All Forum Posts by: Chuck Masters

You may find that your current insurance will not cover you for short term rentals. Some insurance companies will insure STR but not if the guests stay for less than 7 days so be sure to ask. As for having the STR in and LLC, I feel it's a better bet to do so. Oh and that 1 million dollar liability coverage VRBO / AirBnB like to advertise. Don't count on it, they are only looking out for their own interests, not yours and mine.

@Diane Dutt very few lenders will call a loan that is current and paid on time. Now if interest rates climb to 8 to 9 % then a mortgage lender has a reason to call the loan in order to increase profits.

A warranty deed keeps the integrity of the title insurance while a quit claim deed does not.

@Wayne Brooks checking the county clerks records is a good idea had not thought of that!

@Wayne Brooks your explanation is what I would expect but I keep reading on various lawyer web sites that the transfer tax is 7% of the current mortgage which for a 150k mortgage is 10,500, which is just nutz!

I’d like to hear from someone that has first hand knowledge that has done this recently in Florida.  

@Ken Naim My properties are in Lake County. I'm reading that the fees are .07 x the mortgage amount to transfer into an LLC. That amounts to about 10k per property. OUCH.

I have 2 properties in Florida (live in Maryland) one is a long term rental and the other is a short term rental, both are in our personal names. Wanting to move these properties into an LLC but I find out we have to pay taxes (7%) on the transfer equivalent to the mortgage balance. Then I learn we can move them into a land trust bypassing this 7% tax then into and LLC.

I read that folks were having a tough time finding someone to insure a property into a land trust. I asked my agent and he said no go. Asked 2 other independent insurance brokers in Florida and they also said no go. Can’t get insurance for a property in a land trust.

Is anyone in BiggerPockets community owning property in a Florida land trust and found insurance ?

Pedro were you able to find an insurance company that would insure your property in the Florida land trust? I have 2 properties in Florida and I’ve contacted 3 insurance companies and they will not insure a property in a land trust. I’m holding off until I find a company to insure.

Chuck

In my STR I currently have Wink hub. I also used Wink at home too. Well when Wink has issues a few months ago I switched to Hubitat at my home but I'm still using Wink in my STR until I have the kinks worked out with Hubitat. In my STR I only have 3 smart switches one to turn on the garage and front door lights on at dusk and off at sunrise so the guests never arrive to a dark front entrance. My other switch is on a pair of lamps in the living room that come on 30 min before dusk so guests do not walk into a dark house. I also use an Amazon echo that interacts with those smart switches and the thermostat so guests can even query thermostat temperature or change the temp via Alexa.
At home I switched to Hubitat that is more powerful than Wink. While I have a lot of automation at home too much automation could be a turn off for guests in a STR. 

One automation I'm exploring and it's sounds easy to do but it's not and that is set up door and windows sensors so that if a guests leaves a door open longer than 15 minutes a trigger notifies the thermostat to raise the temp on the AC to shut it off (STR is in central Florida) then have Alexa announce that the AC is turned off and to close the door.
I also have Arlo Pro 2 cameras facing both entrances that message me when there is motion. 
I read a few weeks ago Samsung may be discontinuing their hub and other accessories.  Right now it’s hard to find some of their products. Something to consider before moving to Smartthings. 

@James Jacobs when I purchased my vacation rental near Disney World I looked at airbnb and vrbo to see what others were charging per night for their rentals and then looked at their calendars to see their occupancy. From there I used this data to build my model for potential profits/expenses. Next I contacted a few property managers in the area to learn how they could assist and to interview them and to also learn about the area along with learning the cycles for rentals. When we found a property manager we then rented a vacation home that they managed to get first hand knowledge of their management style, including contacting them off hours to see how they respond. Hope this helps.

I've have a STR near the 192/Rt 27 area 10

Min to Disney and up until March everything was GREAT. Since March I’ve had 2 guests totaling 11 days. I do still get VRBO inquiries that are potential parties after vetting so we don’t accept. My neighbor who was no minimum stay requirements, we have 3 day minimum, has party guests all the time. Too much damage from party guests and complaints from the neighbors.

Just my opinion but If it were looking for STR right now in that area I would wait too see how many owners give up because they can't afford to carry the mortgage and sell and if the market has a lot of these, lower prices, and that may start happening in the spring time.