term so I think that’s a good way to look at it and today I don’t think this was always the case but today there are so many programs becoming more and more available that can help you reduce your expenses on a per transaction basis. And so I think

If you’re focused on the per transaction, that’s gonna lead to results at on an annual basis to answer your question.

Scott Bursey (06:20)
Ian, I can see why they call you the professor. Spot on. And we’re fascinated to hear what is the most common weakness or blind spot that you find when you audit a new client’s policy?

Ian Bertini (07:21)
well, again it all boils down to education. just not understanding what that is. It doesn’t matter whether it’s on the retail side and you’re buying a home or have lived in a home for five years, ten years, most folks just don’t understand what their policy is gonna do for them if they need it or not do for them if it’s not set up properly. most people just assume I have insurance, I’m good to go. and unfortunately

many folks find out the hard way that’s not always the case. And so I I I could sit here and say I’ll probably say education so many times throughout this this interview, but that’s just the truth is it is education. when you start educating people, they can make the decisions that are right for them and understand, okay, I want this coverage, not that coverage. I’m not concerned about that. I’ve got investors that that have been at it a long time

They have teams of people that are kind of come in and fix their roof if they need it, fix electrical issues if they need it, fix, dry whatever it is, windows. And so they’re not gonna file a claim. Well, that’s a totally different risk profile than somebody that doesn’t have all that, that’s just getting started on the investor side. so that’s kind of how I look at everything.

Scott Bursey (08:31)
And it’s a great lens to look through. Intrigued by this, where do you see the biggest opportunity for investors to optimize their risk management right now?

Ian Bertini (08:40)
There’s definitely a lot of opportunity in the construction phase, right? meaning if you’re rehabbing a house, whether you’re gonna flip it or whether you’re gonna rent it, there’s a lot of opportunity there because most investors have felt that

okay, let’s just get a builder’s risk policy. And again, historically that would have been the right thing to do, but now we’re seeing more and more carriers offer plans that that that will give you an option to the builder’s risk policy. And that can create, the downside to builders risk versus these other plans is that builder’s risk most of the time is pay in full.

Right, whether you’re looking at a three-month, six-month, twelve-month policy, whatever it is, you’re you have to pay it in full. Most builders risk plans are a hundred percent earned premium. which again, that means you’re if you buy a six-month policy but you’re done in three months, they’re keeping all of the premium. and with these other options that are now becoming available, they aren’t a hundred percent earned.

Premium. Some of them have no earned premium. the they they allow you to pay monthly versus having to pay three months or six months at one time. So you’re really paying just for what you need in a lot of cases. they have very few restrictions on what, obviously if you’re doing something big, you’re adding a floor, you’re, adding square footage. That’s a big job. We need builder’s risk for that. But if it’s

what I see a lot of times, which is, what are they putting lipstick on a pig, right? so you’re putting new floor, you’re painting, maybe you’re adding some new cabinetry, things like that. That’s all fine. And you’ll fall within those parameters of of those programs that are out there. And like I said, we’re starting to see more and more carriers offer that. And that’s a real opportunity to create savings for the investor right up front.

Scott Bursey (11:05)
That’s encouraging to hear. Ian, if some of our listeners are thinking to themselves, hey, this is somebody that I’d like more info about. I’d like to know more about BPI Insurance Advisors, what is the first thing that you would like them to know?

Ian Bertini (11:19)
Well, we have a website, so you can go there and we’ve got a lot of information there for the various products and that’s an evolving project, if you will. So hopefully getting better all the time. But so there’s that. they can call our office, they can call me directly. Those are probably the best ways. I’m trying to do more social media that’s been

hard for me to find time to do that, but we’re I’m trying to get more into that in the next, before the end of the year. That that’s my goal for the next, the rest of the year is trying to get more of that out.

Scott Bursey (11:53)
Ian, wondering about this, what is one major threat to an investor’s asset protection that people rarely talk about or perhaps prepare for?

Ian Bertini (12:02)
Well again, it’s the liability exposure, right? It’s one of those those trifecta, as you said earlier, that it live

look, the chances of something happening are pretty slim, but when it does happen, it’s not small. And so that’s the exposure, right? And so to me, that’s that’s where the benefit of the education comes in, understanding what that exposure is. The other piece is I’ve seen a lot of

policies that I’ve reviewed that don’t account for loss of rents, right? One of the things that should be a traditional landlord policy is coverage for loss of your rents. and a lot of folks don’t realize, I guess, that’s part of it, but it should be, because again, to me, that’s another one of my three pillars, right?

So that’s that’s those are two big exposures for me personally.

Scott Bursey (12:47)
And speaking of exposure, how do you help your clients proactively fight against that threat before it becomes a problem, a major problem?

Ian Bertini (12:55)
Yeah, well again, it’s about the upfront, right? It’s about that risk management piece that I think risk is good. Obviously, you gotta take a r if you’re an investor, you’re already taking lots of risk. So I think you risk, stress, those are positive things. and my whole thing is like, let’s try and set you up for success at the worst possible time, right?

