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The renters insurance market has been a hard nut to crack for the industry, but an insurance carrier and online rental service platform hope their partnership may be the secret to breaking through.
Cozy, an online property management site for landlords, property managers and renters, has partnered with insurance carrier Assurant to offer renter's insurance through Cozy's online property management platform.
"We started looking at how many people in our market — the smaller, independent rental owners — have tenants who carry renters insurance and based on our evidence, it is abysmally low," said Gino Zahnd, CEO and founder of Portland, Ore.-based Cozy. "We saw an opportunity to come into the market and educate people why it is important."
The Cozy online property management platform handles the entire rental process for landlords — from online listings, to tenant applications and screenings, to receiving rental payments. And now, it sells renters insurance, too.
The company was founded in 2012 and currently has 500,000 people signed up for properties through its site in more than 15,000 zip codes across the U.S., according to Zahnd. Cozy's "bread and butter," Zahnd said, are individuals who manage or own 20 or less properties, but it does have customers with up to 200-250 units as well.
With the new partnership with Assurant, tenants of landlords that require renters insurance can obtain Cozy Renters Insurance. Through Cozy's platform, landlords who want to require renters insurance on a lease check a box in the Cozy system and renters will be offered...