All Forum Posts by: Marina Loos

 My insurance paid me out (including the monthly rent that I missed out of during the construction) 100% of the insurance that I had on the property. They could only pay me the amount that I had insurance on it. So I had to go to the renters insurance for reimbursement (as did my insurance to cover their losses). After that, I increased the insurance on all my properties since we had a good amount of equity growth the past few years. Some of the cost was removing all the belongings of the tenants (which was quite a bit) who was supposed to remove everything themselves and of course everything was being constantly delayed because of Covid issues. I actually had to get an attorney to get the remaining money back from the renters insurance but the tenants were young and dumb so they were fortunate that we required the renters insurance and I have a feeling it's something they will get voluntarily from now on.

We require renters insurance on all our properties. Last year a tenant left out a cigarette (non smoking property) and the house burned down and I had to rebuild. The cost exceeded my insurance coverage by $30k. The renters insurance had to reimburse my insurance company and cover the cost of the $30k.  

All my rentals are non-smoking but that doesn't mean people won't lie about it. I found out my tenants lied when I got the call from my property manager telling me that the tenants burned down the house with their cigarette after smoking on the deck and then went to bed. The place was taken down to the studs. 

Thank you for your response. I have someone looking at the roof shortly. If the roofer does think it's worthy of a claim then I will be going back to get it resolved from my old insurance company. 

Hi Everyone

A few years ago I purchased a duplex with a roof that was about 10 years old. The inspection didn't show any issues and I didn't have a single issue until last year when we had a major storm that caused a huge power outage and several leaks to the roof. I called the insurance company and they rejected the claim stating that the damage to the roof was actually old damage therefore they wouldn't cover it. To make it worse, the insurance inspector had texted me earlier (before the claim was rejected) and asked if I was willing to sell him the property. Of course I said no. I considered reporting him but I didn't. This was the same time I was dealing with the same insurance company on a different rental house that burned down that was being rebuilt and at the time was threatening to cancel my insurance so I was overwhelmed with that whole fiasco.  For the record, the fire was caused by tenant negligence and the insurance did pay. 

1 year later, we've had a few bad storms including yesterday. The quick cheaper fixes that were made by the roofers don't last. My property manager called me today and said the tenant is filling up a bucket of water every time we have these heavy rains. Obviously I can't have that and other than this issue, I have a history of fixing all problems asap. 

I changed my insurance company this January and was wondering if I should try to file another claim or try to see if a public adjuster will help me. I have never used one before and still trying to learn more about them.

If I file this claim it will be #3 in 1.5 years and the first with this insurance company that I've had for 6 months. If this was going to cost me a few thousand I would probably pay out of pocket but I don't have the budget to pay for a full roof right now. None of my claims have been frivolous and I hate thinking I'm going to have my insurance dropped because I'm trying to utilize it. Any advice will be much appreciated. Thank you.

I can start of by saying that Pitbulls are actually great dogs which is why their original nickname was "the nanny dog" but that's going to be moot when you can't judge the quality of the people who are "raising" them. What I will say is that most people don't know what a Pitbull actually is and more often than not, many other terrier breeds get mixed with a Pitbull. The name Pitbull has become a pretty generic label put on dogs that are a completely different breed including bulldogs nowadays. In my opinion, the dog is only as good as the owner. My dog has 0% Pitbull in her but that's how everyone views her. Yes any dog can cause damage, that has more to do with the people who are raising them. 

She's a "friend" that you never had a phone number for? I may be old school in the day of social media but that was the first red flag. Seems like she's making up the rules at this point. Pretty sure we all know why she was "in desperate need of a place for her and her 2 kids" and she will be again very soon. I agree that all communication going forward should be through attorney only and that you should avoid her at all costs. It's actually a benefit that all your communication was done in writing - assuming it doesn't vanish once you were blocked. I wish you the best in your resolution.

She's able to withstand the rise in cigarette prices and that certainly hasn't stopped her from the unhealthy habit. And anyone who's been able to receive way below market rent for decades and hasn't prepared for "paycheck to paycheck" living as many of us have experienced, then NO- the landlord is not obligated to her at all!

She benefited from way below market price rent for years. What she did with that benefit is her business. What you do for yourself is your business. The two don't have to unite and be okay with each other. Do what's best for yourself and your business, otherwise you will continue to enable this behavior. Don't feel guilty. If she didn't plan for her future then that's for her to deal with. 

Terminate the contract. Property Managers should be making your life easier not giving you this much stress.

Years ago on my very first rental I chose a well known PM company and for 3 months the only thing they did was argue with me to lower the price over and over again and make excuses as to why my house (which was a mile from a popular lake and less than 10 years old and on a very quiet and beautiful walking trail) was taking so long to rent. I broke the contract based on unsatisfied service. I then hired a new boutique PM who brought the price back up and had it rented out to fantastic tenants in less than 2 weeks during the winter months which was one of the worst times to get renters here in the Midwest. 

You had enough red flags even before the $500 fix. Pull the trigger and get a new PM. It makes all the difference not only to you but for your tenants as well. Best of luck to you.