All Forum Posts by: Robyn R.

I need a binder for lender in addition to builders risk if one is needed...which since this flip is really just paint and carpet, I don't need. What I ended up doing today is just getting a vacancy policy just seems like insurers get all convoluted if you tell them you're doing anything to property even though it's just minor stuff. My lesson from this is to keep it simple:)

I'm about a week away from closing on a condo to rehab, the issue I'm having so far is finding Insurance coverage (vacancy policy). Has anyone else on here run into that issue?  I hope I'm not highjacking this thread too much, thought this issue might be something to be aware of. Other than that, I'm stoked to be rehabbing a condo, seriously easy stuff compared to SF. 

@Teo W., I went back to managing myself and have come to the conclusion (atleast for me personally) that I am better off doing so. If I ever hold rentals far enough away that I could'nt get to them easily, I would use a PM, but as for stuff I can drive to it just does'nt make sense.

Chiming in late here, but figured I'd add my thoughts.
My husband and I have been entry level members for the past two years and have no complaints. We now have four rentals under our belts. The initial two day seminar really gave us motivation and a good overview of the business. Their vendor list has been really helpful as well. Granted, you can meet and vet vendors at local REIAs, but it was nice as a newbie to have it all spelled out and available to us for our first rehab.

We have two friends that joined their SF mid level program and they were total newbies never even having owned a house and now less than a year later they've got 5 properties under their belt and are doing partnership deals to further grow their business. They've had a lot of hand holding through LU which has seemed to really benefit them. We have been considering joining their PIG level when they offer their anniversary special which I think is half price. I do hate the thought of spending that amount of money, (especially when I know how many BP members cringe at paying money for stuff like this!) however, in venturing into MF properties, I feel that we'd make things happen much faster than the stutter steps of obtaining information from so many different sources.
BP is the greatest thing since sliced bread, however, when you put a question out there, sometimes you get as many different answers as people posting and have to sift through to find what fits your exact situation. That said, LU seems to do a good job of hand holding. Yes, they certainly make their money, but they are not a total scam like some guru educations out there.....and no, I don't work for lifestyles :-)

Hi Michael Gualano!!

Hi Greg Stovall!
Welcome to bigger pockets. My husband and I are also in Austin and have three buy and holds under our belt and our making new mistakes and learning from them everyday! We also just recently founf bigger pockets and are looking forward to the next meetup!

Harry M. Thanks and yes, conflicts are difficult and I hate them! Brian Mathews, yep, lots of he said she said going on! There are so many details that I didnt include on here, because when its all said and done, it's just stupid drama.
End story is that we had a sit down with the girlfriend this weekend (who is also on the lease but moved out after a week!) and we worked it all out. She is a gem and if she hadn't moved out, I don't think we would have had any issues whatsoever. They will be out by July 1st with no penalty and we will just move on from there.
None of their maintenance issues would have held up in court, except for the issue of some of the windows not locking, which absolutely should have been caught by the PM....who charged us to do a walk-through to make sure everything was up to code when we first hired them. The PM's failure to do that was the one thing that could have held up if we had tried to charge tenants for breaking the lease. Anyway, end of story, they are moving out and we are moving on.

Thank you all again for your insights.
Steven Hamilton II, thanks for the scoop on taxes, I am planning on paying them in installments, I just want to make it so I don't get behind on my quarterlies, but I think I can make that work out. I'm glad you made me aware of the %3 rate, it is hard to navigate the info on the IRS site. I may PM you in the near future with a question or two if you don't mind.
My post was made while I was in a bit of a panic, so it comes off a bit worse than the reality. Even though the husband got laid off, I still operate a successful business and have enough to keep us afloat until he is employed again. It just seems in life that everything happens all at once!
Jeremiah B., yep, some red flags here, correct, and need to re stabilize for sure!
Matt Devincenzo We will be hard pressed to keep our nosey neighbors from telling any new tenants that we are the owners, but you are totally correct in that it really is just our personalities that allows that to annoy us. Yes to new PM! Last PM really exacerbated the tenant problem by non-responsiveness to him. We would have been better off and likely keeping the tenant if I had not hired them in the first place. Many issues with PM that have come to light since that post so we are just letting tenant go in 45 days and moving on.

Shaun Reilly, I love the term "appreciation" kool aid! Although I may be drinking some, at least I'm not alone! Most investors in Austin are drinking it in copious amounts! Austin is truly exploding right now and if we were in any other city I'd smack myself for the last deal we did. However, it is getting harder and harder to find true 70% arv numbers right now. My main interest is more in having assets for retirement and not as much in the current cashflow, so it doesn't bother me all that much to borrow cash flow from one property to pay off the high interest two year loan on the current rehab. Perhaps it should bother me more than it does and I appreciate you bringing the hammer down on my kool aid party and I will definitely take all you said into advisement:-) Also, thanks for the reminder that nosey neighbors aren't really a good reason to get rid of a winning property.

Thank you again everyone! It is amazing how helpful you all have been. We're still not %100 decided, but this post has given us plenty of food for thought.

Hi Jason,
Welcome! I currently live in Austin, TX, but grew up in north jersey. Pompton Plains to be exact, what part are you in? I'm a relative newbie, but have have a couple of properties under my belt and am happy to help in any way I can!

Thanks, we used the highest standards they had available, but unfortunately one can't test for hidden personality flaws when screening.