All Forum Posts by: Aaron Porter

@Plato Asadov for the insurance policy on this deal.... in most cases the insurance carrier doesn't need to know the details of financing. 

They do need to know who has liens on the property (who holds the mortgage, is there a 2nd, or possibly a private lender who is going to register a lien)  this is so that the bank/money lender/s can be added as beneficiary/lender to the policy in the event of a total loss.  

@Vinny Joseph 

Make sure that in your lease agreement you require the tenants to have and keep renters insurance while they occupy your property.  Also make sure to have in the agreement that you must be added as an additional insured to the tenants renters policy

in most cases a "roomer" is someone who has signed a lease contract to be in your property.  So if you have a contract through Airbnb with 1 group that has 6 people that is only considered 1 roomer as it is 1 contract.  If you rent out the room individually that is when you run into the exclusions.  (USUALLY)  you will want to verify this with your insurance agent.  and if they don't know tell them to get ahold of their underwriter at Safeco to find out for you.  That is part of the agents job is to explain your insurance to you should you have questions.  

@Jerry V.  I know you are a contractor but would you give someone an estimate and stick to that estimate if you didn't know the extent of the damage?  

Maybe filing a claim before you understand the extent of the damage is a little bit of jumping the gun. 

But the whole reason that you use insurance is to transfer the risk of having to pay for everything out of pocket.  

@James Nix you should definitely weigh your options of whether or not to file the insurance claim.  hopefully you have a good relationship with your insurance agent and can rely on their industry specific knowledge and experience for the advice you need.  

Florida is a weird market for mobile homes.  

I work with an insurance agent there name Amanda Soileua.  She owns an agency in Palm City, FL called Stonebridge Insurance.  I don't know if she has a market for mobiles but she would know where to go with them if she doesn't.  

@Joel Oh Proper insurance is a great company and I have a few clients that have policies that have been put together by proper.  They have a very interesting way of structuring a policy which is part of the reason why they are almost always more expensive.  

I have a few clients that have made claims against their proper policy and said that the claims process was exactly the same as any other claims process they have gone through with any other insurance carrier.  

In my opinion the relationship that you have with your insurance agent is the most important thing, I am only the cheapest about 60% of the time with my clients. not to brag but they stay with me even when I am not the cheapest because of the other value that I and my agency provide them.  

The best option is to work with a qualified knowledgeable agent.  Not to knock the "do it yourself and go direct to an insurance carriers website" but almost always the coverages are never what a client needs and it causes issues.  I have worked with multiple clients that set up their insurance themselves and then had a claim get denied or only partially paid because the client didn't set up their policies correctly or with an understanding of what the policy actually covered. 

Best options are to work with independent agents that have access to lots of carriers.  but don't count out agents/companies like State Farm and American National.  Both are great companies and have good products.  

I would also make it a requirement for the tenant to get a renters insurance policy and list you as an additional insured on the policy.  You should always require your tenants to have and keep a renters policy for the entirety of their stay in your homes.  

Not only does that give them protection for the tenants personal belongings but it also gives you the landlord protection from things such as lawsuits, and if the tenant damages the property in some cases you can make a claim against their policy instead of having to pay out of pocket for those damages.

@Oscar Cortes  a lot of my clients who are real estate investors work with an accountant named Pete Schindle. He owns Royal Tax which is a branch of Royal Legal Solutions.  I know he does a lot of tax strategy and tax planning as it relates to businesses and also real estate investing. I don't know if we can link to outside websites without breaking the BP rules so you will just have to do a google search on that.  

Definitely going to have to agree with @Wayne C. here.  As much as day laborers are cheap, they are technically illegal to use and giving advice on how to write off this as an expense which it is, but still an illegal expense could be construed as a aiding and abetting.  I don't think asking this on an online public forum is going to get you the answers that you are looking for.  

If you are going to use day laborers and unlicensed contractors to do some or all of the work on your properties you may want to take into account that your insurance coverage will not pay out when an accident happens during the course of breaking a law.  So if one of the workers hurts themselves and sues you or needs medical attention they are not eligible for workers comp nor filing a claim against any of the liability coverages that you, or your general contractor have.  Just something to weigh in your mind and decide what your level of risk you and your business partner/partners are willing to take on.