All Forum Posts by: Chris Masons

Regarding Cheryl's question,

Maybe this varies from state to state or by insurance provider?

In my investment properties I know that if I am sued my homeowners will cover the costs of a lawsuit up to my covered amount. Owner occupied or not has no bearing.

Chris

Hi Jason,

You just need to shop around. Ask up front. The banks that do it usually have a program and guidelines set. I know for sure some of the guidelines are tigher. I believe you will need 25% down I also read Fannie is now asking for 30%. Also you will need 6 months cash reserves for all your existing properties as well as subject property. There are a few other guidelines that I canot remember. Probably 2 years tax returns and your DTI ratios must be decent.

I am in your situation as well right now. I am waiting on a minor issue to be resolved before I can go under contract for my 6th property. I have 4 investment and one primary - I believe that is the limit before you get to the stricter Fannie Mae 5-10 guidelines.

hope this helps,
Chris

Generally speaking, anyone carrying insurance probably does a alot of work and will be alot tougher to get to do lower end, cheap jobs as naturally their overhead is more and will reflect in their price.

I have a guy that does doors and windows for me on the side and this guy is the best window/door guy I have EVER used! Talk about a craftsman! I honestly would gladly pay him more then he charges me simply b/c his work is amazing. He is older, takes his time and does great work. He is not insured, but we have built a relationship and I trust him.

Chris

What Steve says is correct, but to take it a step further, if you had a handyman doing work and say he fell and cracked a rip he would have to prove that you provided an unsafe work environment. You would have to be negligent in some way shape or form I believe.

I had a guy claim he fell down my inside stairs b/c they were too steep try and sue me by sending me a letter from an attorney demadning I forward my Homeowners insurance policy to him. I wrote him back saying I have an elderly women 72 years old, as well as a pregnant woman in her 40s go up and down those stairs twice a day without incident and to go bark up another tree. But yes in a case like this your homeowners will fight this if it came down to it.

Slip and fall cases as an example are very hard to prove, generally there has to be some form of negligence on the homeowner IE. loose railing, icy stairs, insufficient lighting ETC. to have a case.

Like Cheryl said anyone can and will sue, whether they have a real case or not is the real question.

Again

Using a basic handyman for odds and ends IMO is ok. ESP. if you know that he is good and have used him in the past. If you were to hire a licensed, insured, and bonded company for every job you did or needed to do I Think you would go broke pretty quick.

I know plenty of Carpenters, Plumbers who work for big outfits who also do amazing work on the side to supplement their income at a fraction of the big company costs. To me the bigger quesstion is do they do good work and are they reliable.

As far as a roof goes this is a major job where insurance is absolutely required!

Again this is just my opinion and other people may feel differently.

regards,
Chris

There is not really a formula to get to a price. Price doesn't have to be any different if it was a straight sale. Get the most you feel you can get for the property. Do you have any idea of what it is worth?

I am about to close on a CFD and I am getting exactly what I paid for this property back in 2003. It works in my favor in this respect in that house wouldn't sell for this in todays market and works in his favor in that it gets him into a cash producung 2 family as he could not get a conventional loan at this point in time.

regards,
chris

Chris,

Have you considered splitting it 3 ways? Youpay 1/3 and the 2 tenants pay 1/3.

Breaking it up 3 ways should reduce the amount paid by yourself and at the same time is more then fair for two tenants as each tenant will only be paying 1/3.

I have done this in the past with gas (heat bills) I have since seperated the heat so each tenant pays their own. I still pay the cold water in all my buildings. The average bill I have gotten in my fourplex is around 100 bucks which is reasonable.

regards,
chris

Pipe bursting question split to a separate thread

hi renae,

do you have a specific property in mind? do you have money to fund down payment and closong costs? Will you be getting a traditional bank loan or private money?

If you can post more info on the property I am sure people van run a simple analysis and see if the numbers make sense.

thx,
chris

Obed,

Have you considered holding this property for + cashflow? Getting at say 35k and even if you put in say 10 -15k per apt to rehab I bet it would make great long term hold property. Only negative I see is it is out of state for you so your operational costs may be higher and eat profit.

My first purchase was a 4 family and still to this day is the best property I own. Of all my properties this one is my biggest cashcow. But again I manage it myself and REALLY watch my expenses. Over the years I have done alot of work to it- New electrical service, replaced old steam boiler system with 4 independent units so tenants now pay their own heat, etc. Not too tough to manage as I am not too far from it so your circumstances may be different.

regards,
chris