Aaron Letzeiser

Yearly reminder if you are looking for the agent track at ITC it’s in the basement of the Luxor

Chicago has long deserved a serious startup hub. Introducing Density Collective.

@NateSmoyer @rohindhar @rohindhar definitely a tough market for CA and places like Lake Tahoe or Nevada. We're still open for business in those places at @obieinsurance along with others like @KIN, but the fires put a significant amount of pressure on the broader carrier market who have pulled back.

@rohindhar @letzeiser?

Anyone have more color on the homeowners insurance market in Lake Tahoe? California state plan (FAIR) the only option in CA? Nevada out of luck?

When he catches you doing things that don’t scale

@immad @mercury @sequoia @sparkcapital @MarathonMP @coatuemgmt @CRV @a16z Congrats @immad!

1/ Today, @Mercury announced a $300 million Series C in a mix of primary & secondary funding at a $3.5B valuation, led by @Sequoia, with participation from @sparkcapital, @MarathonMP, @coatuemgmt, @CRV, & @a16z. I’m deeply humbled by the growth we’ve experienced. 🧵

@yuris @immad Make something the people want!

@letzeiser @immad Shockingly they do. I got an instagram ad for it a week ago 😂 a.co/d/hhbv4ft

I am having another baby in a few months. What are cool gadgets that have been made in the last 5-10 years that are a must get? (I love baby gadgets)

@immad @yuris +1 for the slumber pod. The best invention for baby travel. Candidly, I also wish they made an adult version…

@yuris Thats cool. Does it compress way down?

@Ins_Brkr @jefffeldman Really profound way that article opened. The reality of what insurance is and does for society, but such a dichotomy with the unfortunate standard ugly and misunderstood public perception it has.

Shoutout to @jefffeldman for bringing to my attention. My takeaway: Over-regulation and socialization is the issue more than insurance... If private market insurance isn't offering coverage to a certain area because of risk and no government backed insurance exists, people just wouldn't live there (or take the risk themselves).

@RhadamisteX @yishan @beautifullybunk Ask the carrier (or your agent) what the AM Best rating is, which is their credit rating. Generally speaking, you’d want something rated A- or better.

I live in Southern California, 75 miles from the fires in Pacific Palisades, and I wasn't able to get home insurance earlier this year when I purchased a home. That's not exactly true - in most people's minds, you can only get insurance from California's "admitted carriers," which are the carriers who are regulated by the state. Those carriers agree to follow its rules on rates, policy terms, financial solvency and - most importantly - they participate in the state guarantee fund. If an admitted insurer goes bankrupt, policyholders can still get some help from the guarantee fund. My libertarian friends are fond of talking about how California's limitations on insurance carriers distort the market and artificially cap rates in an environment that logically dictates higher rates to cover higher risks. It turns out that even if none of the state's admitted carriers will (or can) insure you, you can still get insurance from other carriers - but then you receive none of the protections of the state guarantee fund or the legal limitations it puts on rates and policy terms. These non-admitted carriers (which you could call "unregulated" carriers - the formal name is "surplus line") effectively price home insurance to account for the real risks they are insuring against. So when the market is no longer regulated and insurance reflects real risks, how much do you end up paying? Well, it turns out that my premiums are only about ~2x that of the national average, but wildfire risk here is much higher than 2x the American average - it's MUCH higher. So what else are they doing to make the numbers work in this wildfire-prone area? Here's how they cover it: my policy has a massive $105,000 deductible on wildfire damage, per covered loss. This means it's a per-event deductible (rather than per-year deductible). If I ever have wildfire-related loss, I'll have to pay the first $105,000 out of pocket before insurance even takes a look. And then if it happens again later the same year, the deductible resets. Actuarially, this makes sense - the risk is still low that my home is destroyed completely - but there are plenty of instances where a nearby fire event does some damage worth up to $105,000 to the house, and insurance won't be paying for that. (If you're wondering why I'm here at all, it's because of proximity to medical services for long-covid, and because other than the fire situation, this is a pretty nice area) If our home is lost in a fire, I'll be out of pocket at least $105,000. I can cover it, but it'll hurt. This isn't true for most people. So, if you want to know what a true home insurance situation free of market-distorting regulations would look like in a climate-changing and bad-forest-management government world looks like, it's roughly this: in a disaster, everyone who loses their homes will be out at least $100,000. Possibly much more, if the insurance carrier goes bankrupt, because there will also be no pooled state guarantee. It's unclear to me whether after this disaster the state's backstop fund itself will even be solvent. If you have fire-related home insurance experiences or really just any other useful knowledge about insurance in this brave new world of ours, feel free to chime in! x.com/yishan/status/…

@yishan @beautifullybunk This isn't accurate. Oftentimes, the policy forms and contracts used in the "surplus" market are the exact same ISO standard forms of the "Admitted" market. What really matters here is the financial strength of the carrier -- admitted or not, and the reinsurance behind them.

