All Forum Posts by: Rob Bianco

@Jason Bott - I only filed 1 claim in the last 5 years due to fire. Fire Department came in put it out and left a lot of water damage. It was about $35k to fix everything, but this was on the higher quality insurance and I was taken care of.

I think I'm going to stick with my insurance guy, but raise my deductible to $5k and remove some things like Personal Property and see if that helps.

My family and I are planning to upgrade our living situation in a few years but we live in a HCOL (New York City) area so it’ll probably take that time to save up the down payment. Originally, I had thought that it would be wise to hold off on buying more rentals until after I had saved the money I needed.

Yesterday my Realtor calls me with a great off market deal. I have the funds to pull the trigger but it would be with the money I was already saving. ROI on the deal would be about 9% - 10% on a duplex in a B grade area. I have 2 other properties in my portfolio where I have 100% equity. I had planned to take out loans in a cashout loan but rates accelerated too fast in 2022 and I never got that chance.

But now that everyone is talking rate cuts I’m kinda thinking I take the deal and hope I can refinance these 2 properties at 5% interest (or less) sometime before 2028?

What do you guys think?

My insurance broker and I are not seeing eye-to-eye lately. I own about 15 duplexes and I've always felt like I paid a little too much on insurance because I always paid more than anyone else I knew. I never really thought to look into things until my insurance broker said my rates would go up 20% - 30% moving into 2024-2025. 

Right now I'm paying about $100/month per door. Most people I know are paying about $75/month.

So I went and got quotes from NREIG and Shelter Insurance. My insurance guy said their quotes were DP1 and he's writing DP3 and wouldn't touch DP1 policies. My Broker's policies include things neither NREIG or Shelter offered including coverage for: Sewer Line, Water Backup, Water Damage, and Personal Property. 

As a business owner paying more is costing me about $7200/year in extra expense. I don't want to be over insured or under insured, but it's hard to tell what's what because everyone in insurance is such a good salesman. What should I be doing?

Hello Raleigh BP members. I'd really like to learn more about the Raleigh market and potentially jump in, but I've been told it's really tough to find decent cashflow. Most of my experience is with buying 2-4 unit Multi-Family and Single Family. My strategy has usually been to buy cash and then cash out refinance.

I'm wondering if there's anyone who'd like to connect and discuss how best to gain a foothold in the area.

@Nicholas L. - I would rather pay down a loan or two instead of investing in equities to mitigate risk if that's what you're asking. From my perspective, I like to buy stocks while I'm raising money to buy my next house, but it's far more exciting to just get the monthly rental income. 

@Nicholas L. - Mitigation Risk, economic diversity, boredom. I've collected about 50 properties in Kansas City. I'm starting to desire new pastures.

@Devon Shaw - Cool. What suburbs would you recommend I look at? What price point is a good entry? Would love to chat more about it. Indy feels similar in a lot of ways to KC.

@Jimmy Lieu - I appreciate your input. I think Columbus thus far has peaked my interest the most just because it's on a wildly different economic and growth trajectory than KC. I read recently that the city is planning for 3x the population by 2040 and that's just insane. Do you think we can chat more?

@Remington Lyman Are you having a good experience with investments in Columbus? Why chase Cincy / Cleveland? 

I’ve been investing in real estate primarily for cashflow and using those funds to snowball my efforts so I can reach financial independence and buy more property. I have built a sizable portfolio in Kansas City and after much thought I think it’s safe to say I should diversify and enter a new market.

I currently own a healthy mix of multi-family (2-4 units) in suburban areas and a couple single family. It’s a strategy that has worked well for me and my tenants have been mostly low maintenance. For anyone who might suggest I should scale into larger property, I have tried, but the properties tend to be older, heavy on maintenance, and few exist outside of city limits. I had to sell a 12 unit building in 2022, for a profit, but it cost me a relationship with my management team as there were several maintenance requests weekly that was just sucking up their time. The experience wasn’t great for me.

Anyway, I am stuck deciding between: Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Columbus

On paper, I think there’s a lot to like about all 3 markets like solid population growth, influx of jobs, low climate risk, and lower property prices. I am aware that Columbus probably will have the brightest future but as of today it seems to have the lowest immediate cash flow of the 3 options. Indy/Minny seem to offer cheaper property and a greater return right now.

I have been looking at property south of Minneapolis in Farmington, Apple Valley, Shakopee and seeing suitable options but can’t help but think Columbus’s growth will just outshine everyone else. Maybe in 10 years a house in Columbus will double in value while my “investment” in Minneapolis is up 15%

Anyway, maybe someone with more knowledge can share their valuable opinions

@Jonathan Klemm I'm not much of a flipper. I am however very familiar with cosmetic renovations in value add type deals, but I usually wind up keeping them as rentals because they're in good neighborhoods with a good tenant pool. Doing heavier lifting like foundation work, masonry, and gut renovation is a bit beyond the scope of what I'd be interested in. 

What I guess I'd like to know, is if I were to just pick up a house/condo/townhouse that cashflows today on paper (with minimal work needed), if that is a workable strategy that would lead to better profits over time, or if the property tax fluctuations would make that an untenable position?

I'm not exactly a beginner; I have 30 units in Kansas City, but I'd really like to diversify my investing and I really enjoy the city of Chicago. Despite all the headwinds the city faces, I really believe Chicago is a big winner in 15-20 years to climate migration. I've looked at numerous properties online, inside the city and also in the suburbs, and the returns look OK on paper, but gosh, those property taxes seem to fluctuate wildly. I've heard some pretty horrible anecdotes about getting a bill that's anywhere from 20% to 120% higher and as an investor it's really hard to reconcile how that affects your investment and how investors react to that. 

I'm really trying to understand the investment strategy: Usually, in Kansas City, if my bills go up (tax/insurance) then I raise rent marginally to cover those costs. I try not to raise rents on good tenants if I don't need to, but in Chicago, if my taxes go up $100/month, do you just jack rent to meet those costs regardless of how good a tenant is? Is the thinking that someone will ultimately pay it, even if the tenant moves out? Do people find turnover to be high in the city? 

I grew up in NYC, so rents going up was never unexpected, even if it was $100-$200 per year, every year, and if you bought something in the year 2000, I imagine you'd have made a fortune if you still owned it in 2022 and I'm sort of hoping for a similar experience with Chicago. 
 

Half the people I talk to about Chicago say it's in a death spiral and the other half say it's a great city, and to come on down, the water is warm.