All Forum Posts by: Jeff L.
Jeff L. has started 51 posts and replied 108 times.
Post: Difference between personal and commercial insurance policy for a landlord?
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
What's the difference between a personal policy and a commercial policy for a landlord?
I was getting a quote for umbrella from RLI and they won't cover properties that are under a commercial policy:
- Excludes residential properties that are covered under a commercial or other non-personal premises liability policy.
But, they still cover "rentals". So what's the deal? Can you even get a rental put on a personal policy? If so what's the difference?
Post: Recommended Umbrella providers?
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
Originally posted by @Larry Fried:
@Jeff L. I use RLI and like the rates.
http://www.rlicorp.com
Thank you! Anybody else have recommendations so I can compare?
Post: Recommended Umbrella providers?
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
I'm looking for a (standalone) umbrella provider to give me additional liability coverage on top of my landlord policy. Any recommendations?
Post: Monthly mortgage payment questions - Hazard Insurance and County Taxes
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
Originally posted by @Jon Holdman:
The lender is only going to pay for the insurance directly on the property. You have to provide them with the information about the policy and a contact with your insurance agent. Failure to do that will result in them putting a "force placed" policy on the property. These are VERY expensive.
Have you actually closed yet? If not, be aware that at closing you have to bring a wad of money to pre-load the escrow account. This is typically 14 months insurance payment plus several months taxes. The insurance company gets paid for one year out of the closing money and the other two months go into the escrow account. You will, however, get a credit from the seller for any taxes that are owed by the seller but haven't yet been paid. Taxes are typically paid either at the end of the year or in the spring of the following year.
Interesting. Thanks this explains a lot. Do they pay interest on this preloadmoney?
Post: Monthly mortgage payment questions - Hazard Insurance and County Taxes
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
Originally posted by @Jon Holdman:
No, those won't go away. The lender will make the payments to your property insurance company and the county for the taxes. These amounts you're seeing are the escrow amounts. You pay these each month and the lender makes these payments as they come due. More correctly, the loan servicer does this. They're they ones you send your payments to. They make these tax and insurance payments as well as sending money to the actual lender.
Once a year they will do an "escrow analysis" and recalculate the escrow amount. That typically goes up a bit each year as the taxes and insurance go up. Early in the loan, though, these can go up or down a bunch. That's because they almost always get this wrong when the loan is originated and it takes a few years of adjustments to stablize them.
When they do that analysis, they may want an immediate payment of a shortage, may send you a check if there's an overage, or they may adjust your payment. Or some combination.
Wait...my lender pays my insurance company? So I never pay my insurance company directly? So if I get extra coverage like an umbrella policy, does my lender pay for that too (with a higher monthly payment from me of course)?
Post: Monthly mortgage payment questions - Hazard Insurance and County Taxes
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
My lender sent me the itemized monthly mortgage payments I'll be making. Along with the principle and interest are two items I had questions about:
1) Hazard Insurance - does this go away once I'm covered by my own landlord insurance policy? Do I have to have this?
2) County Taxes - A monthly payment for this included in the mortgage. Does the lender pay the property taxes for me from what I pay them? I'm confused about this item.
Post: Are property taxes only paid to the county? Are there city or state taxes too?
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
When you pay property taxes, are they only to the county, or is there also a city and state property tax?
When I'm looking at a property's tax history, usually it's a percentage of the assessed value. This is paid to the county only right? Are there additional taxes on top of that?
Post: Californian rental investors - at what point did you LLC...or not?
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
@Michael Modesto from what I understand, you must establish an LLC in California if you are in California. Even if you only have properties in other states.
You can have LLCs in other states, but since you're "doing business in CA", you have to have one here as well. So if you have a property in New York, you'd have to have an LLC in New York and California...and pay fees for both states.
Post: Californian rental investors - at what point did you LLC...or not?
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
The $800 annual fee per LLC is pretty ridiculous for a starting out investor is it not?
How many properties did you own before you decided it was worth it and formed your LLC?
Or did you decide it wasn't worth it and do you mitigate your risk some other way?
Post: Californian rental investors - at what point did you LLC...or not?
- Investor
- Pope Valley, CA
- Posts 108
- Votes 15
The $800 annual fee per LLC is pretty ridiculous for a starting out investor is it not?
How many properties did you own before you decided it was worth it and formed your LLC?
Or did you decide it wasn't worth it and do you mitigate your risk some other way?