Episode #50
The Insurance Strategy Most Real Estate Investors Don’t Know Exists
Insurance has become one of the biggest pain points in commercial real estate. What if there were a way to stop simply paying premiums and actually participate in the economics of the insurance company? In this episode of the Value Builder Podcast, Saul sits down with Nicolas Lares of Insur3Tech to break down captive insurance and how real estate owners can use alternative insurance structures to potentially lower costs, share risk, and participate in returns when the group performs well. Nicolas explains the difference between traditional insurance, group captives, and independent captives, how reinsurance protects against catastrophic losses, what lenders think about captive coverage, and when a portfolio may be large enough to consider its own captive. They also discuss how aligning incentives between property owners and the insurer can change the claims process and why Nicolas believes good operators may be subsidizing higher-risk owners in the traditional insurance market. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:15 How Nicolas Got Into Insurance 04:14 The Insurance Crisis That Changed Everything 06:03 Building a Group Captive 08:11 How Captive Insurance Actually Works 10:21 What Happens When Catastrophic Losses Hit? 12:57 Why Insurance Works Like a Casino 13:53 Will Lenders Accept Captive Insurance? 15:30 What Does It Take for a CRE Operator to Get Started? 18:53 Becoming a Co-Owner Instead of Just a Customer 19:56 When Does Your Own Captive Make Sense? 22:49 Why Nicolas Questions Traditional Insurance 25:05 The Potential Economics of Captive Insurance 28:50 Why Saul Exited Southwest Florida 29:13 Rethinking the Insurance Claims Process 31:45 How to Connect with Nicolas Lares Connect with Nicolas Lares Website: insur3tech.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicolas-lares-77a328169 Email: nicolas@insur3tech.com About Value Builder The Value Builder Podcast features conversations with investors, operators, developers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders focused on creating value through commercial real estate, business ownership, and long-term investing. #CommercialRealEstate #RealEstateInvesting #CaptiveInsurance #CRE #Insurance #ValueBuilderPodcast
