All Forum Posts by: Becky Lu

Hi Experts!

My PM is making ready one of our 16 units and came to me with the wood veneer flooring, saying it's cheaper and durable. I did some research and found most people say wood veneer scratches easily and can only be sanded once. My original thought was to do laminate floor, which is slightly more costly but more sturdy. Another contractor also suggested roll-out vinyl, claiming he's used in a lot of his clients' apartment units.

Our unit is renting our for $600. I want to make smart decisions with the upgrades that would benefit in the long run. Does anyone has experiences in any of the 3 types of flooring? and any preference?

Thank you guys!

Becky

Hi guys,

I just put a few offers in Kansas City, MO for SFH. At first I was only looking for properties with a concrete basement because of the natural disaster - tornado. Along the way, I've learned that most of the properties in KCMO are old and the basement is usually in a worse shape than the house itself. The basement usually has water leakage issue or some even with foundation issues, which are not cheap to fix. Then I asked my agent if the basement is a necessity in KC? He told me a not-so-helpful-at-all answer "it depends. Some people don't like a basement or don't need one....and some do"

I did some research myself and found: most people would like a basement cause it's safe to have one in case of a tornado and it doubles the living space. It's easier to sell and good for re-sell vale.

I'm afraid I'm biased on this cause my first decision was to buy the property with a basement because I think it's safer and I'd want to live in a safer house. But I'm not going to live there and maybe renters don't really care or tornado is really not that bad in KC....

Can anyone share your thoughts or your experiences? Or if you live in KC, would you care to have a basement? Thank you!!

Becky

Thanks for all your comments!

Most of the units have window AC units, which only have cooling but no heater. The inspector likely just assumed the window unit did both cooling and heating. We were told by our current PM that some tenants just used their ovens to heat up the room in winter. Seller's disclosure didn't reveal much. Most boxes are checked "N/A" or "not aware". (The seller agent kept saying the seller was very uneducated and was selling the property as is...) That's why we trusted the inspection report and decided to purchase the property. 

We are glad that we purchased it but just if we had known, we would have asked for more repair money.

Thanks! :)

We hired a certified inspector for our small apartments(29 units) in Houston. We asked the inspector to inspect on big ticket items, like, the roof, ACs, HVACs, electrical system, plumbing, foundation,..etc.  So we selected about half the units that were in a not-as-good condition for him to inspect after we walked each units. The inspection report came back good with no major issues and we bought the property. Now almost 3 months in, we found out more than half of the units don't even have heaters/HVACs and had to replace with proper AC/ heater. In the report, he signed off stating we have working ACs, HVACs, and heat pump.  It's required to have adequate/proper heating system in Texas. So we're upset that he didn't do his job to at least point out that there's no heating system and heat pump in most of the units. Is he responsible for his inspection, which didn't even provide the truthful fact?

Can we hold him responsible for giving an inaccurate inspection?Is there anything we can do to ask for a refund? or sue him?( Not like we will sue him but we just feel cheated and were given the incorrect information back then.)

Anyone has had similar experiences? would love to hear your story. Thank you.

Just curious. Do you both form the LLC and get an umbrella insurance for your rental properties, on top of the property insurance? Or depending on your risk tolerance, it's more either or?

For our 2 properties, the umbrella insurance comes up to almost $1,700/annually. At first, I thought it was expensive but then realized the quote is for 45 doors. Anyone has similar situations?

Thank you!

Thank you to all your comments.

@ Ethan Ard - I Appreciate you pointed out. That's the conflict I have too and it's silly to think about it now after we have owned 45 doors. I know as we grow, we'll for sure need to form a LLC but it's time now. Thanks.

@ Douglas Belt - Thanks for your comments. I first I thought we could just do 1M but with what we have, I do agree at least 2M. Thanks.

Hi BP members,

My husband and I started our RE investing and bought a 29-unit apartment in Texas and a 16-unit in North Carolina this year. (We bought our residence with a VA loan back in 2011 in California.) After reading many posts on BP, we're now more leaning to purchasing an umbrella insurance, instead of forming an LLC for a few reasons.

First, it's harder to work with a bank. We really took advantages of OPM and are now building the equity by improving the property and plan to refinance in a few years. Lenders don't typically like to work with properties under a LLC. (Our Texas property has a fixed rate now but will have an adjustable rate after 5 years.)

Second is the cost, even if we form the LLC in Texas, where one of the 2 properties is located, we still need to pay the $800 to California state for California has strict rules about LLCs, in addition to the fees to Texas.

Lastly, based on our situation, we don't really have much personal assets to protect. An umbrella insurance of 1M~2M should be sufficient to cover our assets. But as we continue to purchase more properties and build our wealth, we'll for sure form LLCs in the future.

Did any investors, especially out-of-state investors like us, have similar experiences and might be able to pinpoint things I don't see? I don't want to simply form a LLC just because everyone else does and would love to hear any experienced investors' comments. Thank you!

Becky