All Forum Posts by: Eric H.

You'll need what's called a builders risk policy. Your contractor will also have a GL policy that will take some of the liability during rehab but you should also have an umbrella in place to give you a more sure level of protection. 

Every state is different consult a few Insurance Agents in New Hampshire. 

Generally speaking an umbrella policy is rated for 2 key risk factors; assets that you may lose if sued, and exposures that increase your likeliness to be sued. When it comes to units that you own, every bathtub, stair step, hand rail, linoleum floor, rusty nail, splinted fence, exposed tree root,  fireplace and electrical outlet is a potential exposure. If any of the repair/rehab work was done by you and not by a licensed contractor your exposure is magnified even more. Most people who own rental property would be best served with umbrella coverage equal to or grater than the total cap rate value of their property. 

Every state is different consult an insurance professional in Illinois.

also be sure your liability limits are adequate. As a minimum you will want at least a million dollars of personal liability insurance (more in correlation to your net worth) in the form of an umbrella policy. Get that policy with a top 10 insurance company they will likley require more responsible minimum liability limits on underling policies. Understand your risk tolerance and how deductible options effect your premium. Lastly, speak with a real estate attorney about entities for asset protection.

You will have to put the property into a land trust "Falhalkhir family trust" with yourself as the trustee and beneficiary. Record the transaction and make your Land Trust the named insured. The last step is to assign your LLC as the beneficiary, you do not record that last step in the public records though you will want your attorney to hold a noterized copy of said documents. This will raise no flags as it is a common practice in estate planning (save the step with the LLC). I'm not a lawyer, get real legal advice.

@Stephen Oakes Welcome to BP! Like you I'm just getting started here in South Central Texas. I have a long sales background and am just starting my 2nd month of directmail marketing, but I don't know much at all about construction, contracting, or swinging hammers! It appears we have very similar goals and different strengths. Maybe we can chat over coffee sometime in the up coming week. My contact info is below. 

As @Todd Plambeck said, blame your insurance company. You don't want the legal headaches of a bike ramp in your back yard! Every neighbor kid in your city is going to brake his arm or leg on that thing IF it's built well, IF it's built poorly someone could get seriously hurt. You have Absolute Liability for your property, you could have claimed ignorance when you didn't know what was going on, but now to allow it you must be responsible for: inspection of the ramp, security of the area, permitted access only, proper safety equipment etc.... if you choose not to be responsible for such things you are still Absolutely Liable. You wouldn't let them run a pit bull rescue shelter, or install a pool and high dive for recreational olympic style diving. 

Welcome to BP, @Rick Pozos has a great meeting he normally holds here around the first week of each month. Good people and good to have a network of like minded people locally.

@Kimberly H. you would be surprised tiki torches, and fire pits, like poolspools, trampolines, and vicious dogs, are hazards that leave the insured subject to Absolute Liability. Being that the hazard exists on a landlords property he/she would be the 1st person sued regardless of who the hazard belongs to. This is why landlord's who acquire a house with a pool will typically fill it in. Most homeowners policies will allow such hazards as long as there are proper safety and security devices/buffer zones in place but these safety and security provisions do not exempt anyone from liability. Dwelling policies may not allow such hazards. If a tenant owns the hazard the homeowner/landlord is still ultimately responsible but he may subrogate against the tenants personal liability coverage of their renters policy as long as the owner can prove he didn't have any negligence in the loss and the tenant has renters insurance. 

if 20% is an option, in my mind that makes the most sense. With 4% rates it seems smart to use as little as your money as possible, while avoiding PMI.

Any endorsement to a policy supersedes the original contract language. 

An "agreed value" endorsement means that the insured (you) And the insurer (your company) agree that the value of your insured property is "$x" (and not the estimated replacement cost). As long as your dwelling coverage limit is equal to the "agreed value" or "$x" you will not be subject to any coinsurance penalties.

The endorsement essentially says all original terms apply, but the they are based on "agreed value" not "estimated replacement cost".