All Forum Posts by: Justin Owens

@Franklin Romine

Just curious, do you know of a way to refinance out of an institutional lender to get rid of the flood insurance mandate?

@Brian Walsh

If you are paying cash or if it is a cheap property, Then its probably okay. If you are financing it I would bow out of the deal. Flood insurance premiums are rising rapidly for new purchases, in most cases you aren't allowed to be grandfathered in at the old rates. The FEMA program is severely in debt as well, so there is no telling what will happen to premiums over the next 5-10 years. Congress is going to have to revisit the issue after what they did with with Biggert-Waters Act a couple years ago. Flood insurance just isn't very affordable period. Most people opt for the $5000 deductible because the smaller $1000 and $2500 deductibles have insanely high premiums.

You will a hard time selling in the future as well. 

My personal residence here in Indianapolis is in a high risk flood zone AE and it costs me about $1000 a year for coverage. We suffer from flash floods in really heavy rains, but have never had a full on flood in the neighborhood, but my property is zoned just like i lived near the ocean or on a large river. Its a really messed up program and i wish I never bought this house (my 1st home) as a result of it. 

@Jeb Brilliant Very hard to get $900 a unit in Indianapolis, unless you are buying in the most trendiest of areas like Fountain Sq, Broadripple, and Downtown, and if thats the case you most likely would have to be looking for a dilapidated SFH and convert it to a multi-unit. You won't find any multi-unit properties in those areas that you can get a deal on.

I believe @Dan Perrott , if I recall, owns some duplexes in the Castleton area, which is very rare. 

If you are hell bent on finding a duplex that is in a nice area, then I would look in Carmel's Home Place neighborhood, there is almost always a duplex for sell in that area, but you'll be paying anywhere $100K-$140K.  I'd also look up in the Noblesville area. Great schools and the older homes and duplexes in town a generally affordable, but can be hard to get high rents. 

Beechgrove has a nice inventory of duplexes as well, but hard competing with all the SFH's in that community.

Congrats!  Pretty fortunate turn of events for you. 

Did you pay all cash on the auction site? 

Ask the seller to reduce the price, if he doesn't then just walk away. don't want to be dealing with Foundation issues, and termite damage.

Remember the termite damage the inspector found is just what he seen. Termites go all through the wood, so there is probably more termite hollows through out your subfloor and joists.

@Bill Wallace 

Excuse my ignorance of the law, but how is the service @Ronald Hunt is proposing to provide to his network of investors different than what a bird dog does?  

@Rodney Kuhl  If you can actually get that $140 cashflow after pulling out your money, then I'd say its a decent idea. But under a $100 and you are just asking for a monthly head ache. But for Indianapolis even $140 a month is kind of low. 

Don't forget to factor in future PM expenses too. You might be managing the properties yourself right now but after you have so many you might elect to change that.

Ask your self how many months it would take you to save up another $8K for a downpayment on another property.

i'm really a big fan of Income Property because i like his process and how he points out different things that are pluses and minuses about each property. But the only thing I don't understand, and I guess this is just a market thing as Scott's show is based out of Toronto I think? But you have an investor buy a $600-$700K   Row house with only a $200 cashflow. Which just seems incredibly risky because the downpayment for these homes are probably $100K.  I mean you would be better off putting your $100K into a bunch of CDs. 

@Belinda R. 

Not sure why you are so willing to take a loss on this property when you already own it outright. You've put all this work and money into it, you'd be better off renting it out for a year. Put some cash back into your account, then try and sell it again next year. You could also just refiance it and pull 80% of your cash out and use it to fund your next deal. 

I don't know your situation, and maybe you just need the money back ASAP, but it looks like you are sitting in a good spot with a fully paid asset. You can sell it for a loss anytime.  Since you own it out right you could even hire PM to take care of it for you and still cash flow. 

Congrats fellow Hoosier!

Where is the property located in Indy? I've not come across any 4/2's that cheap here in the city, that weren't majorly distressed.

how much $$ for the repairs you think you will have to put in? 

How rent do you expect to get?