The master policy covers the building. It stops at a line inside your unit — do you know where?
Your HOA's master policy insures the structure to a point, and everything past that point is yours: the walls-in part of your unit, your belongings, your liability, and your share of any assessment. National General's Custom360 condo policy is built to fill exactly that gap — and we read your master policy to size it right. It's Allstate-group A+ paper, and we run it against our Allstate contract and 40-plus markets.
The short answer
A condo (HO-6) policy covers the part of your home the HOA master policy doesn't. National General's Custom360 condo policy includes building property (the portion of the structure you're responsible for — the walls-in part), personal property (your belongings), additional living expense, family liability, guest medical, and loss assessments (your share when the association assesses owners), plus optional coverages. The single most important step is reading your master policy to know where its responsibility ends and yours begins — that's what sizes your building-property and loss-assessment coverage. It's Allstate Insurance Group A+ paper, and we run it against our Allstate contract and 40-plus markets.
Two policies, one seam — and it runs through your unit.
A condo is the one home where the coverage is split between two policies, and the seam between them is exactly where owners get caught.
to a line where the master policy stops
The association insures common areas and the structure — but only to a boundary written into the master policy. Your unit's interior, your belongings, your liability, and your assessment exposure sit past that line.
The master policy protects the association. Not you.
The HOA's insurance exists to protect the association and the shared property. It's not built to replace your kitchen, cover you when a guest is hurt in your unit, pay for you to live elsewhere during repairs, or handle your share of a special assessment.
And here's the part that trips people: where the master policy's responsibility ends is not standardized. One association's policy stops at the bare studs; another covers the unit as originally built. Until you read yours, you're guessing at how much of your own home you need to insure — which is exactly the read we do before we quote.
The six pieces an HO-6 needs.
Building Property
Covers the portion of the condo structure you're responsible for — the walls-in finishes, fixtures and improvements the master policy leaves to you. Sized to how your master policy is written.
Personal Property
Your furniture, electronics, clothing and belongings if they're stolen or damaged by a covered loss — with scheduling available for high-value items.
Additional Living Expense
Reimburses reasonable increases in living costs — rent, hotel, food — if a covered loss makes your condo uninhabitable while it's repaired.
Family Liability & Guest Medical
Liability protection if you're sued for an injury or for damaging someone's property, plus guest medical if a visitor is hurt in your unit — including legal defense.
Loss Assessments
Pays your share of a covered loss the HOA assesses to owners — a shared-area claim, a master-policy shortfall, or a liability judgment against the association.
Optional Coverages
Replacement cost, open peril for contents, scheduled personal property, water backup, identity theft and more — add what fits how you live.
Walls-in or bare-walls? Your master policy decides.
How much building property coverage you need depends entirely on how your HOA's master policy is written, and there are two broad shapes. A bare-walls (studs-out) master policy covers the structure only to the unfinished walls — meaning you insure the drywall, flooring, cabinets, fixtures and everything inside. An all-in / single-entity master policy covers the original unit as built, leaving you responsible for improvements, upgrades and betterments.
Guess wrong and a burst pipe rebuilds someone else's version of your kitchen.
Under-insure the walls-in part because you assumed the master policy had more, and a covered loss can leave you paying out of pocket to rebuild your own finishes. Over-insure it and you're paying for coverage the association already carries. The fix is simply reading the master policy — we do that before we quote, size your building property to the real boundary, and make sure any upgrades you've put in are actually covered.
Loss assessments — the shared risk you didn't choose.
When the association has a loss its own insurance doesn't fully cover, it can assess every owner for a share of the shortfall. That happens more than people expect: a large master-policy deductible after a storm or fire, a shared-area claim that runs past the master limit, or a liability judgment against the association. As master-policy deductibles have climbed, the size of a possible assessment has climbed with them.
The base limit is often too small for today's deductibles.
Loss assessment coverage pays your portion of a covered assessment, up to your limit — but the base limit on many condo policies was set for a smaller era and can fall well short of a modern master-policy deductible split across the owners. We look at your association's deductible and structure and raise the loss-assessment limit where it actually needs to be, so a five-figure assessment doesn't land on you unprotected.
A growing market, and the review that pays for itself.
Condos and townhomes are a growing slice of Northwest Arkansas housing — around downtown Bentonville and Rogers, near the university in Fayetteville, and throughout Bella Vista. Two things make the coverage worth getting right here: the region's hail, wind and tornado exposure, which drives the kind of large shared-property claims that generate assessments, and the simple fact that master policies vary wildly from one association to the next.
That's why the useful first step isn't a quote — it's a read of your master policy against your unit. Send us the master policy declarations and your current condo policy (if you have one), and we'll tell you where the seam falls, whether your building-property and loss-assessment limits are right, and whether National General or one of our other markets fits best. Replacement cost, scheduled valuables and water backup are the add-ons we bring up most.
The pieces we'll talk through.
Priced on your unit and your HOA — not a webpage.
Condo pricing depends as much on your association as on your unit, so a planning number would mislead — this isn't a quote or a guarantee. What actually moves it:
Strong balance sheet, honest caveats.
On August 28, 2025, AM Best affirmed the members of Allstate Insurance Group — the companies behind National General's US condo policies — at a Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior), stable outlook.
Where National General is strong on condo
- It fills the real HO-6 gap. Building property, personal property, liability, guest medical and loss assessments — the pieces the master policy leaves to you.
