All Forum Posts by: Patrick Q.

@Lee Judd

Thank you.

It’s the flood itself that I am trying to avoid more so than the cost of the flood insurance.

I would rather avoid the problem altogether.

@Tim Herman

Thank you Tim.

This sounds like it could work.

My real estate attorney should be able to help me set this up right?

Or would I go to somebody else to set that up?

@Andrew Powers

Thank you.

I am not one for taking chances myself.

I will be speaking to my attorney in the coming days about this.

From what I can gather the whole deal with the downstairs tenants is a cash thing.

I feel I need to legitimize them so I have something legal in my hands if things go South.

Or I could ask them to hand over the building vacant.

The rent from this tenant would be nice though.

I am hoping to come up with a plan of some descriptions that allows me to keep them but establish some go level of protection.

@Tina Tsysh

Hi there,

The plan was to renovate the vacant apartment upstairs and then live in that upstairs unit ourselves.

The upstairs apartment is in pretty shoddy condition and will need a good amount of work don’t for us to be able to move into it.

My hope was to keep the existing tenants there for 6-12 months until we get renovated, moved in and settled.

Their rent would pay a decent amount of the mortgage.

At that point then do a really nice renovation of the ground floor unit and raise the rent to market value.

I do worry about the moratorium though.

Hi All,

I am hoping to pull the trigger shortly on a 2 family property.

The property would be purchased in my personal name shortly that I have made an offer on.

In terms of insurance.

What kind of insurance coverage should I get to best protect the property and also to shield my self personally?

I guess I am looking for advice and the specific terminology I would use to request a quote for said insurance.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi All,

I have submitted an offer on a 2 family property that would be a house hack for me.

There are existing tenants in one of the units.

They pay cash and don’t have a lease (so I am told and have no reason to believe they don’t).

They pay below market rent.

I am OK with this given their unit needs to be renovated and I do not wish to renovate the unit that they rent until I first finish the unit that I will live in.

My question:

Are their any risks that you guys can see with taking on the above scenario?

How would you handle/mitigate said risks?

Would you create a lease for them upon taking possession of the property?

Thanking you guys in advance for any help you could provide.

@Caleb Stevens

Thank you Caleb,

I hope to join the Tuesday one soon (if I can get the baby to sleep early enough).

I appreciate your letting me know.

@Michael Baker

Hi Michael,

I have decided that a duplex is the best move.

I have a max purchase price limit that I wont go above or I won’t have enough money to finish the process.

There are duplexes available at or under my max number in my area.

Basically I have budgeted to hold for 2 months while we renovate.

10% down is what I am planning to put down.

Then I have enough left for reserves, closing and all the other costs associated with closing the deal.

It would have a low cash flow if I treated it strictly as a rental (at least at the beginning).

I have some plans to increase the income on the property that will allow me to cash flow better within a year of buying it.

@Vasilii Baban

I am about to buy a duplex myself and house hack.

I am having the same issue as you in terms of the numbers not cash flowing.

I came up with a couple of ideas to increase cash flow that help my numbers improve.

I am only looking at duplexes that have parking (not all the duplexes in my area have parking). This way I can charge for the parking spots if the tenants want them.

I am also planning on renting space in the cellar for storage. I will assemble cages that the tenants can put locks on if they would like to pay for additional storage. You could tactfully find out if your potential tenants have cars when interviewing them.

Also if the 2nd unit is not submetered I will install submetering equipment so that I can split at least the electrical portion of the utilities. I am an electrician and can set this up myself. But it is not that expensive to do.

I am also leaning towards conventional financing so that the initial fees are lower and I can buy my way out of the mortgage insurance if any capital comes my way.

The PMI dropping off after a year (if I can make that happen) would improve the numbers.

hi @Cap Singh

Would one be permitted to live in the building while all of this is happening?

I am assuming yes.

But I guess it is worth asking.