All Forum Posts by: Ryan Fox

Tax question. I am not a real estate professional. However, I accumulate a good amount of passive activity losses from rental properties. An opportunity has come along to partner or JV with a company that does a number of house flips. I would be the capital provider and not be active in the partnership. Is there a way to structure the relationship so that I get passive income that offsets my passive losses, thus resulting in no tax owed? Thanks in advance!

@Jeff S.- Thank you for the information.  How do you determine the improved floor area?  Is that info the insurance company would already have? 

I’ve been doing private lending for a while for fix and flips.  I’m not sure the insurance requirements that I’m requesting from borrowers are appropriate.  These are the rough numbers of a deal I’m currently underwriting:

Purchase $78k

Rehab $40k

ARV $180k

What do hard money lenders require in terms of types of coverage and amounts for this type of deal?

@Colleen F. - Yes, you can still be held liable.  Every response you take will be scrutinized - how fast you provided replacement housing, how fast you filed your insurance claim, how fast you refunded their deposit, ect.  The negligence can be in how you respond to the situation.  The laws you have to follow in CA are so specific that whenever a client asks me about a situation, I need to research the law.  It's a pain in the rear end for anyone that doesn't want to pay an attorney.

@Gayle Eisner- National Real Estate Insurance Group

@Gayle Eisner- You could be sued personally even if your property is in an LLC, and even if the property is paid off. This actually happens quite frequently. When there are property damage issues, California landlord tenant laws allow the tenant to recover attorney's fees in addition to other damages. This means that a relatively minor issue can escalate into something much larger.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's just what I'm seeing.  Best of luck.  

*This does not create an attorney-client relationship.  It is for informational purposes only and is not meant as legal advice.   

@Alex Olson- I use NREIG for some and a broker named Brian Caputo at Rosenthal Brothers for others.  If you have any other suggestions, feel free to shoot them my way.  

So I was just going over how my insurance premiums have changed in different cities.  

Property 1: single-family, masonry construction on south side of Chicago. 2019 insurance premium: $847, 2023 insurance premium: $959.

Property 2: single-family, wood frame construction in Missouri. 2019 insurance: $861, 2023 insurance: $1414. 

Coverages are similar on each property.

The numbers speak for themselves.  You have to be selective in where you invest.  The Missouri insurance premiums went up more because it is classified as a high wind area and the property is wood frame.  

@Marco Silva- You can get job data at bls.gov.  Population growth data is at census.gov.  Vestmap.com aggregates some of this data.  If you try to google the information, there are a ton of weird websites of questionable credibility.  Property managers may be good sources of info for what neighborhoods are generally good and those which are dangerous.

@Carmen Lapham- There are episodes in the "The Real Estate Investing Podcast" with Daniel Apke and Ron Apke that address this.  It's all about land deals.