All Forum Posts by: Rob K.

I have a couple of two bedroom two bath residential condos in Encinitas, CA I placed in service in 1993, built in the late 1970s.

The kicker is that the tenant who moved in to one of them in 1993 only moved out last year. She was there for 20 years.

Technically, a binder is a written commitment by a title insurer to provide future title insurance on a specific property in a specific amount subject to the stated exclusions and conditions in the binder. They are generally for a two to three year period and lock in the current condition of title on the date of the binder. It is a common misconception that binders are title insurance. They are not.

When a rehabber purchases a title binder as part of an acquisition, and then later uses the binder to purchase a discounted policy for the buyer of the rehabbed property, the binder terminates and ceases to exist. The new buyer will be indemnified in the event of a covered claim, but the rehabber, who never actually had title insurance (only a binder that became void when the buyer's policy was issued) will not be indemnified by the title company.

One of the important features of a title policy is being provided the costs of defense when a claim arises. It is important for Rehabbers to understand that if they get dragged into litigation over a title claim, they will not have the benefit of an insurance policy once the binder is used to issue their buyer a policy.

I have that old Chase ink card too and use it for Home Depot/Lowes purchases. It is a true "cash out" card in the sense that the points cannot be combined with Chase's "ultimate rewards" system like the current chase ink card can, and I think the bonus points are capped at $2,000 in spending per quarter.

If home improvement store purchase points are what you are looking for, this next quarter (April-June) the discover consumer card will give 5% back on home improvement purchases up to $1500. The discover card is not a true "cash back" card, but if you take rewards via a gift card, it will give you a $25 card for $20 in rewards points which gives you a 6.25% effective rewards return.

If the idea is to maximize rewards, then look at what you spend on and find a card that maximizes your rewards based on that spending. I use several cards, and would not limit myself to just business cards. For instance, I have a consumer Barclays card that gives double points for utilities spending that I use on a multifamily project where I pay the water each month.

Also look at how you want to cash in rewards. If you want to use them for air travel, that is a different set of cards than if you just want cash back.

Also look at rewards caps (e.g., Chase Freedom limits bonus rewards to $1500 in spending per quarter), whether the card has annual fees, and whether you can combine points from different cards into one account (e.g., citi cards let you combine points for all of their cards for "thank you" points, and Chase lets you transfer "ultimate reward" points between cards at no cost)

Over the years, the credit card points rewards systems have become more complicated, and it is kind of a sad statement of the state of affairs of our economy when the return you can get via rewards spending substantially exceeds the return you can get on your savings in a bank.