First Time Rental Investor

[Crispin Walsh]

Hi everyone. My wife and I are under contract to buy our first investment property in Alabama. It was listed at $47,000 and we offered $45,000 cash (using a portion of our HELOC to purchase, at a variable rate of 4.62%) . We bought it sight unseen, conditional to an inspection due to the crazy market and through the help of the realtor who was our feet on the ground. By the way, the ARV is around $55,000. We fly up next week for the inspection but so far it seems like there is only cosmetic work to be done. Market rate for a 3/2 SFH in the area averages $750-$850. With that in mind, we plan to rent it for $800 and will cashflow $350. We are planning to put the rental in an LLC which is already formed.

So, would you advise:
1. Putting the rental property in the LLC?
2. Do we need any other type of insurance other than home insurance such as Landlord policy, insurance for the LLC etc.?
3. How soon do you recommend we refinance? 

We are super excited that our months of listening to podcast and research is finally bearing fruit, but since this is our first time we are trying our best to do it right and heed the advice of the many before us.

[Nathan Gesner]

Don't worry about the LLC so quickly. Most tenants sue because there's a dispute over the deposit, which means the most you would pay is 2-3 times the deposit. The odds of being sued are pretty small. The odds of losing your case is even smaller. The odds of your loss being greater than what insurance would cover is even smaller. The odds of the loss being so great that you have to sell all your properties and head to the poor house? I couldn't even calculate the odds.

Your best protection is to know the law, obey the law, treat your tenants honestly and fairly. Then I would consider an umbrella insurance policy to increase coverage over all your properties. The last step would be to set up a legal entity.