All Forum Posts by: Chris Rendall

@Jason Bott yes thanks for clarifying my question. I am definitely referring to a house that was already insured as a rental, not as a primary residence. So it would be a rental house under my own name with a rental landlord insurance policy in which I transfer title to an LLC.

Hello BP Community,

As is very common I have friends who purchase their rental houses under their own name in order to get lower interest rate loans with better terms and also cheaper landlord insurance, and then they transfer the title into their LLC after closing.

Let me start by saying I'm not interested in discussing the merits of owning properties in an LLC vs your own name so let's not hijack the thread for that purpose :) What I'm trying to determine is whether or not there can be potential issues with homeowners insurance claims if they arise. Say you have a fire or water damage in the house and you have to file a claim with your homeowners insurance. With this particular method, when you purchased the homeowners insurance it would have listed you as the owner, but when the claim is filed your LLC would be the owner. Wouldn't this be grounds for an insurance company to deny your claim? Because let's be honest, they are always looking for a reason to do so.

I'm especially interested to hear from anyone who actually encountered this issue and how it was handled or who works in the homeowners/landlord insurance industry.

Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you!

@Vivian Hase I'm glad to hear you are getting into the market. I don't know what kind of return you are looking for but I would not recommend going for duplexes in Lubbock at the moment because they are very hot and prices are inflated, as was previously mentioned. For your son I would recommend finding a 4 bedroom house in a desirable area for a good price, getting an FHA loan, and then rent the rooms out to students. I think the financials would be better.

@Trey Goodwin glad to hear you are going to be investing in Lubbock, that is where I invest as well. My other properties so far have been light rehabs but I'll be starting a significant rehab on a property soon. If the property turns out well I will recommend the GC I'm using (assuming he wants additional work, he seems pretty swamped). I can't recommend any property managers because I self manage right now.

A word of advice on Lubbock - I would be cautious of properties that give you 1.5%, they are generally not in good areas. The Lubbock market is a little slow right now due to overbuilding of new multifamily so you want to make sure that you buy in desirable areas or you may be waiting a long time to get your property rented (or worse, get bad tenants). This last house I bought was in a desirable area and sat on the market for 2 months before being rented. Just my personal experience.

Good luck!

@Account Closed thanks for the reply. Was getting a little concerned I posted in the wrong category lol. For now I would have 1-2 projects max going on at once. If you don’t mind sending me the contact info for your guys I would really appreciate it. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you as well.

Hello BP Community!

I'm venturing out into flipping houses here in Midland, TX and I am looking for recommendations for good contractors in the area with experience renovating houses, especially good GC's that can manage an entire project. I know from experience so far that quality contractors are hard to find in this area, so if you have worked with any you like and trust on a rehab project and don't mind sharing I would love to know who they are. 

Thanks in advance!

Lawrence, Lubbock is a good town for buy and hold, that's where I invest. However, I would not advise you to invest in multifamily there as the market is saturated with newer apartment complexes offering great amenities at low prices. If you do decide to pursue a multifamily property, make sure you know your areas very well. It's easy to get lured by seemingly cheap multifamily in Lubbock until you understand the headache you will have with tenants in that area. Develop a relationship with a good realtor that knows the areas well and also utilize the Trulia crime heat map.

Juhi, first of all, stay west of I-27. Southwest Lubbock is good, west of the loop is even better (but not too far). These areas will give you options of students and families and increase your marketability. Stay in the good school districts you mentioned unless you get a really good deal.

Hello BP Community!

I primarily use Zillow and Realtor.com (sometimes Trulia) to look at MLS listings but have been unable to use them to find properties that have been on the market a long time. From what I've seen they allow you to choose only properties at a certain days on market and below. So for example if I filter "Days on Zillow = 12 months" it doesn't show properties greater than or equal to 12 months on the market, which is what I would want, but rather 0 to 12 months on the market, which is what I don't want.

I know realtors can do this for you, but if I want to do it myself does anyone know a tool to do so? I don't want to have to click through a bunch of properties to find old listings.

Thanks!

Juhi, for now I would stick with the SF homes. It was mentioned before but multifamily is somewhat bloated in Lubbock at the moment as newer apartment complexes are offering tons of amenities at low prices. In my opinion there are too many people looking at duplexes so the deals aren't very good. Good luck!