Condominium Association Common Elements

September 2, 2008 by Christopher J. Boggs, CPCU, ARM, ALCM

Common elements are owned by and benefit all members of the association. Land, parking lots along with each building's structural foundations and load-bearing walls are examples of common elements. Also included in this definition are club houses, pool houses, pools, fences, gates, playground equipment, tennis courts and other property owned and allocated to all unit owners. Not all property categorized as a common element is insurable in standard property policies, but most can be scheduled.

Comments

Andrea Jul 11th, 2012 03:19 PM

It depends on your needs and goals. Are you both self-supporting? If so, then you only need euongh insurance to cover the cost of a funeral a burial. If either of you depends on the otherâ€™s income to meet expenses, however, then you might need more. The idea is that you do not want your life turned upside down financially should you lose your spouse. You will have euongh to deal with emotionally, if that were to happen. You would want euongh life insurance to make up for the lost spouseâ€™s income for a period of yearsâ€”5 to 7 is probably euonghâ€”so you can adjust to the loss without giving up your lifestyle. This will become even more important when you buy a home and have children, of course. The same principle will apply, but you will have to increase the amounts to cover raising the kids and paying for college. As for the investment option, it depends on your investment style. If you are disciplined and a savvy investor, you can probably do better by saving the difference between term life and whole life premiums and investing the money on your own. If you are not very good at saving, have no investment knowledge or interest, and want a simple, secure vehicle for saving with a small, guaranteed return, then you might consider a whole life policy.