All Forum Posts by: Marina Loos

@Joe Splitrock I am not added as an additional insured on my tenants insurance policy. The coverage is for $15k personal and $300k personal liability-each occurrence. 

I would think the personal liability would provide the coverage. And yes they do have a copy of the insurance policy. 

@Jose Linares - The insurance adjuster estimated the damages to be at 192k which came very very close to the estimate that my restoration contractor (who was a previous insurance adjuster for over 20 years) also came up with. The coverage that I had was for 174K and @John Teachout it is replacement cost. This leaves me almost a 20k difference. The estimate of course, is inclusive of everything to get the house back to being rentable. I did receive payment in full for the insurance coverage that I had including rental reimbursement. 

When I purchased the house 3 years ago the amount of insurance I purchased exceeded the value of the house. Of course, the last few years we've seen an increase of value here. I don't mind putting in a few thousand but I am hoping that since the fire report stated it was negligence and the tenant admitted to smoking in a nonsmoking lease that the additional sum I need would be covered by subrogation. I can suffer a few thousand out of my pocket but I don't want to do more than that. 

I admit this is all very new to me and I am trying to learn as much as I can. Right now basic work is being done on the house and if I can't get the extra money from the tenants insurance then I will have to figure out where to cut the costs in the rehab.

Hi Matthew

I was told since we both had insurance, my state doesn't allow for me to go after the tenant. He's pretty young and he had 2 other roommates living with him that were on the lease but it was very obvious that there was an additional person there (girlfriend) not on the lease that was living there as well. I was told that I was supposed to return his deposit because the place was inhabitable but I refused to do that. Nobody argued any differently. If anything - on top of the fire- he had vandalized the refrigerator by writing all over it in marker and since refrigerators are considered personal property, that wouldn't even be covered by the insurance anyway. I should note that the 3 young guys who rented come from good backgrounds but they are just simply stupid -- and maybe I am a little too for thinking they would be responsible young adults! 

Thank you Greg. I don't know if it's too late, but I will do my research on it and contact one tomorrow. I really wish I had my senses to get information from this group before I set out to figure out what my steps are.  

3 years ago I purchased a nice home to rent out. The house has no mortgage on it. In March my tenant burned down my house due to "careless disposal of a cigarette" per the fire report. The lease specifically states that this is a non-smoking house and that "tenant understands that damage caused by smoking any substance will be their responsibility." The tenant has admitted responsibility and has good renters insurance that was required by my property managers. The fire occurred in the middle of the night on a Saturday and coincidentally, later that day when the home was very exposed, we had 2 days of severe non-stop rain that came into the house before we were even informed of the fire on Monday. Nobody in the house was hurt.

Long story (not so) short - after a horrible experience with the initial adjuster and taking waaaaay too long (4 months) to get anything done, I finally got a new adjuster and quickly received a full payout through my insurance within a few weeks. My insurance was actually close to expiring and was renewed with no issues. The adjuster and my contractor was pretty much on par with how much it would cost to rebuild (the house was taken down to the studs) which is 20k less than what my full insurance paid out.

Now I'm seeing movement on getting the house back together. The plumbing and electrical is in place and the cabinets are being chosen. Everything is now moved to subrogation. This is my first fire and my first experience with dealing with something so major. Other than our first inspector disappearing (!) and the initial insurance adjuster being lax in any form of communication - things have gone in my favor. However I am worried that I will have to pay out of pocket for the 20k. I'm only 1 week into subrogation. Is there anything I should know, look for, etc that could cause them to rule against me and not pay me out the remaining about that I need? As stated above, the 20K is above what my insurance coverage was for and since my renter has coverage, wouldn't their insurance have to pay the remaining amount my insurance states is needed? -- I'm trying to stay positive that all of this will work out. Thank you.

Hi I’m a realtor and grew up military. Welcome to Nebraska. Offutt AFB is next to Bellevue which has a lot of active duty people/families. A little further west is the city of Papillion (which is where I live) and La Vista. Both also have a lot of military families and have been seeing tremendous growth both in upscale residential and commercial properties as well as shopping areas. Sarpy county as a whole has many great schools and an incredible amount of new builds. Let me know if I can be of any help. 

(Please excuse the grammar as I’m on my cell phone)

I use Ron Goracke and his company is Verdant. They are located in La Vista, NE. I’m very happy with them. 

I use Midland Real Estate property management. They’re detailed and fantastic. They’re located in Bellevue.

I recommend Drain M.D 

Hello @Brian Washburn They helped me with my LLC. I've just started my investing adventure but they are very knowledgable and is also very acquainted with my CPA which comes in handy when I need direction in what to do.