All Forum Posts by: Satya Nagarajan

@Chris T. I understand it's very difficult to say if you haven't looked at it. At the moment, it's structurally sound, however, there are some cracks in the bricks where the bolts are. It's best to attach to a stud and do it right for the long term though. I was just wondering if this could potentially run me several hundred dollars or several thousand dollars. I really have no idea about this type of repair.

Hey everyone, I'm looking at a 4 unit rental property at the moment. I had an inspection done, and the inspector told me that the staircase/balcony structure in the back needs to be fixed on more securely. It has support posts, but the structure is only bolted on to the brick of the building, whereas, a good long term solution would be to drill through the brick, hit a stud, and attach the structure to the stud. It doesn't look precarious, but keeping the structure attached only to the brick is not a good idea for the long term. Does anyone have a ballpark on how much this may cost to fix?  

@George Despotopoulos Well I guess I didn't word it properly. I'm basically asking, if you own rental properties during retirement and happened to get sued, aren't you risking losing your wealth with no time to financially recover? When you're older, wouldn't you want to move into safer assets, like index funds or bonds?

Is it usually a good idea to hold a portfolio of rental properties during your retirement, or is it smarter to move into safer assets, like bonds? If you are holding rentals during retirement, aren't you risking a potential lawsuit down the road wiping out your portfolio when you're 70? I understand that real estate investing can get you on the road to retirement, but how about during your retirement?

@Account Closed You can try First Merchants Bank. My banker there told me that he has signed loans for investors from all over the world, including Australia.

Hey everyone, I am buying my first property - a 4 unit building for $127K. The property will be in my personal name, not an entity. I am definitely getting liability coverage up to $1 million and loss of rents for up to 1 year, but I'm not sure how much coverage to get for fire, flood, vandalism, etc. I'm calling around getting quotes, and each insurance company is estimating my rebuilding cost a different amount. If I choose the rebuild option, how do I determine how much coverage to get? The cost to rebuild will definitely be much higher than my purchase price. Or would it just be better to be insured for ~$130K? Any insights would be appreciated.

What exactly is error/omission coverage? Also, is loss of rent coverage a scenario where the tenant defaults on rent or gets evicted?

Hey everyone, 

I am looking to buy a single family or duplex in Columbus, OH some time soon. I wanted to get a better idea of the type of insurance that would be ideal for a landlord. What types of coverage would be important to have? Some input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hey Larry!

I live in Columbus, OH myself. I don't any property yet, but I was planning on buying my first investment property in the next 1 - 1.5 years. I'm fairly new to this as well.

Hey everyone,

Let me preface this by saying that I'm brand new to real estate investing. I haven't done any deals yet, and am in the process of raising money to invest in real estate in the next couple of years. I'm learning a lot about REI in the meantime. My parents, however, have a duplex in Muscatine, IA that they've been renting out for about 8 years now. It has been renting quite well, but the living room has some awful color schemes - we're talking dark green carpet and pink walls! The house overall is in pretty good shape though. I'm curious about the possibility of painting the walls to a more neutral color and replacing the carpet with possibly hardwood floor. The two options then are to sell it or continue renting it at a higher rate. How do I determine if the value of the house will appreciate enough to make the rehab worthwhile? Also, if we continue to rent it out, how do I determine how much more rent I can ask for? What key metrics can I look at to determine whether or not this will be a worthwhile investment? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-Satya