All Forum Posts by: Andrew Lamb

Got it. What I meant was the levels according to the National Alliance of Recovery Residences (NARR). There are 4 of them. I own & operate 15 sober living homes in California that are level 3 / type S.

Oxford house would be level 1 / peer-run.

I ask because sober living is such a broad term, and your insurance is going to depend on your level of staffing, licensing, etc. At level 1, I'd say you really only need a landlord policy for the home, a commercial general liability policy for the biz, and an umbrella policy that covers you and the biz. You're just housing people, not doing treatment or using staff on site, so that's why I say just a landlord policy for the house. Pretty much treating it like co-living.

Hi Ebony! We have about 700 active students at the moment, and they are opening sober living homes all the time across the country. I’m happy to answer any specific questions you have.

I also have case studies on YouTube so you can hear directly from current students about what they found valuable and their path to success. Lots of other good info there for free as well.  

I have several Philly students who would be happy to help along the way.

Our documents are NARR approved and routinely updated, and they are designed to be plug & play. They are not basic whatsoever. Our students have used our Policies & Procedures to get through the NARR certification process quickly in multiple states, and our license agreement was drafted and updated by my attorney that has successfully defended sober living homes in state and federal court. I retained him specially for his unique expertise. It’s very tailored to what we do in sober living, and I’ve spent more on legal fees for the legal documents alone than anyone pays to join our community and have access to everything at once.

But the goal is to never have to rely on the license agreement by putting the right systems & processes in place from the very beginning, and setting clear expectations. I have 15 sober living homes in California and I’ve never had to evict anyone. If I can do well here and help a lot of people without major headaches, I believe anyone can do the same in other states following our processes. 

Let me know if you have any other questions. 

You can get sober living insurance, but it may not be necessary depending on the type of home you have. And most insurance agents have no idea what you’re talking about and don’t understand the nuances. What level home are you running?

Yes, I own and operate a bunch of them. What questions do you have?

Hi Lindsay, I run 15 sober living homes myself. Mine are in California, but I have several students in FL. I probably have someone you can connect with. I’ve helped a lot of people get started in sober living over the years in almost every state.

As long as you truly care about people and want to see them rebuild their lives in a supportive & accountable environment, I’m happy to help or point you in the right direction

What city/county are you looking to start in?

What is holding you back right now? I do sober living, which is basically co-living with some extra rules and a focus on a specific population. 

Legally, it's mostly like renting by the room so there are no extra hoops to jump through in 90% of the country. The other 10% is weird, outdated ordinances that violate the Fair Housing Act. 

Is it possible that you're overthinking it?

Hey @Mina Spice, are you wanting to lease to a sober living operator or run the homes yourself? I own 10 sober living homes and operate them myself in California and Massachusetts. 

If you decide to lease to an operator, I can help you identify some organizations in your area to reach out to. If you want to operate on your own, I can probably point you in the right direction. Next steps really depend on what your goals are.

Zach is right! I have the same issue, except that mine does have MIP since it's from 2017. We're not at 75% LTV just yet, so a streamline makes the most sense until I can refi to a conventional. Most lenders I've talked to say they can't use the streamline on a non-owner occupied, but I've read the guidelines myself and they can. Not sure what the confusion is.

From what I can tell, you can't take cash out on a Streamline refi though. Not planning to, but noticed that's not something FHA allows.

Welcome @Gabriel Madrigal. I'm also in Vacaville and am looking at investments both instate and out of state. I own a real estate brokerage and sales team in Vacaville, but I also flip and own rentals locally. I'm looking to BRRRR in Indianapolis, North Carolina and Florida right now.

Hey Lindsey,

I grew up in Vacaville and run a team of real estate agents here that works with a lot of investors. It's a crazy seller's market right now and the Vallejo/Fairfield metro area (right in between SF and Sacramento) is the #2 spot in sales activity per capita in the nation currently. http://www.timesheraldonline.com/article/NH/20160408/NEWS/160409859 

Most neighborhoods have less 1 month of inventory, but that also brings with it a lot of opportunity. Yes, prices are higher than other parts of the country, but that doesn't really matter if you're using hard money and looking for a certain spread on each deal.

Our investor clients focus on Vallejo/Fairfield/Vacaville for flip properties. Since there are so few at auction now, I usually run reports once a week for them on available homes with higher days on market and with keywords like "TLC" or "As-Is" to identify the best opportunities.

There are also a lot of properties that are overpriced and end up expiring as well, and I'm usually able to present properties like that to an investor and sell it off market since the sellers are tired of people traipsing through their homes. These ones end up sitting for so long that people think there is something wrong and the only option for the seller is a low ball offer.

Short sales are another great option for investors since most buyers don't want to wait for them to get approval, or will just purchase a new construction home instead.