All Forum Posts by: Kyle Meyers

Get it covered for replacement cost, that will protect you best, and shouldn't cost too much more than appraised value or depreciated value. Set your premiums higher too, that will save you, and you don't want to be making claims for small amounts anyways. The most important thing is to have good liability coverage, I have at least $500k on each of my properties and I also have an umbrella policy. My most expensive property policy is about $600/yr, with property insured for $160k.

I am not an insurance agent, and this is not legal/financial/insurance advice.

Thanks for sharing this. I was just talking to my attorney about this same subject today.

I just contacted REO sentinel over the weekend, they have a product that works off batteries and the cellular network so there are no wires to be cut. It sends you a picture of anyone entering the property. I am planning to get one to try it out and see how they work.

I have taken the class, and actually took and passed the test as well, but I am not licensed. I think it is valuable information to have, but I wouldn't spend too much on it since you can get a lot of the same information on BP.

As for whether or not you can take the class online, that varies by state, in Indiana, the class has to be taken in person, but continuing education can be done online.

An alternative that I haven't checked into really, would be to see if a local college offers any real estate courses. I am in college right now and taking all the real estate classes I can apply to my major and they are proving very helpful. If I were not in school now, I would have looked for a community college with real estate classes. I especially find real estate law helpful to understand more about.

The property type and area you are describing sounds like you could buy it, fix it up, and rent it out for a good return, but I don't think it would be as easy to flip.

Status update: I have my offer ready, but they aren't taking non-owner occupied offers until Friday, so I am waiting. I decided not to waive the inspection because when I looked at the property I couldn't get the HVAC to work, so I want to have someone look at that. If they don't accept the offer, I will move on to another property.

Thanks everyone for all your advice.

David,

Do you have any suggestions of which brokers I should look to hang my license with?

The family members rents should be set at market rents. If your partner wants to help them out with their rent he can write them a check, no reason for you to give them a break on rent.

As mentioned above, you have to work under a broker. You will probably have about $1000 of fees to start and may have desk fees every month depending on which broker you work with.

In my reading of the code in Indianapolis, water heater replacement is specifically exempted from the permit requirements for one and two family dwellings. I have had 3 water heaters installed, 1 by an HVAC, 2 by plumber. I did not have to show permits or a license to buy 2 from Home Depot.