Sadly, it's not "good" insurance. The reason it's called "surplus line" is because it refers to the "surplus" or "leftover" cases that other insurance carriers refused to take because it's not very profitable. I think in this case it's a Japanese company that is pooling risk with customers on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. I guess if you have international insurance carriers that can pool risk between Americans living in areas with irresponsible governance and non-Americans who live in more well-run places (and maybe there's an exchange rate strategy in it too?) you can make the numbers work if the Americans have a very high deductible.

@roshanpateI Been on @Rippling since 2019. Love it. Haven't found anything else that compares. No major issues from 2 to hundreds of employee accounts.

I'm convinced Rippling is a psyop. VCs hyping Parker Conrad, giving him $2B, calling it revolutionary Meanwhile, every screen takes 10 sec to load, clunky UI, missed payrolls, hiring errors. Nobody I know likes it. The product makes me want to lie down in the middle of traffic

@SeanODowd15 We’re already seeing a significant shift in investor interest to the Midwest and other markets due to insurance pricing

I’ve yet to hear a plausible argument why insurance rates will go down Compound out insurance prices 10 years from now Even if the growth rate slows, the entire sunbelt is in for a world of hurt

@MultifamilyMad @LendCRE Those and Zinsco panels. But if your agent had a good relationship with the insurance underwriter, they may feel charitable to give you 30 days to swap them out with proof as a subjectivity for coverage

@LendCRE Federal pacific is the bad breaker brand. Fuses aren’t a brand but a type that’s just dated and has a higher probability of starting a fire

At the 15-unit I just bought. All main shutoffs were fuses and sub panels in units were fuses. Insurance quotes (if I could get them) were dumb high. Lenders also won’t like that when I go to refi. Had all shutoffs and sub panels replaced to circuit breakers for $11,500 all in, including material and labor. $720 per unit including house meter. I was happy with that price.

@pitdesi @jasonlk Health insurance is a little more convoluted than other lines of insurance, but I would LOVE it if all of our customers fully understood the coverage they had, the deductibles, and the drawbacks when balancing coverage with trying to find the cheapest price

@jasonlk I dont know, i'm pretty sure the insurance industry wants people to understand the concept of pooling risk. So many people see premiums as wasted money rather than protection against the unexpected. what do they not want us to understand about their business?

I have a hard time grasping how so many people are so dumb about insurance “I didn’t go to the hospital all year… Why don’t you give me the money back?”

@bradleyflowers Sadly, the payment companies cutting the check think their ancient practices are a feature and not a bug 👎

Somebody create a fintech that would allow mortgage companies to pay insurance premiums by ACH. I’d likely give you all my money on a seed round. Solve real problems.

@CoyDavidsonCRE Surprisingly, I thought it was going to be madness too. Was there a two hours ago and it was practically empty. Never had an easier time finding a parking spot than tonight

@moseskagan Damn. Where at in CA?

Sign it may be time to shut it down for the week: Just signed a $12,000 insurance quote for a gut-renovated 6 unit building with no history of losses.

@adamstatonsmith I’d be checking that roof, breakers, and electrical wiring type. Sounds like this property might have the fun insurance trifecta 👍

I’m potentially writing an offer on a currently uninsured multifamily property. The sellers broker has informed it’s due to a 35 year old roof that’s leaking. I think there’s more to it than that. How do you not have insurance on the largest asset you own?!

@skylarromines Congrats!

Wildly excited to officially announce 📣 the launch of ATW Advisors. After 17 years in commercial insurance brokerage, I recognized there was an inherent gap in the industry that had to be addressed. Businessowners don’t really understand their insurance or enjoy the procurement process. It’s opaque. ATW makes it clear. Insurance is our business. We handle it so you can focus on your business. Our mission is to support entrepreneurs & business owners by providing expert negotiation services with their insurance brokers and carriers, lenders and other stakeholders.  We fix problems. We engineer value. We free up your time to do *literally anything* other than insurance. Website is now live & linked 👇 in the comments. PS. I’ll also be sharing my experience about the process of launching the business & what all went into getting off the ground soon. It’s been amazing onboarding clients & generating revenue much faster than projected and before we even officially launched. Truly wish I had left corporate & done this sooner. Thank you for all the support we’ve received so far from the Twitter community!! I have leaned on several of you throughout the process. To name a few who made a material difference or shared valuable advice when I was lost: @tyleralley24 @investing_law @ReidBennettCCIM @SMB_Attorney @3NDeveloper @bethanyjbabcock @jandreini1 This community remains undefeated 🫶🏼

@altcap Best money you can ever spend

Get it in Chicago for $49!! Thx for sharing. 🙏🏼👊