Transition from primary residence to rental property

[Alex Short]

Hello BP,

Recently, I decided to move out of the house that was my primary residence for four years and make it a rental property. My plan is to obtain a triplex or quadplex and house hack that for a year. This seems like an impossible task in the Denver market at the moment, but I am looking forward to not living in an AirBnb soon!

Anyway, changing my insurance policy to a landlord policy seemed like the right play since I had tenants move into the property. My current insurance company, who has me in good hands, essentially doubled what I pay on a monthly basis. Is this what I should expect as newbie? Should I shop around with a broker?

Furthermore, when I close on a multi-family, it will be my primary residence. Will I insure this property under a typical homeowner's policy or should I obtain a landlord policy? 

Thanks for you help, 

Alex

[Rene Hosman]

Quote from @Alex Short:

Hello BP,

Recently, I decided to move out of the house that was my primary residence for four years and make it a rental property. My plan is to obtain a triplex or quadplex and house hack that for a year. This seems like an impossible task in the Denver market at the moment, but I am looking forward to not living in an AirBnb soon!

Anyway, changing my insurance policy to a landlord policy seemed like the right play since I had tenants move into the property. My current insurance company, who has me in good hands, essentially doubled what I pay on a monthly basis. Is this what I should expect as newbie? Should I shop around with a broker?

Furthermore, when I close on a multi-family, it will be my primary residence. Will I insure this property under a typical homeowner's policy or should I obtain a landlord policy? 

Thanks for you help, 

Alex

Congrats on moving on! Now that you have a signed lease (assuming it's 12mo+) you can use that income on your taxes to help boost income to better qualify for a multi-unit. Are you looking for something that is already divided or are you open to the idea of finding a SFH with the right layout to divide it yourself? I've got a SFH in Arvada that I'm subdividing to a duplex. There's a lot of opportunity for that in the Highlands area of Denver with some of the older larger homes there and also in Arvada because the hills make it so that some basements are walkout and can easily be divided into an up/down duplex.