New Turnkey investor - would appreciate advice

[Brian Stratton]

Hi, I'm a new investor from Connecticut looking at buying turnkey property in Memphis, TN.  I have a few specific questions and would greatly appreciate some advice.

1) Legal - I want to set up an LLC before investing. Should I get a real estate attorney from the Memphis area to set up my LLC? I'm assuming the turnkey doesn't provide attorney. Also, I assume he/she would be able to represent me/review docs. etc. during property closing? Does anyone have the contact info of a good real estate attorney in the Memphis area?

2) Accounting - should I hire a separate accountant for my property investment business from my personal day job tax return?  Right now my tax return is relatively simple and I just go to H.R. block. My intuition is telling me that filing a tax return for out of state real estate investment is more involved and I might want a "real pro" filing my tax return.  That being said, does anybody have the contact info of a good accountant if that is what I should be looking for?

3) Insurance - When it comes time for insuring my property, would I need to find a local insurer (Tennessee) to insure my property, or can my CT. insurance company (Allstate) also insure my out of state property?

Thank you for your help.

Brian

[Alex Craig]

Brian, everything Steve said. I will only add with insurance, shop it around. Allstate may be more expensive. For rule of thumb, through our in house program we developed with a carrier, replacement cost insurance is about .40 per sq ft. A 1,000 sq ft home would be $400 in insurance that comes with General Liability, vacancy grace period, rent loss, etc.