Right now, commercial property owners are dealing with rising rates in both property and liability insurance. 

"In the past eight months, the umbrella rates have gone up, and that's attributable to the financial capacity available in the market," says Garet Marr, director of Insurance Services for Franklin Street, which has an insurance portfolio of 400,000 multifamily units and 30 million square feet of commercial space. "There's a low-interest-rate environment, and carriers depend on that for investment purposes."

Additionally, insurers are getting hit by a series of lawsuits. "The litigation environment in the country has gone in a direction that's not favorable to claimants lawsuits," Marr says. "Settlements that were maybe $200,000 or $300,000 in the past for a terrible situation are now $1-million plus. Settlements that were once $1-million plus are now settling for $10 million. As soon as these issues go into some type of mediation or settlement, it ends up being a largely inflated claim just due to the legal environment."