Tornado damaged property - need HELP

[Xin Z.]

My investment property was hit by tornado. It is a two story 4-plex with 6500 sqft. I just bought this one a couple of months ago with hard money. The original plan was to rehab it and do refinancing. It has just got a new roof and rehab is almost done.

The tornado went through this neighborhood directly. The second floor was completely gone. Fortunately no one was hurt.

My question is what I should do now. It looks like the property need a complete rebuild. Do I need to pay for the interest for the hard money loan while I fix/rebuild the property?

Thanks in advance for any advice and suggestions!

[Greg Scott]

I have actually had a property hit by a tornado this year and a buddy of mine had a SF property hit by the Rowlette tornado a couple of years ago.   

Don't panic.

First step is to contact your agent. (Hopefully you bought the right policy.) Then go to the property and take tons of pictures.  

Given the second floor is gone, it is likely it will be declared a total loss. Hopefully that happens quickly so you can get out of your hard money loan. My friend's Rowlette property was a total loss. He moved his tenant to another of his properties. The insurance company just wrote him a big check. He felt he got paid more than the house would have sold for on the MLS. Then a couple months later someone came by and bought the land for $20K. He did very well financially.