L/O STR Horror Story

[Melodee Lucido]

Here is a fun lil horror story to illustrate the need to line up your ducks FIRST!! It will contribute to the importance of insurance (and contracts).
I leased a Panama City, Florida, bay front fixer from a man that lived/worked out of the country. He loved my proposal to l/o the house, rehab it splitting costs 50/50 while I lived there rent free during the rehab. We had our contract---basic lease and option contracts. I was going to run an STR in the home and he would enjoy a higher rent than from a regular LTR rental AND he would have the property managed too.

All was going beautifully. The house, turned duplex, was gorgeous. Insurance was on the list. But I decided to test the Air BNB venture. It was overwhelming in it's success. I made $9K in 5 weeks and was booked for 2 months ahead. Lovely. I contacted the insurance professional to find out how to protect myself in case of something happening. I know, I know, the *** b4 the cart (insert eye rolling emoji here).

The next day we heard that tropical storm Michael (2018) was getting more serious but was still just a cat 3 and heading toward the Florida Panhandle. No one was very concerned. That night I got up to see what the storm was doing. Warnings were out to evacuate immediately---possibly a cat 4-5 was anticipated. Cue the dramatic music and a small single woman racing through the night with her dogs and cats, in pouring rain and unbelievable wind. According to the Tyndal AFB across the road from my place said they registered the hurricane as a 5/6 cat hurricane/tornado combo. Very rare.

Long story short, I lost everything. Nothing to help me recoup. It was a nightmare, truly.
So, that was a great lesson to me. Now I always have every detail in place before I move forward with my properties. Some lessons (on NOT being stupid) are tough to take. Get the insurance!