All Forum Posts by: Jerry Kisasonak

Hello fellow BP'ers! I've heard of landlords who have leases that require renters insurance with a specific amount of coverage, coverage that would cover damage to the property (or more severely - vandalism) by the tenant. Does anyone have more details about this insurance coverage?

Our lease requires renters insurance, but I had thought that this coverage was mainly to insure the renter's personal belongings. I am wondering if maybe I'm missing out on a more important aspect of this policy.

Thanks in advance for the reply!

Yes, check out Experienced Closing Services out of Carnegie. Google for contact info. Ask for Ryan. Many investors in Pittsburgh use their services.

@Austin Mudd I concur with your experience. Many of these smaller MF's are too tight for comfort. If I were you I'd pull a list from Listsource with the exact criteria you're looking for and mail that list. I believe it will take some digging to find these deals. Waiting for them to just pop up on the MLS isn't really a reliable strategy.

This is why we have stuck with SFR's. We can get them much cheaper per door than MF and they are much easier to move in and out of if you want/need to. And, the returns are better at the end of the day. The only down side is that it takes a long time to scale up. Hope something I said helps Austin!

No, I wouldn't be the one to talk with about multi-family. I can say from my experience in analyzing multis in Pittsburgh - most of the ones you see on the MLS don't cashflow. Oftentimes the gas and water aren't separately metered and are paid by the landlord, so it's usually those utilities that kill the deal/cashflow. LoopNet may be a better place to look - just keep in mind then you're usually looking at much larger buildings.

@Kashiff Miles We had over 300 calls. Roughly 2/3 of those were vacant lots. Almost all of the other calls were homes that needed torn down. 5-6 remaining calls that had homes that were salvageable the sellers were 1. Not in any hurry to do anything with them (chronic procrastinators) 2. Already listed with an agent. 3. Unrealistic with their price.

Keep in mind the list isn't sorted between residential and commercial parcels either, so you'll get a few calls about bars, old retail establishments, abandoned warehouses, etc.

I suppose if you mailed this list enough and spend an enormous amount of time sorting through calls you'd eventually be able to come up with a deal. To me that just seems way to daunting.

I would advise against the delinquent tax list. Because the housing stock is so old in many parts of Pittsburgh mailing this list will get you TONS of calls from people with vacant lots (the house was already torn down) with exorbitant amounts of back taxes and liens - or you'll get calls from people who have houses that NEED to be torn down in addition to the parcel being laden with many encumbrances. The problem with using this list is that there's no way to separate out which addresses are vacant lots and which addresses actually still have houses (preferably with value) still on them.

@Joe Calloway Joe is the real deal! Check out his educational (and entertaining) material.

PS. Hi Joe!

@Jamie Lennox

Yes, we will be getting together next week - Thursday the 19th at Christina's in White Oak. 3017 Jacks Run Road. 6:30Pm arrival 7Pm start. It's free and open to the public. You're welcome to bring your spouse or a guest. : ) 

Pittsburgh Pa 

We have a free Meetup group. We'll be getting together this Thursday. We're east of the city - White Oak area. If you have any interest reach out to me.

Hi Casey. We host a free monthly real estate investor Meetup in White Oak. If you're interested get in touch. Thanks!