All Forum Posts by: Susan O.

Hi we have some rentals in southern California.  Rental single houses, duplexes, triplexes, quads

I am planning to overhaul all insurance- I have State Farm and I think they charge a lot but I have nothing to compare for Rental house and small units insurance.

I was wondering what you generally get on dwelling?  Cost of rebuilding? Like if building is worth $300k would you insure for Dwelling at $300k total or do some lesser percentage

Also for Business Liability/ rental liability what are you generally insuring on lets say a rental duplex or a rental house?

I am just doing Business Liability (per occurrence) $500k then there's 2nd part that says (annual aggregate $1M).  Medical payments to others is just $1,000.

  Is that pretty standard?

Annual premium for instance for a SFR is $300 for insuring $130k dwelling. Some duplexes are about $500-600 per year. Is that pretty standard?

We have a net worth of about $3-5M in property

Good articles Chad

It looks like some rent control will spread in California but the apartment associations are using studies and economic consultants who are unbiased to prove that it is bad when rent control is broadly placed in cities.

Rent control seems to work for a few renters to keep them in but eventually ends up in less housing stock and leads to housing crisis and underbuilding.

Here's a recent independent study done that you should forward to local politicians and state representatives:

https://caanet.org/criticism-of-rent-control-mount...

http://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/chap18p...

This is regarding Boston's rent control in 1998--

http://economist.com/node/161526

they'd probably have less housing crisis if they let the supply demand market take effect-- then there would have been more building of newer housing in the city and it wouldn't be so slummy like it is in some east and north parts of Boston city and the county

 Here's a little update by the California Apartment Association. 

https://caanet.org/criticism-of-rent-control-mount...

It looks like some rent control will spread in California but the apartment associations are using studies and economic consultants who are unbiased to prove that it is bad when rent control is broadly placed in cities.

Rent control seems to work for a few renters to keep them in but eventually ends up in less housing stock and leads to housing crisis and underbuilding.  Basically investors leave cities that have rent control for nearby cities ---or even leave the state and bring their money and revive other buildings in other areas

It's messed up Daniel

https://caanet.org/criticism-of-rent-control-mount...

This is kind of what I think. He doesn't want a 'potential' audit or 'potential questions from IRS regarding this one property

This property out of state is $6k total rental income, $15k in travel/meals and a net loss of about $25k apx.

We had to do a lot of major repairs and had it empty most of the year.  We had code enforcement as well so we had to do a lot of capital improvements.

Basically because on this duplex in a "tropical vacation area" it kinda stands out compared to the income we get from other rentals.

I think our accountant has a hard time believing we go out there just to repair the property.  There's 3 family members investing in the property so we do a lot of trips to meet contractors, tenants, management etc.

Most of our properties are in California with Gross Rental income of like $20-150k per year for each sched e property. They for most part our california properties net cash flow or break even with expenses. Their NOI is like $5-30k on the sched E

@August Faustino That LA RSO is bad.  I have a friend who has a duplex where one unit is fixed up and nice and gets $1600 for a 2 br.  The other side of the duplex is exactly the same exept it looks like a slum and he's getting $650 for the same 2 br.  The tenants destroy it and have been in a REAP program in the past where the city steps in and takes 50% o the rents in an escrow program. 

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-costa-hawkin...

@jonathan Be careful with this new bill AB 1506 they are trying to expand those Rent Control lawas

http://abc7.com/news/boyle-heights-tenants-protest...

I hope this doesn't happen there.  Tenants are protesting and fighting to take away property owner rights.

@Jonathan A. google search RSO REAP Rent escrow program

This is a statewide organization

https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/renters-stri...

They're really rallying support for putting regulations on real estate investing throughout California and there are a lot of states that are worse.  I've heard NYC, DC, and Boston are really harsh on mom and pop landlords

link?

Wouldn't it be better to just keep things simple for now and be sole proprietor?  This guy isn't Donald trump yet.  Just let him get a couple deals first before paying a lawyer, accountant etc.  He doesn't have properties yet

I've always wonderied about that 750+ hour rule for active vs passive investors. That's for writing off real estate losses onto your W2s etc right?

Well if you hire property management like I do could you still claim 750 hours? I do managing management, and still do repairs, meet tenants, deal with turnover, and spend about 3 hours a day researching and planning for REI. So would all that qualify as the 750 hrs and be justifiable?