First flip, title insurance and home insurance questions

[Maxime Benoit]

Hello BP,

I'm a starting RE investor and i'm about to close on my first real estate wholesale deal on the west coast of Florida. 

The deal is structured like this:

- I am buying a duplex from a wholesaler for 160,000$, he got it on auction for 153,000$. 

- The real estate agent is confident that he can sell it within 90 days for 185,000$+ based on the comps in the area, which means that if he sells it around that price, minus closing costs (8$%) i should net in the area of 10,000$ to 12,000$ (+/-185,000$ * (1-0.08%) = 170,200$ ---> 170,200 - 160,000$ = 10,200$). I went to see the house and it's in great shape, no apparent defaults and the house is mint, no rehab to do whatsoever! This is all nice on paper but some other questions popped into my mind and I wanted to get your two cents on this.

Since this is my first flip, even though I read up on the subject, I am still unaccustomed to the flipping game. Apparently, flippers don't normally buy title insurance and don't insure their flip for the duration of the flip. Being green, this seems risky to me even though i've done my Due Diligence on the property and it seems to be clear of leans and back taxes, furthermore, not insuring the house for the 90 day period (give or take) seems like a big risk if I get the unlucky fire from the tenant living in one of the units (one unit rented, other isn't).

I understand these two things could reduce my margin and it's a risk management call but if you could give me some insight on this it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Sincerely,

Max.

[Dawn Brenengen]

@Maxime Benoit There is no way I would buy a home and not insure it.  Home owner's insurance for a few months will not be that expensive.  Title insurance is probably not totally necessary, but I would still get it if it were my deal.  I'm not one to be penny wise and pound foolish.  Again, it's not that expensive.