I started with the insurer of my personal condo in the same town who told me they had no idea what I needed.

Condo insurance is much more complex than other types of Property Insurance. Much depends on the condo association's Master Policy, whether it's a Bare Walls or All-In type of policy, applicable deductible amounts and assessment criteria.

I particularly disliked the condo insurer saying they needed my SSN before they could tell me what kind of policy I needed.

With little doubt, they wanted your SSN to figure accurate prices for you. I've seen premiums either as much as halved or more than doubled after an SSN is entered. We still are contracted with a few insurers that don't use insurance scoring, but very few - It's very much an industry-wide trend. I don't like losing a customer with a good credit score to another biding company, just because I didn't have his SSN. Customers also don't like it when the rate you quote them jumps up significantly after entering an SSN.