Insurance is the line that moved

If you built a rental model three years ago and have not touched the insurance line since, it is the most wrong number on the page — by a wider margin than taxes, management or maintenance.

Why it moved

Reinsurance repricing after several heavy loss years, rebuilding costs that rose faster than house prices, and carriers withdrawing from whole regions. None of it is about your house; all of it lands on your premium.

What it does to a deal

Insurance comes out of NOI, so it hits three numbers at once:

• Cash flow, directly and every month.
• Cap rate, because NOI is the numerator.
• DSCR, which is the one that can cost you the loan.

An extra $900 a year is $75 a month. On a property clearing $180, that is 40% of the cash flow gone to one line nobody re-checked.

What to actually do

Get a real quote before you are under contract, not after. Three things move it more than anything else:

Roof age. The single largest factor on most quotes. A 2019 build is cheap to insure for a reason, and that reason has a date on it.

Deductible. Moving from $1,000 to $2,500 is often a meaningful saving, and it is a sensible trade for a landlord who holds a reserve — which, if you have been reading these, you do.

Policy form. Actual cash value is cheaper than replacement cost and pays depreciated. On a rental that is a real decision, not a technicality.

Then put the real number into the model and see whether the deal survives it. Better to find out now.