All Forum Posts by: Jibu V.

Does the HML do a third-party appraisal or is it their own desktop appraisal?

Also, I assume that's their appraisal of ARV and not the value at time of purchase - is that correct?

@Andrew Postell wouldn't the 80% LTV only be allowed on a rate and term refi? This sounds like a cash out refi.

@Nathan Gesner Thanks for the suggestions. I did try that before posting this, but the option to "edit a lease term" does not show up. I was able to connect with their support today and the rep confirmed that in order to extend the "end date" on their platform, I would have had to do it before the original "end date" passed. Since it just passed, my only option is to create a new lease and set the tenant up again on the platform. They would have to set up their payments again. I would also need to manually carry over any bills that did not get paid before the residents got cut off from making payments. Since I'd have to do all of this anyway, I am taking this as my queue to fully switch over to another platform.

Fortunately, I've already been testing out Innago with one of my units and it's been working a lot better than Apartments.com.

My properties recently transferred from Cozy to Apartments.com. Shortly thereafter, the leases for two units ended per the original Apartments.com settings but the tenants extended. However, I can't see where to extend the lease on this platform once the lease end date has passed. On the Settings page for the units, it says "Payments can no longer be re-activated because this lease has ended." Without being able to extend it in the platform, it appears that my tenants are unable to submit payments.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how to resolve this? Apartments.com support seems rather scant...

@Jared Townsend

Thanks - with the $100K liability coverage limit, why not supplement that with an umbrella policy? I’ve been presented with a couple of Excess & Surplus quotes but they are $1K to $2K MORE than the Citizens quote.

I’m not sure how much lower they would be if the roof was replaced. However, at those higher rates, it seems like I’d be better off replacing the roof ASAP.

@Kim Meredith Hampton

Thanks, it sounds like Citizens is currently my only option based on what my agent just came back with. Do you know what the downside is of going with Citizens? The premium doesn’t seem bad so I am wondering if there is another risk in using them.

My agent in Florida informed me that Universal Insurance Company of North America isn't renewing my policy for an Orlando rental property, which is apparently what they are doing for a lot of policyholders this year. When the agent then went to pull quotes for other carriers, they said nothing came up because my roof is "too old" (around 17 years). There are currently no active leaks and I would estimate at least another 2-5 years on it. Another agent told me the same thing. I have about 30 days left to find new coverage.

Anyone familiar with this issue in Florida and know what options or carriers could work for me until I actually need to replace the roof rather than being forced to replace it prematurely? 

@David M.

In addition to local banks, check local credit unions, which tend to have favorable HELOC programs including, in some cases, HELOCs on investment properties.

@Greg H.

If all else looks good, then you could request the last 3-6 months of rent up front, along with a higher deposit to the extent, that it’s allowed by the municipality.

If they can only pay cash, you could have them deposit it directly into one of your bank accounts. You would need to provide the account and routing numbers, the same information someone would see if they received a check from you. They would need to take it to your bank, preferably one that has a branch close by to the rental property. This is more administratively burdensome as your electronic rental portals won’t get updated automatically this way, but it’s a good alternative to accepting cash in-person. 

I looked into apartments.com a few weeks ago before I settled on switching to Innago. I wanted to see if it was better than cozy. Besides the glitches when I was using their interface, the dealbreaker for me was the fact that you’re stuck with their leases if you want to use their e-signing. You cannot customize it or add any provisions of your own to their existing lease.