All Forum Posts by: Michael Meeks

I've have asked the question about filing a claim and it affecting the cost of insurance and deductible. The answer I received, is you filing a claim does not affect you individually. The insurance companies look at the amount of claims in a region and base premiums on the losses in that geographic area.

I'm sure repetitive claims could be an issue.

Having dealt with multiple insurance companies, as a roofing contractor, I can tell you State Farm was by far the easiest to work with, and far less stringent than other companies I dealt with. This was on single family homes.

They also look at weather data for support of hail reports in the area.

You can go to this website, enter a date and see storm reports anywhere in the US and if hail was reported, along with what size it was.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/today.html

Generally, you need about 3/4" hail before you start to see any real damage. 

I dealt with several different accounts as Director of Maintenance and Construction, for a management company.

CAPEX accounts were generally set up for a predetermined Scope of Work, usually at the time purchase or a refinance.

Some lenders required a replacement reserve account for such instances as you described. Part of the mortgage payment funds this account. If something was being replaced and not repaired, the lender would reimburse the expenditure. Paint and some other cosmetic items are excluded from eligibility.

I've known owners who let those funds build, and draw them out at the time of a sale or refinance, and others who wanted the account kept at minimum levels and fully utilized. 

You may want to base your strategy on the status of cash flow and status of the properties general fund.

I did. I don't think anyone else could navigate the title issues, or realized part of the property was unencumbered. However, there is a lot of work to do.

I closed on this property about 2 months ago, but had to let it sit while I went to perform property maintenance inspections, on all the apartment properties in unincorporated areas of Gwinnett County, GA. (Great Contract another story)

The property includes 4 addresses, with a 2 story historic home approximately 3500 sf, a 2nd home approximately 1700sf, a commercial building approximately 2000 sf, a large metal building in the back, and another storage building in the back, easily another 1000 sf., and all of its contents. Purchase price $22,000.

Mobile is seeing economic growth. Amazon is building a large sorting and distribution center, Walmart is building a large warehousing distribution center, Austal received a contract for additional Litoral Battleships, a large federal courthouse is under construction, just had a groundbreaking for a new $50M apartment development, and announced another apartment development.

The Downtown commercial district falls inside a loop created by Broad and Bouregard St., which has received a grant to be reconstructed to include bike and pedestrian paths. My property is about a 1000 ft outside that loop.

3 of my addresses are facing Springhill Ave, and zoned commercial, while the 4th backs up to these parcels, faces Oak St. and is zoned residential.

The smaller house, commercial building and large metal building are owned free and clear. The larger house has an existing reverse mortgage in default. However, the banks legal description is for the lot at Oak St. My understanding is they are stuck, until they can rectify the title issues. This should buy me time and hopefully give me some leverage, in negotiating a short sell. I haven't done this before, so advice here is welcome. I called them yesterday and they claimed they had not received the authorization to discuss the loan, so I refaced the authorization and will follow up.

My 1st hurdle is dealing with the contents. The previous owner had the property since 1979. There is a ton of old financial records and such. I think they originally owned a tv repair shop, later got into computers and networking, and off and on were in the car business. Ironically, I bought my 1st computer here in 1994. I beleive it was a top of the line, custom built tower with a 486 intel chip. A week later the 1st pentimento chip hit the market. Anyway there are tons of old, outdated printers, monitors, fax machines, software, pieces and parts in the commercial building. The other structures are also packed with an array of stuff with no to little value, with the possibility of a rare find. Picture American Pickers dust and cobwebs.

I contacted someone who does estate sales and a junk hauling company. Found out Goodwill can take computers and monitors. Still working on a strategy.

The next hurdle and important step is getting the power on. Plumbing and HVAC have been vandalized for the copper. It seems like an electrical panel on every tree and wiring placed in plumbing conduit across the back of the property, obviously unpermitted work. I met with the electrical inspector yesterday morning. My electrician will be able to get power to one panel on the commercial building, and use it to start testing the power on the other structures.

My goal is to renovate the commercial building to expand our Architectural practice. I have a contractor that wants to rent the metal building, and not sure what I will do with the other property yet. Considering short term rentals with all the construction work coming.

To be continued...

I have a few more:

Most probate records are free and online, as well as the tax accessor. 

Realtor.com - good for seeing what is in your area for sale, volume on the market and asking prices.

Rentometer.com - Will give you average rent cost in your area.

A decent price would be around $195/SQ, roughly $3900.00

don't forget to check the tax bill. I once found a letter left in the garage went to the phone book and tracked the wife down through a relative. 

never heard of a park holding the title. Park owners I have dealt with will block moving the trailer, if there is outstanding lot rent, though I doubt you are legally liable. You have the right to repossess. I use lease purchase. Take an option payment as down payment, and lease payments are calculated based on interest rate, term amortization. I hold the title.

yes a title should be able to find the information. Did you check the tax bill, or probate records?

What type of real estate?