All Forum Posts by: William Brace

Yes the landlord policy will replace your homeowners policy on that specific property. Yes there is also different amount of coverage as well as a whole additional umbrella polity you could purchase but that's another subject. In my experience on my properties, my policy cost has actually gone down when converting to landlord policy. But each carrier will be different. I can also tell you I haven't come across an insurer that doesn't write both. I am not in disagreement with Johns statements, just saying that his experience has been different than mine. A quick call to your insurance agent would be wise in this situation just to explore your options. 

I'm also with MB Financial (was Cole Taylor Mortgage) and am on house # 7 with 25% down. Might be worth checking them out. Also Flagstar goes up to 10 financed properties as well. Next step would be a local lender that is keeping the loan in house.

Sometimes that will happen and the carrier, in my case Nationwide, made me get a commercial type policy for the rest. Slightly more expensive but I've been happy with them and like my agent so I just go commercial for any additional properties I buy. Hope that makes sense.

As Jeff Copeland pointed out, I'm still working my day job simply because it makes it so much easier to get a loan for the next property with that W2 income, and of course the insurance. Now with that being said, I am also unhappy with my day job and look forward to the day I can pack it up and walk away and do something more fulfilling.

Mine was completely by accident. Took a different job with my current company back in 2005, moved to AL and bought a brand new house. Took another promotion in 2008 back to GA as the market was crashing and became the typical accidental landlord and never wanted to be. At the same time the company I was working for got bought by a private equity company and the first thing they did was take an axe to our retirement account. So I knew at that point if I ever planned to retire I would need to build my own future. Real estate seemed like the way to achieve this goal. 7 houses later and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

As a investor in Georiga, you will be replacing your AC just like you would the furnace up north. It's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. Everything is relative. Also consider that pest control is much more important in the south as well as termites/bonds. And no I'm not just talking out my a hole, I lived in Michigan for 5 and Iowa for an additional 20 years so I can say with 100% certainties that everything is relative.

Not a problem Lear Riojas that's what we are all here for. If your interested in Cole Taylor, I can put you in contact with the branch manager I deal with. I talk to him morning and night outside of business hours, weekends, you name it. He is always available to help when I need it which Is why I always choose them. There is a lot to be said for customer service and being able to shoot a text when I need a little help and actually getting a response no matter if it's business hours or not.

As other have stated, the rule is 10 properties. Any bank that tells you the limits is 4 is because their specific bank has an in house overlay which is a fancy word for a internal policy if 4 properties. If you want to keep them with one specific lender (like I have done) check out Flagstar or Cole Taylor Mortgage. I currently have five with Cole Taylor and doing my 6th with them and have some with Chase as well. A lot of bankers will tell you the Fannie rule is 4. They simply don't know enough about what their doing. If someone tells you that, find a more knowledgable banker/mortgage broker.

Justin Lallatin I happen to think based on the homes you want, Lallatin Luxury Homes has a nice ring to it.

You say the fees are basically the same within $100 of each other. My suggestion would be to never ever pay fees for a HELOC. I never have and never will. I would never pay a bank a fee for the privilege of making a profit off of me. I would agree with the interest only HELOC. That's what I have and always pay a bunch of principal but it's nice to know I am not required to in the event I ran into a money crunch.