All Forum Posts by: Sylvia H.

 Hey Sylvia, according to the insurance company since I didn't have the property for more than three months there was nothing they could do since the policy I had (which @Michael Norris nailed) was a vacant policy and all it covered was vandalism and not the theft. Even though they did rip pipes out of the walls. That is still considered theft. What I was told was that if it had been three months and day after acquiring the property they would have covered it. Go figure. Definitely a learning experience.

Thank you all for your feedback. Now I'm just trying to figure of how I can come up with creative way to generate capital to continue the renovations.

KB

Good Evening BiggerPockets Family, I'm new to the forums and have been looking to see if I can find a solution to my current problem. I have a 2 unit, 1b, 1bth duplex in Jennings, MO that I acquired back in July. Now I should preface this by saying I've learned from this experience and l'm still learning as I've only been doing this a few months. With that being said. I acquired this property with a HML and about 30K for the rehab budget. The rehab was two months in and a little over budget when the units were broken into and major items including the pipes, water heater and condensers were stolen. Insurance isn't covering anything and I'm hoping there's a solution to resolving this where I can fund the damages and complete the rehab and keep the property even if it takes some time to recoup the loss. What are my options or vehicles available to me? If any? I welcome and appreciate all feedback.

What do you do for book keeping for your first rentals?

Hello everyone, I’ve been debating back and forth whether to sell my property or not. 

I own a 3/2 1200sqft sfh in Ft. Lauderdale built in 1958 that I purchased in 2020 for 235k. I put a new roof and did minor upgrades on the interior, paint ceiling fans etc. Fast forward, I got married and moved in with my wife who had a newly built town home. 

I’ve rented the place to friends short term (month to month) but now it’s gonna be vacant next month. My long term goal is to have enough properties to cash flow about 6 to 10k per month. I’m mid 30’s and do about 90k per year at my full time, my wife does about the same. The property can sell for about 350-385k right now. My mortgage is about 180k 3.5% interest rate. My monthly expenses are about 1600 (tax insurance mortgage). Rents currently are from 2300 to 2700 per month. Airbnb seems to be about 120-150 per night. I want to own more properties and considering the age of the property, the equity, and the tax situation was considering selling to get more capital to invest and have ready if the market dips a bit next year.

1) Do I sell now and take the profit and try to purchase 2 properties next year? (I was thinking I’d be able to take the profits tax free since I owned it as a primary for over 2 years).

2) Spruce it up a bit and get it ready for new tenants to lease annually? ( it’s gonna likely need paint, new washer/dryer and stove)

3) Fix it up and furnish it for str abnb? Not my fav option because I’d have to put a lot of money and time into it to furnish and manage and I don’t have a pool and I’m not sure I’d get more than 150 per night and with vacancies that’d be comparable to annual lease rates.

Thanks I’m advance for taking the time to read my post and share your thoughts and opinions.

We own all our properties in LLCs with mortgages in our personal names as we switched them to the LLC after purchase. We never had problems with mortgage companies accepting the insurance in our LLC names until this year. 2 of them sent letters saying we have to have the insurance in our personal names which opens us up to liability exposure. We could have us as primary on the policy with the LLC as additionally insured but I don't like the exposure that gives us. Is anyone else having this happen and are there any solutions or workarounds other than refinancing at higher interest rates to a commercial loan or paying the property off?

Hi, I recently inherited a 6 unit apartment building that is located in a prime East coast location. Three of the 6 tenants have been there for a long time and the previous owners chose to forgo raising rental fees on a regular basis. Since the building is now under new ownership my real estate attorney informed me that I can increase rental fees above the 3 to 5% norm, for those who are significantly under current market rental rates. One tenant is at least $1K under market and the other two are $700 under market. The state has no limit on rental fee increases; the critera is that the tenant may not consider it unconscionable. The attorney cited an example of a landlord who purchased a property, raised rental fees by 20% and the tenants hired attorneys to contest and the landlord negotiated a lesser increase. Based on thousands of dollars invested in improvements and repairs, I believe I can substantiate a 20% increase. However, I also am concerned about relations with my tenants and want to avoid additional attorney fees to address tenant opposition. I would love to hear others' perspectives. Thanks in advance. 

1. How frequently you are getting property inspections done? Quarterly or once in six months or yearly? Or when there are some repairs done and you want to validate the repairs?

2. Rather than doing inspections what if you ask tenants to provide the images and notes?

3. What if tenants don't provide the images and notes?

4. How much advance notice you need to provide to the tenants before inspections?

5. What if tenants are given 1-2 weeks notice but even then tenants are not willing to let you for property inspection?

 Thanks for the insight.  I can understand that point of view.   That is not my intention.   My intention is to create a new life in a new area for myself.  And house hacking makes this doable for my situation.  I appreciate that point of view and definitely helps me understand the reasoning from uw.   

Hello,

I listed my property for rent it's in a Class A area and I am getting a lot of section 8 inquries. Are they worth it? How should I pursue if they are worth the effort? Is there going to be a lot of paper work with City? Appreciate your inputs.

Thanks