All Forum Posts by: Daniel Burdi

@Marcia Maynard Thank you for your explanation of how the transfer works at the point of a real estate closing, I'm having an issue however accounting for the security deposit credit we received at closing. Unfortunately, in our particular case, it didn't get transferred to us as a separate check payment but rather just deducted from the cash required to close. This has caused us a bit of hassle from the accounting perspective. 

We're using Buildium for our management and accounting. I'm not sure if you are familiar with that but if you are, great. Do you have a recommendation of how we should have treated the $575 and $500 security deposits credited at closing? Even if you aren't familiar with Buildium, how in general from an accounting perspective would you handle this situation?

Thanks for any help you or anyone else might be able to offer on this.

Thanks @Chris Mason for the suggestion and @Josh Chapman for the confirmation! Do either of you know of anything more? I'll definitely will take a look but wanted to expand horizon beyond BP stuff is possible.

Thanks,

Dan

One area I feel I don't know enough about when it comes to real estate investing are the various financing options and strategies that exist. Can anyone here suggest some good books to read that might help me get a better grasp?

@Jared Townsend Based on that article, it would appear that given the building costs, we should go for the insurance. The question in the area we are in is that although it would probably physically cost that much to rebuild those buildings, the land itself without the buildings on it is probably with the same amount. If the area were destroyed by a hurricane, businesses shut down, tourism industry declined etc., would it even be worth rebuilding those buildings on the same lot or just sell the lot and move on. 

Alternatively, with insurance, wouldn't I have the option of just being paid on the claim and not having to rebuild. Thus still being able to sell the lot, take the money from the claim and reinvest elsewhere? Or would that not be permitted?

We have three buildings on the property. They are all concrete block constructed. Premium is $4,251/year with 3% deductibles (min. $10,000). Total building cost is listed as $767,900.

I own a 12 unit apartment complex in Venice, Florida on the Gulf Coast. The property was purchased for about $500k and is probably worth about $700k at this point which is mostly the land value. Essentially, the land is probably worth $700k with or without the three buildings it has on it, on it. That said, the question becomes, is it worth carrying hurricane insurance on this property and paying high premiums, high deductibles in the event of a claim etc.? My insurance agent has alluded to it possibly not being worth it. Is that potentially the case?

That's a good idea. I guess the real appeal of the RV park concept was that it wouldn't be so much of an investment on our end whereas self storage would require a bit more of an upfront investment. That is another good idea though.

I recently invested in multi-family property. There are three lots total, all zoned multi-family. Two of the three lots have buildings on them with several units that are all rented. The other lot is completely vacant. Does anyone have any ideas on how this land could be used to generate income.

The property is about three blocks from the beach.

One idea I had thought of was an RV park (only room for about three or four spots) but that would still generate pretty good income. However, it sounds like there might be ordinances preventing this. That said, any other ideas?