All Forum Posts by: Fernando Tello

Hey BP Community,
Is the first time I am doing a multifamily ground up construction. I hired a GC to manage the build out, but there has been no consensus on who is responsible for the utility payments (Water and Energy). 

Now, I know someone could say the cost should be "negligible" couple of hundred dollars a month, in comparison to the whole buildout budget, but still I do want to know what are the best practices out there. The contract I have in place is a fixed sum contract, and in the breakdown there are no utilities. (Didn't catch it on time). 

Thanks for sharing your experience! 

John, Thank you very much for your reply. 

So from what I understood in your reply, is that their shouldn't be any issue of "interaction" between the policies as long as they don't cover the same peril? (Meaning only a policy that covers windstorm, and another that would cover Liability, Personal, dwelling etc..). 

Furthermore, thank you very much for the rest of the tips, I do not know how to evaluate the "Paying ability", could you expand a little more. 

Thanks Again!

Hello BP community, looking on reading your opinion about the following:

Situation: Currently my wife and I finished a deep rehab on our latest duplex in Ft. Lauderdale (Changed roofs, added impact windows, plumbing, the whole 9 yards...). After we finished we thought, sure enough our insurance premium should go down since we added a ton of value and updated everything and turns out that it wasn´t the case if we wanted to have only one policy. (Citizens of course). 

Not conformed by the situation I contacted several Insurance brokers and one came back telling me that we can do a "split policy" one that covers the wind mitigation insurances, and another one that offers liability and all the other coverages... (By doing this I'll be saving a couple thousand dollars a year)

The big question: Is this recommended? Would I have any issues with the insurance company in case something happens? When I asked one of the insurance broker I've worked in the past, she told me that it wasn´t recommended because if insurance companies know that you have another policy, they wont cover you. So I don´t know if this a total lie or if she just wanted to sell their insurance policy. 

Thanks for your opinion and looking forward to read you! 

My family and I are looking to start a new build 32 -multifamily in San Antonio Tx.

We already own the land free and clear, permits approve, already have the contractor in place etc... we are now moving the the financing piece, which I need some advice on. 
My family and I will be putting between 40 - 50% down payment in order to mitigate the risk of high interest rates, but the feedback that we are hearing from the banks and institutional lenders is that we "need" to be able to cover the payments for the loan with our current income (not considering the asset's stabilize income), which we don't. 

So the two options they are giving us are: Either you bring more equity into the table (which at that point I would be better of building it in faces and remove the lender) and/or bring in a key principle/key partner. 

I would love to connect with someone who has used the Key partner strategy to finance his/her deal, because I don't know what are the best practices on having a Key Principle. How much would you pay him/her, is it upfront or equity in the deal? How should I vet them etc... 

Any and all recommendations are welcomed! 
Thanks in advance!

@Suzanne Schultz Thank you very much for talking the time and recommending me KIN. I'll quote with them. Have a wonderful weekend! 

All the best

Hello BP Community! My wife and I are considering making our primary residence as a Medium term/ Short term rental. So we currently have our home insurance, but they wont cover anything with regards liability or personal property if the "tenant" does not occupy the unit for at least 9 months... 

 I tried to quote with most common short term rental insurance companies (Foremost, CBIZ, & Proper) and it turned out that the first 2 do not insure anything in Florida, and Proper's quote is quite expensive considering is only "an add on to my primary home insurance"

All the recommendations and advice are most welcome!

Calling out, experience new construction investors and/or Builders/General Contractors.

I am building my first MF and currently negotiating the construction contract. One of the clauses mentions that the Owner shall pay the cost of all insurances including: Contractors General Liability Insurance, Property Insurance (builder risk), Loss of Use insurance and obviously Owners Liability Insurance. 

Since is the first time building a MF I don't know if this is normal practice? For me what makes sense is that each party shall pay the insurances that they are responsible of, plus the owner can elect to hire the other insurances that will protect his interests. (meaning Property Insurance and Loss of Use if needed) 

I am already in contact with a local real estate lawyer although, I still want to hear opinions from other experienced investors if this is a a normal practice. 
Thanks in advance.

@Brandon Vukelich Thanks! You are right (plus is the same agent who sold me the house). I haven't had  this conversation with him, and I don't know if he is expecting something. But as you mention the revenue will be around 4k total resulting on $300 as a commission. I think it would be better either to invite him and his partner to a good restaurant for a nice dinner or reciprocate in a more personal way. 

Again thanks for the advice! All the best,
FT

@Michael Baum Thanks for the suggestion I am going to check it out as a reference! 

I started renting my San Antonio, Tx property for "short-term" or "holiday" rental (3+ until 20 weeks max) a year.

The question I currently have is:
A local realtor just brought me the first clients through his network and the potential client wants to rent out 3 weeks in the coming thanksgiving holiday.

My question is how to calculate the realtor commission?

Common sense would dictate that hypothetically if he helped me rent the house for a whole year, then the norm is a whole month of rent. (Or in other words 4 weeks out of 54 weeks of the whole year of payment.) Should I use the same ratio to calculate it? Or is there a normal fee or percentages on short term rentals? 


Thanks for all the help in advance.