And so that’s how we view everything. It’s what is your what is your biggest concern? I’ve created for my investor clients, I’ve created a questionnaire that I do now. and so anytime I’m getting a new property, because I’ve also learned that every property can be a different exposure or risk value for that investor. So every time we get a new property, we fill in this this questionnaire, and that’s gonna tell me things like

are you okay, are we flipping it? Are we renting it? Are we what are the rents? So we can make sure to account for that properly, like we talked about a second ago. a big question that I ask in the end is what is your what is your as an investor risk like tolerance? you know, if you have a mortgage company, a traditional mortgage company tied to it.

You don’t really get to to pick your risk tolerance. They get to pick it for you. And so that’s part of it. If you don’t, maybe you have a private lender or maybe you don’t have a lien on the house at all. Well, now you get to determine how much risk you’re willing to take. And that’s different for every investor. So we look at all those little things to put the right piece together for them.

Scott Bursey (14:22)
Ian, I guess at what point does an investor need a tailored custom strategy rather than relying on off-the-shelf policies?

Ian Bertini (14:30)
Think every time. I think every person should have a tailored policy. There are certain things that I would do pretty regularly, right? For the average person on the retail side, I’m gonna put the policy together mostly the same for most people. If we’re talking about auto insurance, I’m gonna put it together mostly the same for most people, but there are exceptions to that. So, we may start at

my ground level, which is what I would suggest, but let’s talk to you as an individual and figure out if that truly does make sense.

Scott Bursey (14:59)
Great distinction. curious, what does your professional network look like right now?

Ian Bertini (15:05)
again, it’s mostly it’s mostly real estate related. It’s it’s a lot of realtors, a few lenders, a lot of the investment folks now in the last year and a half. that’s been a great resource for me, not just in building my agency, but again, just so many of the investors have asked me questions of like, I’ve never thought about that. Let me let me figure out the right answer there. And

And it’s just really reinvigorated my passion and what I’m doing to get that. But it’s it’s mostly on the real estate space for sure.

Scott Bursey (15:34)
Over the years, what what have you found by being in the right room? How has that helped your operation, Ian?

Ian Bertini (15:42)
it’s helped tremendously, as we talked about earlier, that for me, that is literally how I’ve built my agency is being in the right room with folks. That’s gotten me opportunities to sponsor things, that’s gotten which just puts me in front of people. It’s given me opportunities to to teach my classes, which obviously puts me in front of the right people. and it connected me to people and it gives me an opportunity to meet people that I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.

So I like I said before, being in the room, in the right room, is num probably the number one thing you can do to grow your business.

Scott Bursey (16:16)
That’s powerful. And Ian, thinking about your experience, if you had to pick one insurance related golden rule that keeps an investor’s wealth safe regardless of the market cycle, what would that be?

Ian Bertini (16:28)
Hm, that’s a great question.

The golden rule. I would say

Ask questions. Like I mean, at the end of the day, what’s what do you if you’re asking questions, it’s to get an answer. And so that’s education. So, I keep coming back to that, but I truly can’t help it. that’s the key to everything, really, especially on the insur because the insurance space is so kind of cloudy and people are hate it and are pissed off at it and totally understandable. it’s kind of a mess.

And so having good agent that will answer your questions, that will educate you, I think is hugely important, whether that’s me or somebody else. There’s plenty of good agents out there. Just finding a good one that’s gonna hold your hand and help you understand, hey, this is the right choice for this situation. Here’s why.

Scott Bursey (17:14)
Asking the right questions up front, discovery, and then continued education. That is some golden advice, Professor. And Ian, you have given us a lot of really good advice here today. But is there any final thoughts or any additional words of wisdom that you could leave with our listeners?

Ian Bertini (17:32)
Yeah, I would say always ask. ask why. asking why so important in everything, right? We we we get frustrated, if we have kids, right? We get frustrated sometimes with they ask why, why, why, why, why, why. But that’s actually the right way to do it. Because if you ask why enough times, you’re gonna get to the to the truth, to the to the whatever that real answer is.

And so asking why is is an important thing to do, both on the client side and on my side, right? For for me, when underwriting comes back with some response, unless I understand why they’re doing it, right? I can and being in the business for so long, a lot of times I do understand why they’re they’re giving us that response. But if I don’t, well, why?

Why are we doing it that way? Let’s get to that because maybe that’s the wrong way to do it and we need to push back a little bit.

Scott Bursey (18:22)
Rocket fuel. Pure rocket fuel, Professor. And that was awesome. For our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or perhaps collaborate with you. What’s the best way for them to reach you?

Ian Bertini (18:35)
again, you can call the office. That’ll get any of us. It rings to all four of us currently, and that’s at 210-761-6001. They’re welcome to call me directly. my direct line is 210-761-6017. like I said, we do have a website. If they want to tiptoe in, they’re welcome to do that too. and that is www.bpi-agency.com.

Scott Bursey (19:02)
Ian, thank you for joining us today on the Real Estate Pros Podcast.

Ian Bertini (19:06)
Thank you, I appreciate it, Scott.

Scott Bursey (19:07)
You certainly brought the fuel and then some. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you received value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guests, just like Ian Bertini, who are accelerating and setting the pace the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear.

We’ll see you the next episode, everyone.