All Forum Posts by: Alecia Loveless

@William C. We do our best to handle these types of problems ourselves without involving insurance.

If they have renters insurance I would go after that.

Handling these types of situations yourself can be much cheaper and save you the possibility of being canceled by your insurance company.

@Robert Spiegel We don’t usually charge the tenants if we have the property cleaned. We feel it’s a cost of doing business.

If the house hadn’t already been in good condition and it required extra cleaning or something special or specific that might be a different situation.

@Neetu Patil Depending on the market there may or may not be a high demand for ADUs.

I just listened to a podcast by David Greene formerly of Biggerpockets and he said he has moved to Oklahoma and kept looking at houses thinking he could build ADUs at them before he discovered that there was no call for it in his new market. He said the tenant pool there wants a single family home with a big yard all to themselves.

So besides all the permitting make sure there’s actually a demand for renting ADUs before you waste your money.

@Debra Orringer I prefer to invest close to home. I am an expert in my market of about a 50 mile radius. Knowing what deals to buy and which ones are better has been a real benefit.

That being said I’m also in a smaller market and there hasn’t been any multi family properties come in the market in over 3 months, thus limiting my opportunities.

I don’t think you would have that problem in CT.

I have 2 properties that are 30 minutes away from where I live and it’s definitely much more of a hassle to go deal with them. I’ve been renovating 2 of the units going on 3 months and I’m helping my contractor with some of the labor as I’m able. The drive back and forth 3-4 times per week is putting a lot of extra miles on my car and is somewhat wearing on me.

I’d be concerned with having property 2 hours away and feeling the need to drive there every 1-2 weeks to check it out. But that’s just me.

@Nathan Gesner I am so sorry to hear this. Prayers for you and your wife and your family.

@Robert Ellis It’s much cheaper in my market to buy existing as opposed to building.

@Maegan King I had the same issue except the Pitbull was a service dog.

My insurance company said I would have to find out the actual services the dog provided and contact the persons local doctor to provide proof that a service dog was needed.

They said I could not ask if either the person or the doctor the medical condition because of HIPPA.

Then they would allow it and to require them to get renters insurance with me as an also insured.

I ended up not taking them for another reason.

I had an initial consultation with Tax Hive and the results of the call according to the person I spoke with was that they specialize in savings of $10,000+. 

In my case the deductions my accountant was already claiming for me on my 8 property portfolio were deemed by the Tax Hive representative to be super and the fact that I'm already paying less than $10,000 in taxes meant he did not feel that I needed their services at this time. 

If you have less than 5 properties I wouldn't waste my time trying to consult with Tax Hive. 

But if you want to speak with one of their reps about your specific situation I believe the initial consultation should be free. 

I would not start with a project this large. My first 8 unit was worlds away from the 2-4 units I'd been used to. 

id also be concerned that the cash flow is so low. That's like $100/unit which really isn't great. I've recently been taking a lot of heat because my portfolio averages $200/month. 

basically that's not a very big CoC return.

The lender I use will lock in your rate for 20 years with 20% down and for 25 years with 25% down. For my first loan about 3 years ago there was no prepayment penalty. Then with the second loan there was a 3 year prepayment penalty and last September there was a 5 year prepayment penalty. 

I figure the prepayment penalty only hurts me if interest rates drop significantly and I want to refinance.