Which Is Better for a Condo: All-In or Walls-In?
It depends on your HOA master policy. If it covers bare walls only, you need all-in coverage for fixtures and upgrades.
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Your HOA's master policy document, not your guess, settles this. Ask for the certificate of insurance or declarations page and look for the phrase "bare walls" versus "all-in" or "single entity." A bare-walls master policy stops at the studs, which means your cabinets, flooring, built-in appliances, and any upgrades a past owner made are yours to cover. If the HOA's policy already includes those original finishes, you'd be paying twice for the same coverage by buying all-in protection on top of it.
Buying coverage that duplicates what the HOA already insures wastes money every year, but guessing wrong the other way is worse. If your master policy is bare-walls and your HO-6 only covers original builder-grade finishes, a kitchen fire could leave you paying out of pocket for cabinets and flooring you upgraded yourself. Comparing quotes lets you match coverage to the master policy's actual language instead of a default amount.
What happens when the loss isn't inside your unit at all
Loss assessment coverage is the part of an HO-6 policy people forget to check until the HOA sends a bill. When the building has a loss that isn't fully covered by the master policy, maybe a shared roof after a storm, or a liability claim that exceeds the HOA's limit, the association can split the shortfall among all unit owners as a special assessment. Your HO-6 policy can cover your share of that bill, but only up to the loss assessment limit you picked, often a default like $1,000 or $5,000. If the special assessment comes in higher, the difference is yours to pay.
Water from a neighbor's unit is its own question, and the answer usually comes down to where the water started and whose negligence caused it. If a pipe bursts in the unit above yours and the water damages your ceiling and flooring, your own HO-6 policy typically pays for your unit's damage under your dwelling and contents coverage, and your insurer may then seek reimbursement from the neighbor's policy if negligence is involved. You file with your own insurer first rather than waiting to find out whose fault it was. This is part of why the deductible on your HO-6 matters as much as the coverage limit, since you're the one filing regardless of how the water got there.
Townhomes complicate this further because ownership structure varies by community. Some townhomes are legally condos, with an HOA that owns and insures the exterior walls and roof, making an HO-6 policy the right fit. Others are fee-simple, meaning the owner holds title to the land and the entire structure, including the roof and exterior walls, with no master policy at all. A fee-simple townhome owner typically needs a standard HO-3 policy, the same kind a detached single-family home uses, not an HO-6. The HOA's governing documents or a quick call to the HOA will say which structure applies, and it changes what policy type to shop for before anything else about coverage amounts matters.
How much coverage a unit needs for the all-in or walls-in portion depends on the finishes, not the square footage alone. A unit with original builder-grade counters and cabinets needs less coverage than one with a renovated kitchen and upgraded flooring, even if the two units are the same size. Receipts or photos of any renovation work help when setting that number, since underinsuring it means paying the difference after a loss, and overinsuring it means paying for coverage that won't ever be used.
How much loss assessment coverage is enough
There's no fixed answer, but the way to think about it is by looking at what could go wrong at the building level, not the unit level. A shared roof replacement after hail damage, a lawsuit from someone injured in a common area, a fire that starts in a hallway and spreads to several units all cost real money, and the master policy's deductible or liability limit decides how much of that gets passed down to owners. A building with a high master policy deductible, say $25,000 or more, means any claim under that amount gets divided among unit owners as a special assessment before insurance pays a dime. Asking the HOA what its master policy deductible is tells you more about your loss assessment risk than any formula based on your unit's value.
Some HO-6 policies default to $1,000 or $5,000 in loss assessment coverage, and that number was set without knowing anything about your specific building. A high-rise condo with an expensive shared roof, elevators, or a pool carries more special assessment risk than a small two-story building with four units and a flat parking lot. Raising the loss assessment limit to $25,000 or $50,000 usually costs very little compared to the gap it closes, since it's a narrow type of coverage insurers don't price high. Checking the HOA's reserve fund balance alongside its master policy deductible gives a fuller picture, since a building with a thin reserve fund is more likely to pass costs to owners rather than cover them from savings.
Loss assessment coverage on an HO-6 also typically includes a per-occurrence cap and sometimes a separate, lower limit specifically for assessments tied to earthquake or flood damage, which the master policy may exclude entirely. If the building sits in an area with earthquake or flood risk and the master policy doesn't cover either, a special assessment after one of those events could be large, and the HO-6's loss assessment coverage may not extend to it the same way it does for a covered peril like fire or wind. The declarations page for the HO-6 policy states which perils the loss assessment coverage responds to, and that list is worth checking against what the master policy excludes.
Before you compare quotes
Pull the HOA's master policy declarations page. Find whether it says bare-walls or all-in, and note the master policy deductible. Those two things decide how much HO-6 and loss assessment coverage your unit actually needs.
