. $10k later they are off my back.Three months later…We closed on this duplex in New London a month ago to house hack a bit and live mortgage free.Took me awhile to find an insurance company because of the age/size and style of the property (it’s 5600 sqft, Victorian built in 1900).We ended up going with State Farm.Usual thing happened; guy comes out and takes a look, gives a few things we should “look at”.Tells me about a tree that needs trimming and a set of stairs on the deck needs repaired; no big deal.Two weeks after closing we get a call from SF that we have been “randomly” selected for a 3rd party inspection.Two week after that we get a call from the agent saying we now have 4 things we must complete to include CUTTING said tree down, replacing windows, fixing the stairs and now I have to paint the CEDAR shingles on the garage because only half of it is painted.As you would expect, I took this news very well and only raised my voice with the guy a little.He told me I had 60 days to fix or start the repair and that a letter would be issued on the 20th of August.Silly me, I though this letter would outline what I needed to complete.NOPE, it was a letter from SF saying that my coverage was declined and was accompanied with a refund check for my premium.Turns out that 60 days is from the date when the policy was issued, not the date of this letter.So we are now 30 days into the 60 days repair window and I’m just now getting the information… Oh and that 60 days also include a couple days to insure the agent has time to come out and re-inspect and send it to underwriting.So my 60 day window was actually only 20.Additionally, every time I call them to ask a question, I get yet another list of things I should fix.Stop giving me your opinion about what you think I should do and tell the required recommendations you need me to do so I don’t lose my insurance policy!

You should also have roughly a 10-20% buffer saved up above your rehab budget for unforeseen repairs that might need to be taken care of or for emergencies like a pipe bursting or a break-in.Investing in real estate should be with your "play" money when you're just starting out, you don't want to be putting your entire savings into your first deal and have it go sideways and lose everything you've saved up.

There are many landlords out there that would probably never raise rents, but now faced with the possibility of losing the option will probably make the decision to make the jump. 

I'm ready to go into a deal right now, but nervous to venture out on my own.

By my calculations, you'd lose $100-$200 a month with the deal price and rents as the are.   

You will be losing money if the market is static or depreciating. 

Indy's on the verge of losing what little it had to make in not an armpit between St.

Or, you can let it ride and if you lose it all, how will you feel?

In the long run, the hauling is no fun at all, and I'm convinced we're losing money on it, but it makes sense to start replacing with used if a new tenant with a questionable past in rentals moves in and stuff starts breaking right and left.

So we started flipping a few houses and there were some wins and loses at first.