All Forum Posts by: Pierce W.

 Thanks @Jason Bott

I have a portfolio of rental properties (>25) mainly in Cook County. I'm looking for a barebones insurance company (couple hundred dollars annually?) that can write up my policies to abide by my lender's conditions (125% of Replacement Costs or at least the Loan Amount, etc.).

Whenever there is damage I just repair it myself since 1) we have an in-house construction crew and 2) my deductibles are insane: believe it or not, I have to keep my deductibles around $10-15k/property to get my premium down to ~$1,000/property. I don't remember the last time I used my insurance for claims...they are really irrelevant to my case.

Anyone have recommendations?

@John Warren Thanks for your message.

Most of my properties are SFHs. I haven't been able to find a lender that finances off of ARV values immediately without a seasoning period. I'm in the process of refinancing the homes I've owned for over a year (got a 30 yr fixed for under 4.9% based off of the ARV).

My issue is with the properties I acquired over the last few months. They are all cash-flowing with excellent ARV values, however since I've owned these for less than a year, I haven't been able to find a lender to lend off of ARV values (the best deal I found so far is 100% loan to cost; not terrible but still a far cry from the actual ARV values). Would be great if I found a lender as an exception to this seasoning period rule...would definitely help scale operations.

Thanks @Jason for that helpful info. What are typical rates for an experienced rehabber with 740+ credit score?

I'm an investor with a few properties in the Chicago and Chicagoland area. The lender I've been using thus far will lend on the appraised value of my properties ONLY if I've owned them for at least 1 year, otherwise they will 1) just lend on my purchase price or 2) if I wait 91 days, they will lend 100% of my purchase price + any rehab costs.

Do you know of any lenders that will lend on the appraised value right from the onset without me having to wait a certain amount of ownership time?

Thanks!

We finished rehabbing this 4 bed/2 bath house in Oak Park, IL and expected to get it under contract within a month or two. Comparables in the area sold for between $400-500k, and since mine didn't come with a garage I thought I could probably sell it at the very least in the $420s (considering the detailed rehab). Redfin even listed it as a "hot home" the first week of listing it.

Almost 9 months later, the property is listed at $370k and no solid offers (despite many showings). I've come to realize the shared driveway and a lack of a grassy backlawn may be a bit of a turn-off for a family house.

Any suggestions on what tweaks or marketing pitches can be done to get this thing sold? Does it make sense to add a small lawn to the back (really no space for a garage)? Any creative upgrades? It's in a nice historic part of town, couple blocks from police station, multiethnic, etc., but buyers are just not pulling the trigger.

At this point I am probably just breaking even or perhaps going a bit under.

I fix and flip mainly in the inner city of Chicago. The positives to this is I get properties for substantially less than in the suburbs, and the pool of buyers is a bit wider. The major drawback is I have to deal with break-ins...a lot. Over the past 2 years, I've had 7 break-ins, each incident costing me an average of $10,000-15,000 in repairs (mainly stolen water heaters/hvac, copper pipes, fixtures, etc.). 

What do you suggest about filing insurance claims? I am afraid too many claims will increase the cost of my policies, and/or even have the insurance provider kick me out of insurance altogether, and perhaps even give me a bad name in the insurance provider circle. What do you all suggest? Is there a "golden rule of thumb" here ?

Unfortunately, break-ins are just a common occurrence in the neighborhoods I deal in.