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All Forum Posts by: Joe Gemma

Joe Gemma has started 13 posts and replied 37 times.

Post: Grounded Receptacle Rental Requirements

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2

Hi All!

Recently closed on my first investment property (3br SFH) in Baltimore County and I am hoping to have it ready for the rental market by Nov 1. I have yet to get it inspected and have a few questions regarding this process that I was hoping the BP community could offer some advice on.

1) Grounded Receptacles. It appears that the receptacles in the main living rooms have no metal box and are not fully grounded. From what I get out of the code for rental licensing, it seems as if on receptacles in the laundry room and bathroom need to be grounded (which they are).

"Each habitable room in a housing unit must contain at least one receptacle outlet, each laundry area and bathroom must contain at least one grounded type receptacle, and each kitchen must contain at least two receptacle outlets on a single small appliance circuit rated at a minimum of 20 amperes. Read the Rule: Baltimore County Code

Post: Grungy Counter Tops

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2

Hi All,

Finally settled on my first investment property. Ready to get my hands dirty and get this place rental ready (hopefully by Nov 1). One issue I have is some grungy counter tops. Trying to keep costs as low as possible so I'm wondering if there's any way to clean these up without replacement. I'm thinking probably not but figured I'd ask on here.

Thanks

Joe 

Post: Rent loss coverage on a vacant property?

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2

After much back and forth, the lender dropped the requirement due to sufficient income. As always, thank you all for your help!

Post: Rent loss coverage on a vacant property?

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2
Originally posted by @Justin H.:
Are you sure your insurance company has an issue with it being without tenant for a short remodel period and a normal rental policy with rent loss coverage won't suffice? Or are you planning to take more than a couple months to get it ready?

the plan was to settle 9/15 and have a tenant in there 11/1

Post: Rent loss coverage on a vacant property?

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2
Originally posted by @J Scott:

Are you certain that the lender doesn't want builders risk insurance?  Rent loss insurance makes no sense. 

Yes definitely rent loss. I agree and I'm pretty confused. I also have income and reserves that  would be more than sufficient to not rely on the rental income. 

Post: Rent loss coverage on a vacant property?

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2
Originally posted by @Justin H.:
Sounds like you are misunderstanding what they are asking you to have. It's loss of rents or "loss of use" coverage, for example, next year it's rented and a tornado rips the roof and a wall and it takes 2 months to fix. Your tenant will not pay for the 2 months they can't live there, but your insurance can cover that loss. Typically I see "up to 12 month loss of use" in rental policies. Check with other insurance companies if for some reason yours doesn't already cover it and won't offer it.

 Right but there is no tenant so how can an insurer provide more than a quote? 

Post: Rent loss coverage on a vacant property?

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2

Hi all,

I'm closing on an investment property in 3 weeks and have run into an issue. 

The lender is requiring that I have an insurance policy with rent loss coverage. The property is going to be vacant initially as I need to do some renovations so no insurance company I've talked to can provide rent loss coverage on a vacant property. This makes sense considering there is no rent to lose. 

Is this a normal lending requirement? Any ideas on what I can do?

Thanks 

Joe

Post: Rental Inspection

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2

Thank you guys!

Post: Rental Inspection

Joe GemmaPosted
  • Investor
  • Rosedale, MD
  • Posts 38
  • Votes 2

Hi all!

Settling on a single family investment property in early September and one of the settlement contingencies from the lender is "Evidence that you have registered the property with Baltimore County as a rental unit."

This is problematic because before rental inspection (required to register as rental), I need smoke alarms installed and presumably a few other minor things taken care of. I imagine that I can't work on the house prior to actually owning it. My realtor was also confused by this requirement and stated that she has never heard of a rental inspection being completed prior to a settlement.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation or have familiarity with standard protocol. This is in Baltimore County.

Thanks as always!

Joe

That's pretty crazy. Without knowing any of the legalities of a situation like that, I wonder if you (the actual owner) would be entitled to the revenue they received from AirBnB. Just a thought. Hope this works out for you. 

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