All Forum Posts by: Brett Baginski

Are there any companies that offer national coverage without having to go through multiple offices? I am moving from NJ to Florida in October and just found out that my current provider (NJM) will not insure my properties anymore when I move out of state. They currently insure my 2 properties in NJ and 1 in Ohio. None are in an LLC and I have Geico for auto if that matters.

I tried State Farm, but even they said that it can only be done separately through a NJ office, OH office, and when I get a FL property an office in FL. I am looking for a company that can offer insurance nationwide as well as umbrella insurance with a higher limit on amount of units as I plan to keep purchasing rentals. Any suggestions? Does it make sense having one company insure everything or am I overcomplicating things? Thanks in advance!

I will be moving from NJ to Florida in October and plan to manage my 2 NJ properties from out of state. With rents for both properties at about $3,000 each, I cannot justify spending 10% or $600+ on property management every month, plus the 1 month's rent fee to get them rented. I do not anticipate having tenant turnover often because there is very high demand in NJ for rentals, but I want to plan ahead and set up a system before I leave.

For those that self-manage from out of state, what have you found to be the best practice for tenant turnovers? Do you hire a local realtor and give up 1 month's rent or is there a system you found that works to get it rented on your own? I have always self-managed and am familiar with having everything done through email/docusign, I just don't know how to go about showing the property when that time comes.

Hi all. I plan on moving to Florida at the end of this year and turning my primary residence into another rental property. When I bought this house back in 2017, I put it on a 10 year arm at 3.625%. I currently have a HELOC that I use to purchase rentals with. I am in no rush to refinance since I have until 2027 before my rate becomes variable, but I am hoping for better rates in 2024/2025.

When I move out this year, I am assuming I can no longer get a primary residence mortgage rate. Would I have to refinance with an investment property loan, or could I possibly use a 2nd home mortgage? When I was looking last year to purchase another property in NJ, my lender was trying to get me a mortgage as a 2nd home for the better rate. 

Also what will happen to my HELOC? I understand you cannot get a HELOC on a rental property, but what if it is already established? And if I refinance with an investment/2nd home mortgage, will that HELOC get called due?

Thank you @Larry Turowski . I hadn't considered the ability to scale quicker, assuming I buy right.

I guess I'm just caught up in the "what-ifs" and going all in. Worst case scenario, I don't pull all my money back out and leave in 20%, which I would have done anyway using the other method.

Currently I have 2 single family rentals and my primary residence. For the past 2 rentals, I've used my interest only HELOC, which had about $50k available for DP and repairs, then just paid it back quickly, not really incurring too much interest expenses.

Now I am about to refi my HELOC and will have more than enough to buy and rehab a property all cash in the market I am currently looking in. But interest costs have really gone up, about 9.4% on my last HELOC statement.

Is there any benefit to buying all cash and then refinancing after the property is rehabbed? If I used $100k of the HELOC, it would cost me about $780 a month in interest until I can rehab and refi. I'm guessing this might be a good strategy though if I can find a good deal (70% rule) and get most of my money back out.

Or do I continue to just buy with 20% down and pay out of pocket for repairs to get it rent ready? I can still buy about 2 properties a year using this strategy and not take on the interest expense from the HELOC. Conservatively 3 months to rehab/rent/refi about $2,350.

Any suggestions or insight is really appreciated.

The house has 2 full baths and 1 half bath. Right now they still have 1.5 baths that work fine. The insurance company just sent me the check and closed the claim. It was reopened when I hired a public adjuster, but there was no problem with cashing the check. I had 3 estimates done for the damage. In the end, I’m not concerned with the payout though. I closed the claim yesterday.

Can the tenant demand back pay for rent already collected for the couple months they didn’t have the one bathroom? I read through the NJ truth in renting and I didn’t see that in there. Just that they can withhold rent until repairs are made. She is saying it’s because all amenities promised in the lease were not functional…

The insurance company provided a vendor for the estimate. Then the tenants father, being a plumber and in rehab, said it was about half of what it should be. Then public adjuster did his own estimate. All three amounts were very far off. 

At this point I just want to end the claim and get everything repaired so this headache is over with. Then deal with the tenant asking for back pay for the last couple months the one bathroom wasn’t working.

Hey All,

Need some help navigating through this.  The rental is located in NJ, there is 1 person on the lease, but her friend also lives there.  I have not gotten her on the lease as she was supposed to stay for 3 months, but now it's been 5 months.  The house has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

June 1: Tenant informs me there was a leak from upstairs toilet.  I imediatley follow claim with insurance company.  Damage went through the floor and into the ceiling and walls of kitchen and laundry room below.

June 7: Insurance company sends someone to inspect damage, set humidifiers

June 10: They come back to remove humidifiers 

June 14: Insurance submits claim and payment to me

At this point, the tenants father, who is in the business of plumbing and renovations, informs me that they seriously underpaid for the amount of damage.  He suggests I talk to his friend that is a public adjuster to see if there's a chance to get fully amount.  I reach out to the public adjuster on June 14th as well and send him all information.

July 5? (not sure exact date): Public adjuster goes to house to inspect damage

July 11: I sign contract with public adjuster to take on case

From this point on, things get hard to pinpoint.  The public adjuster and insurance company are going back and forth about damages, and I am not included in anything.  Nothing seems to be moving forward.  I call adjuster and get voicemails and no follow ups, or vague messages about how he's working on it.

August 13: I get revised estimate from the public adjuster and he sends to insurance company, and then hear nothing more

September 15: I call insurance company and go above the adjuster because I don't know what's going on.  Insurance company sends me revised payment for a little bit more. Case still remains open as I haven't heard back from adjuster yet.

The current tenant is now saying they want repairs made in 10 days or withholding rent in an escrow account with a lawyer.  They also mentioned getting reimbursed for the months they paid rent where they didn't have the bathroom functional.  

I have been ready to make repairs since this happened but there was an open insurance claim.  My thought now is to accept payment, close the claim, pay the adjuster, and be done with this headache.  Any advice or something I am missing here?  

Hey @Alison Niko !  Welcome to the forum.  I really like the Aberdeen/Matawan/Keyport area since you are close to the train station and I've seen great improvements in those downtown areas over the years.  House hacking is a great way to get started, but the competition on multifamilies is fierce!  I looked for about 6 months and couldn't find anything that met my numbers so eventually bought a single family down in Ocean County where it made more sense for me.

Keansburg was mentioned, but from my experience that is a risky area.  I haven't driven through in a few years, but last time I did, it wasn't a pretty sight.  I heard from a local agent/friend there's a big drug problem there, and troublesome especially for rehabs, where people may break into the house and steal whatever they can find.  But I'm sure you know this being a couple towns over.  Big shame too, I used to always go to the Keansburg Waterpark as a kid growing up, but that was probably 20-25 years ago.

Best of luck!

If you haven't already, I would start reading all the books on commercial real estate and raising money that you can find.  When you are networking and starting to form a team, you have to understand how the commercial space works so people will take you seriously.  Also once the economy starts to open back up, find out where your local meetups are and talk to everyone you can.