All Forum Posts by: Ana Vhan

Hi, 

What type of insurance can you get or should you get for residential rental properties? Traditional Landlord insurance from the typical companies like liberty mutual and statefarm or some kind of commerical insurance is better? 

Please help. I read about commercial insurance but I am not sure if it is applicable here and if it is, please help me understand how it differs from the traditional landlord insurance. 

Thank you so much in advance !!

Quote from @Scott Bloom:

You can get a commercial grade policy from major carriers where they lump the risk across multiple properties into one policy, reducing your premiums.  One challenge to manage is being able to clarify for lenders on those rentals (if you have them) which amount of the premium should be paid for each rental so that they do not include the entire premium into their escrow analysis, inflating your monthly payment on that rental. 

I am trying to understand some things you said here as I am totally new to the commerical grade policy. First time reading this term. 
Other than lowering premium, why would you put all the rentals in one policy? If you had to use insurance for one rental, that would push the premium up on the whole policy, wouldn't it?

Also, would I need an umbrella policy if I go with commercial grade policy? 

Quote from @Jason Bott:

@Ana Vhan there are many commercial options where you can add multiple locations/multiple states onto a single policy.  

In the 2024 insurance market, CA is hard to place, so even though you could force them onto a single policy, it may be more economical to keep them separate.

I'll send you a note with the carriers who can do this for you.

 Great! Thank you Jason

What is the best option for a landlord policy for someone who owns multiple rental properties(AZ and CA) and has no primary home or an auto? 

Thanks!

I have rental properties in CA and AZ. Looking for a good insurance broker to help me with landlord and umbrella insurance or anything else I may need :)

Thank you in advance!!

This is our situation. Let me know what is the right path for us - Trust and sole proprietorship OR trust and LLC OR something else?

We have rental homes in CA and in AZ. 

We plan to add all of those under our trust. Right now, for the liability coverage, we have an umbrella insurance in place. 

But we are wondering if we are better covered if we register an LLC and manage all the rentals under the LLC.

If we go the LLC route,

where do we register the LLC?

Can we have the homes under trust managed by the LLC?

With LLC in place, would we still need an umbrella insurance? I am guessing probably not but want to confirm.

With LLC we pay the $800 CA franchise fee every year, correct? We won't have to pay that with sole proprietorship.

Which route is better for us?

Thanks in advance. Always appreciate this community and the support I receive here. 

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Ana Vhan:

Biggerpockets sells a Lease Agreement Package under "TOOLS" at the top of your screen. It costs $100 for a lease and several other documents written by investors and an attorney-approved for your state. It's better than what you'll get from most attorneys and what you'll find on the internet.

Nathan, thank you. Do you know if this is for one time use only or can I purchase it once and use it as needed? 

Thanks!

How do we ensure that we have a comprehensive lease agreement in place and we have covered ourselves from all the potential liabilities? Is there a good template for Arizona that is comprehensive? If not, should I get a lawyer draft me a lease with all clauses? What specific clauses should we have in the lease specifically for Arizona? 

Please recommend a good source for the lease template or a lawyer who can help draft such a lease. 

Thank you. Appreciate all the help in advance. 

Thank you so much Jon and Dave for your responses. Appreciate your help. 

I have  a peculiar situation. Me and my husband have a trust and so far we have put all our assets including homes under this trust. 

We have a property outside this trust that is only on my husband's name (we couldn't buy it on both of our name due to my unavailability at the time). Now we are selling this property and buying new one under 1031. I have a couple of questions below. 

1. Do we have to buy the new property on my Husband's name or can it be bought on both of our names?

2. If the new property has to be bought only on my husband's name, can we add it to the trust after the 1031 exchange is done? If yes, is there a wait period before adding the property under trust.

3. If the new property cannot be added to trust immediately, how do we ensure that me and my child is the beneficiary on the property in the meantime? is there a way during the purchase process where beneficiaries can be added?

Thanks, 

Ana