- It bundles. Pairs with National General auto for a multi-policy discount.
- A+ (Superior) Allstate-group paper, with optional replacement cost, scheduling and water backup to fill the specific gaps.
- Independent-agency distribution, so we run it against our Allstate contract and 40-plus markets instead of guessing.
What we'll tell you honestly
- Read the master policy first. Walls-in vs bare-walls decides your building-property limit — we won't quote a condo without knowing which yours is.
- Raise the loss-assessment limit. The base amount is often too small for today's master-policy deductibles; we size it to your association.
- Get replacement cost, schedule valuables. ACV pays depreciated, and sublimits mean jewelry or collections may need scheduling.
- Flood and earthquake are separate, we don't adjust your claim, and we'll say plainly if our Allstate contract or another market fits your condo better.
The other lines we place — and where they live.
National General condo questions.
If my HOA has a master policy, why do I need condo insurance?
Because the master policy stops somewhere inside your unit, and the rest is yours. The association's policy generally covers the building's common areas and structure — but where its responsibility ends and yours begins depends on how the master policy is written, and almost none of it covers your belongings, your liability, or your share of an assessment.
A condo (HO-6) policy fills that gap: the part of the structure you're responsible for, your personal property, your liability, and loss assessments.
What is walls-in versus bare-walls coverage?
It's the single most important thing to know about your condo, and most owners have never checked. A bare-walls (studs-out) master policy covers the structure only to the unfinished walls — meaning you insure the drywall, flooring, cabinets, fixtures and everything inside. An all-in or single-entity master policy covers the original unit as built, leaving you responsible for improvements and betterments.
Which one your HOA carries determines how much Building Property coverage you need. We read your master policy declarations and size it correctly.
What are loss assessments and why do they matter?
When the association has a covered loss its own insurance doesn't fully pay — a big master-policy deductible, a shared-area claim that runs past the master limit, or a liability judgment — it can assess every unit owner their share of the shortfall. Master-policy deductibles have climbed sharply, which makes this exposure bigger than it used to be.
Loss assessment coverage pays your portion, up to your limit. The base limit on many condo policies is low, so we check yours and raise it where the association's structure warrants it.
What does National General condo insurance cover?
A Custom360 condo policy has the pieces an HO-6 needs: building property protection for the portion of the structure you're responsible for, personal property for your belongings, additional living expense if a covered loss makes the condo uninhabitable, family liability protection if you're sued, guest medical protection if a visitor is hurt, and loss assessments for your share of an HOA assessment.
You then add optional coverages — replacement cost, scheduled valuables, water backup, identity theft and more.
Is National General condo the same paper as Allstate, and whose rating applies?
National General has been an Allstate company since January 2021, and the US National General companies are members of Allstate Insurance Group. AM Best affirmed Allstate Insurance Group at a Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "aa-" (Superior) on August 28, 2025, with a stable outlook — that's the rating on your Arkansas condo policy.
A separate Bermuda entity, National General Insurance Ltd., is rated A (Excellent), a notch lower; don't confuse the two. Ratings change; the current one is at ambest.com.
How do I get a National General condo quote in Bentonville or Rogers?
Start at our personal lines quote form or call (479) 286-1066. The most useful thing you can send is your HOA master policy declarations page along with any current condo policy — reading how the master policy is written is how we size your building property and loss assessment coverage correctly.
Because we're independent, we'll run National General against our Allstate contract and 40-plus markets and tell you honestly which fits.
If our carrier and coverage guides are helpful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas condo owners find our local, plain-English explanations.
Send us the master policy — we'll find the seam.
Send your HOA master policy declarations and any current condo policy. We'll read where the association's coverage stops and yours begins, size your building property and loss-assessment limits to your actual association, add replacement cost and scheduled valuables where they fit, and run it against our Allstate contract and 40-plus markets. If what you have is already right, we'll tell you that too.
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas. We are not National General or Allstate, and this page is authored independently and is not endorsed, sponsored, reviewed, or approved by either. "National General," "Custom360," and "Allstate" are trademarks or service marks of Allstate Insurance Company and its affiliates, used here nominatively to identify products we are appointed to place. National General's Arkansas condominium policies are underwritten by member companies of National General, an Allstate company.
This page describes coverage in general terms for informational purposes only. It is not a policy, not an offer of insurance, and not a guarantee of coverage, availability, eligibility, or price. Standard and optional coverages, limits, sublimits, loss-assessment limits, building-property (walls-in) responsibility, replacement-cost versus actual-cash-value settlement, scheduling, discounts, eligibility, and availability vary by policy, by association, by state, and over time, are set by the carrier, and are subject to underwriting review and approval and to the terms, conditions, limits, and exclusions of the policy actually issued. How much of your unit you are responsible to insure is determined by your condominium association's governing documents and master policy, not by this page. Flood and earthquake are generally excluded from a standard condo policy and, where available, are separate coverage. If anything on this page conflicts with the issued policy, the policy controls.
Financial strength ratings are opinions of an insurer's ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations, are subject to change, are not recommendations to purchase, hold or terminate any policy, and do not address an insurer's claims-handling practices; current ratings are at ambest.com. The A+ (Superior) rating referenced applies to the members of Allstate Insurance Group as affirmed by AM Best on August 28, 2025; National General Insurance Ltd. (Bermuda) is a separately rated entity carrying a different rating. If anything here conflicts with the issued policy, the policy controls.
Last reviewed July 2026.