All Forum Posts by: Bob Freitag

Message me and I can pass along more info for you.  

Thanks, 

Any recommendations to get a commercial condo rented? I have a 1450 sf commercial office condo and had a mortgage company in it for 5 years.  They moved out end of November.  I have never had to rent out this space before since tenant was there when we bought it.  I listed it with a large commercial broker and have been trying to lease this space for 3 months now.  No luck on it yet.  Is in a good location, shows well, and rent is comparable to the other units out here.  Only negative feedback so far is, it is located on the 2nd floor and no elevator.  Any suggestions to help get a new tenant for commercial space would be appreciated!

Depends on severity of leak.  If you catch it early, it can be minor.  If it is tarped, it may have been going on for a while.  You need to get a good roofer out and determine if 1) there is any framing rot going on 2) any insulation affected and 3) any sheetrock ceilings affected.  Once you know all this, you may want to go back and negotiate some repair costs with seller.  If rest of roof ok, you may not need to replace entire roof.  Message me and I can give you some additional info.  Thanks, 

I am a public adjuster and we see this quite often.  Condo water damage claims are one of the most complicated claims out there.  There are a lot of moving parts here so please reach out to me direct if you need more info.

First, you need to review the HOA/COA CCRs and see who is responsible for damage to property by insurance perils. Many times the HOA/COA will cover walls, framing, exterior etc. however we also see in a lot of properties that the HOA/COA is actually liable for all property that was damaged with the exception of contents and any improvements and betterments you or a prior owner made to the unit. We look at the CCRs, state statutes and insurance policies to see who is actually responsible for the damage. If the HOA/COA is responsible for insuring all your property, file a claim with their insurance company. Be prepared for them not wanting to do this. It also depends on the amount of damage and their deductible. Even if the damages do not exceed their deductible, the HOA/COA may still be responsible for the repairs. This could provide coverage for both affected units.

However, many policies do not cover back up of sewers or drains and this coverage needs to be added to a policy.  

It sounds like your insurance is going to cover your claim and that would be great for you. Since you were not negligent for this damage, (sounds like a back up and due to no fault of yours or your tenants) your insurance would not be legally liable for the damage to the unit below. if your insurance pays for your damages, they may actually go after the HOA/COA policy to recover what they paid out (subrogate) if they feel the HOA/COA should have covered it. More common, we see the unit owner insurance deny coverage and tell the unit owner to pursue against the HOA/COA.

Hope this helps.

I am a public adjuster and sorry to hear you are going though all of this.  This is not uncommon.  Water/Sewage backups are not always covered under a policy.  Many times you have to endorse this extra coverage on your policy.  So the first thing I would do is contact your adjuster and have them send you a denial in writing if they have not already done so.  I will be happy to review their denial and your policy to confirm this for you.  If you have a lot of properties, sit down with your insurance agent and make sure you have this coverage on all policies.  It is pennies on the dollar. 

As far as the first restoration company, I assume that once they discovered you have no insurance for the claim, they do not want to do anymore work for you and have moved on.  They know it is unlikely that people have funds to come out of pocket to pay for work and are not crazy about doing a lot of work and then fighting you to get paid.  You need to terminate their contract in writing, and you will owe them for any work they have done for you.  Then at that time you are free to hire anyone you chose to do the repairs.

Hey Chris, 

I am a public adjuster and deal with fire claims everyday.  As Jeremy mentioned, there is a lot to fire damage that you don't always see.  Duct work can be full of smoke or water.  HVAC units can be compromised.  If you have framing damage, the city/county will usually require an engineer to inspect and design a repair protocol.  Properties built before 1980 need to be tested for lead and asbestos.  Removal of these items is very costly.  Also the city/county may now require you to bring this property up to code-new electric, insulation, framing, accessibility is what we see very often.  Larger multifamily may be required to get a sprinkler system.  Talk to a reputable restoration contractor or two, and definitely push the owner to provide the insurance company estimate.  These are not the easiest properties to tackle!  Good luck!

Hi William. Sorry to hear about all the problems you are experiencing with your water damage claim. I am a public adjuster and licensed from VA to Fl including GA.

Whenever you have a larger claim such as yours, you definitely need to retain a public adjuster or prepare to handle the claim on your own.  If you handle it on your own, the first thing I recommend is to stop the damage from getting worse.  Turn off water, extract water and do the bare minimum so no further damage happens.  Document all of this and do not throw anything away.  Next you need to get your contractor out to inspect all damages and write a detailed repair estimate.  There are different classifications of water (clean, gray and black) depending on the source of the water and how long it sat until it was discovered.  The classification of water is going to affect the repairs that are needed.  When you have a detailed estiamate from your contractor, you can submit your estimate to insurance for their review.  Be prepared for pushback as this always happens.

I don't like to use the insurance companies contractors as they tend to not push for items for you, but rather go along with the adjusters numbers.  They know who can feed them more work.

I think it makes sense to document and repair the one unit to keep that tenant happy.  I would wait to start further repairs until the other units damages are covered.  Hopefully you have lost rents coverage that will pay you rent while the insurance company drags their feet.  Hope this helps!

Rodney, 

I may have a couple pieces of property that interest you in the Greensboro market.  Message me and I will give you details.

As a public adjuster, we see water and back up claims frequently.  Sewage back up is the worst, as everything that it comes into contact with must be removed and replaced due to being a category 3 damage.  Gets expensive very quickly.  

Re the ordinance and law coverage or code upgrade, I also recommend that.  Even though the place was updated recently, codes change every year and a minor code change can costs thousands.  Do you really want to risk this or pay $35 for this extra coverage?

More importantly, make sure you have enough insurance to replace the home in the event of a total loss and make sure it is replacement cost coverage.  Good luck!

Thanks for the info. I was looking for a lender who would look at the ARV and loan money, rather than the purchase price. I am going to see about the delayed financing loans as that sounds like what I was looking for. Thanks for this.