All Forum Posts by: Salil Surendran

I purchased landlord's insurance. So I can completely surrender the homeowners insurance right?

Quote from @Mark F.:

No one can answer you question as we don’t know where you are or the value of the home. Sounds good but what’s their reputation as well? 

 My property is in San Jose, CA and would be worth about $1M and the above insurance is at the same level as my homeowners and costs a little more (about 7% more). I was wondering about the reputation of Steadily in terms of paying out claims.

By the way the landlord insurance that I applied to is Steadily. Anyone have an opinion about them.  I got the below coverage for $80/month which looks good to me?

The coverage limits are as follows:
$200k -> Dwelling
Premises Liability -> $300,000 per occurrence
Medical Payments $500 per person / $25,000 per occurrence
Additional Living Costs And Fair Rental Value -> $19,000
Loss Assessment Coverage -> $1,000
Ordinance or Law -> $20,000 or 10%
Water Damage Limitation -> 10% ($20,000)

Deductibles
All Other Perils -> $2,500
Limited Theft Coverage -> $2,500
Water Damage Deductible -> $5,000

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Salil Surendran:

If your tenant starts a kitchen fire and the insurance provider finds out it was a rental, they will deny your claim.

Would you sue yourself if you fell down the stairs or found mold in the basement? Of course not! But a tenant may, so the insurer provides coverage for a rental that you wouldn't have in an owner-occupied home.

If a tenant starts a fire => As per my lease the tenant has to get liability insurance for $500k before moving in. So if a tenant starts a fire wouldn't the tenants insurance cover the cost?

If the tenant falls down the stairs => I do have umbrella insurance of $3M. Will this be useful?

Mold in the basement, cracks in water pipes etc. => Are normal repair costs also covered by landlord insurance? I understand that loss of rental income when the repairs are done is covered by landlord insurance.

NOTE: I have purchased landlord's insurance. I am asking these questions to better understand my insurance needs to make sure that I am not under-insured.

Just rented out my primary residence and researching insurance coverage. Here is what I have learnt. Please do comment if wrong:

1. If you are not residing in a unit then a homeowner’s insurance will not cover anything. If there is any kind of damage to the house because of a natural cause if you approach the insurance company without a landlord's insurance they will outright deny your claim.
2. If you have a mortgage the bank will insist that you have landlord insurance
3. Tenant has renter's insurance. So if there is any kind of physical harm to the tenant say due to slipping on the stairs etc. the tenants renter insurance will cover the medical cost. It the tenant causes a fire and damages my house and neighboring houses then their renter's insurance will conver all the costs.
4. My HOA has insurance. So if there is a fire due to natural cause, HOA insurance will cover the cost of exterior repair like painting the exterior walls. My landlord insurance will have to cover the costs of fixing the interior like replacing carpet, interior painting etc.
5. I can completely give up on homeowner’s insurance and just buy landlord insurance?

Hello,

I am trying to enter my rental income in Turbo Tax. I rent out my upper bed room for 3 months of last year. I earned $3000 as rental income in the year 2017 and calculated $200 of utility expenses. I entered into TurboTax that I rented out part of my house and it walked me through with some questions. Asked me how many days of the year did I rent out the upper bedroom. I entered 91 days and I used it for 274 I entered the utility expenses and then I entered my mortgage interest again. When I entered $8100 as my mortgage interest from my 1098 form, it gave me a huge deduction of around $2000 as expenses and my net rental income fell to $800. I have already entered my mortgage interest in my itemized deductions. Is this ok? Also in another form it asks for 'Other common expenses'. Here is listed 'Utilities', 'Advertisting' etc. Another field on this same page is 'Real Estate Taxes'. Should I enter my yearly property tax of $7000 here. I wonder if that is correct since if I enter this value then my net income will go negative?