All Forum Posts by: Nicholas Covington

@Tony Castronovo Hello!

I see this question quite often and as a short answer, it would be no. There is not rule of thumb or formula that someone outside of the company should be aware of. When I was writing for 25+ states they gave us an average of $83 per sqft of coverage to go by but that doesn't mean much as it was not specific for each state, more like a blanket number.

Unless you are the builder of the home, replacement cost really has nothing to do with the average customer. It is the agent/carrier's responsibility to make sure that the home is appropriately covered, which is also why there are cases for extended dwelling cover (that additional %) for any discrepancies.

Each company will use a different number, the main goal of the customer to make sure that they describe their property as accurately as possible. That way you aren't getting back a home with carpeted floors instead of hand scraped wood.

Best of Luck,

Nick

@Jackson Barr Hello!

Seeing all the mixed feedback on this topic is very interesting. As there are so many investors here looking for the next "great deal," yet in reality for this to happen SOMEONE is taking a hit. There is no way around the matter. You just bought a home worth 100k for 40k? Well, that's GREAT but someone still took a hit from that. For people to say I feel bad for the people you took money from...what people? OH PLEASE! He didn't take away the next meal from someone in China that made that TV. 

As a "millennial" myself I find it very fascinating all the ways that others my age pay back their debts. Reading the "I paid back 100k in student loans in 5 years while working part - time with 2 kids and a sick mother" stories get me every time! I'm was in the same boat as you, and still in the boat. Just bought my own apartment, have to furnish it because I don't want to eat on the floor. My credit card is very "full." I'm also 65k in student loan debt as well, so I am one of those people that need to get creative with my money if I am planning to invest anytime soon. Will I be doing this? No.

That is exactly what you did. Sure it's easier to make mistakes now than it was "back then," but that doesn't mean we don't take away anything less from it. Shoot if parents actually took the time to teach us about money and such at a young age we would be in a better place. My parents NEVER spoke about money to me, I would get in trouble if I asked. It's not the schools, it's the parents and if people think otherwise, they either don't have kids or they were the one's that didn't help.

I like your drive and creativity to right your wrongs because ultimately someone got their money either way. If it's not from me, it's from my neighbor. It's not like you are going to the casino every Friday to spend your paycheck on BS *ahem.* 

Granted I am glad that I am not in that bad of a spot where I am having to make "deals" with collections, I aim to keep my credit as high as possible.  I work my 40 hours and then give the whole cookie back, keeping the crumbs. That's all I can do as of this very moment. You saw the need to get out of the hole you dug yourself in, you got some good rope you know that fancy paracord stuff, and got out. No one else was going to help you that's for sure. Other generations want to comment and say when I was your age I had to fix it myself. Well when we try to do so we get shunned for just being more creative. Womp Womp! If it's legal, more power to you. Just don't do it again. Your post wasn't advocating BUY what you want, DO this to not have to pay it back. This is the "do it yourself" forum, and that's exactly what you did.

Sorry I had fun typing this as you can see.

Kind Words,

Nick

I agree with @Thomas S. 

I was wanting to be in your corner since you felt as though it was a great deal. But ultimately it's just a smarter choice to just leave it alone and find something else.

@Eric Guth Hello!

Insurance is right up my ally! Granted I am not familiar with pricing for Baltimore so would only be able to help you with the coverage aspect. But I can say that $679 isn't too bad of a price, just not sure if it is high or low for the area. Also not knowing details on the actual home there is a lot of gray area to really check. What you have it pretty typical coverage, if you are looking to save money and the house is in relatively good condition then I would bump up the deductible to 2500 and see how much that would save you. 

If something were to happen and you put in a claim, (only do so if you REALLY need to) the 2500 would just be subtracted from the payout. A lot of people think they would need to pay this out of pocket first like with auto insurance, not the case. 

I would lower medical payments to 1k since it only applies to family members, assuming that you have health insurance and don't plan to actively hurt yourself in your own home. Tell grandma to be careful going up the stairs (joking). Water back up is a little iffy, since it really only a thing with older homes. Do toilets/drains plug up? Sure, but does the chance of that really equal paying x amount of dollars more for something that PROBABLY won't happen in a newish home? Maybe not. But again it might be good to have just in case something happens on the tenant side. But it does not cover negligence. So, in this case, I would either up it to actually cover something or get rid of it because 5k would probably not help too much in a duplex.

The main thing is to just make sure to require your tenant to get their own renters insurance to cover their belongings. They can possibly get water back up on their own policy as well, but this would just be for the personal property rather than fixing damage to the home.

Personal Property coverage is normally 70% of dwelling if you feel like this is overkill, potentially you can ask for an override to lower the coverage. Will they do this? Probably not, but it is a possibility if the carrier allows it.

Hopefully, there was some advice in this long message.

Best of Luck,

Nick

@Jill Herges Hello!

I am not familiar with how complicated the process is to have separate utilities, but I would think that it's not as hard as one would figure. Shoot my apartment complete has a meter on the water heater inside my own unit to figure out my usage and charge me that way. 

Personally, I wouldn't want to pay half of a bill knowing full well that I might have actually used less than the other person, ie I'm on vacation or one person living upstairs but 4 people down below me. But they don't have to know that.

You can put whatever terms (legally) you want in your lease contract, you have every right to do so. Because in reality if they did not pay their own utility bill, the lights would be off as well as the water. Since turning off one would turn off both, this won't really be the case but still the same principal. Rent is not just for room and board, it encompasses many other things as well. What you can do is ask the owner roughly what the bill is and just include it in rent (with some padding) saying that all utilities are paid for. That way it's all package in one payment with a nice pretty bow. Covers yourself with collecting just "rent" and falls into the category of an obligation the tenant must pay for outlined in the lease. 

Hopefully, there is some advice somewhere in my post.

Best of Luck,

Nick

 You are not allowed to have any breed restrictions on "service" animal. Whether insurance lumps "assistance" animals with that as well is another story, but I am sure they do. So still there are no breed restrictions for these type of animals.

What I do find odd is the comments that it's an excuse just to get a pet. Now I am not here to correct anyone, but it's really no one's business. If they go through the proper channels of doing so then it's all good. There are plenty of "other" things you tenant could be dabbling in that is MUCH worse than having an animal cheer them up on a daily basis. Meth house, trap house, hoarder, safe house, etc. I'm not calling anyone out just because I quoted this, but saying it's a bad excuse to get one pet is irrelevant because in all reality you have to just deal with it. Maybe they really do need the animal, you know benefit of the doubt? Who knows?

A Military Veteran with PTSD would be counted as having a valid reason for needing an emotional support animal...which again is not a service animal. Don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch. 

You can still charge a tenant for damages of the property, so anyone with a sense of obligation to keep their money and their home nice and neat would make a point to have a trained animal. If they didn't then they would probably be the ones still giving you trouble even without a pet.

@Stephanie P. Awesome! Thanks for doing that, its easy to talk about it but the proof is in the pudding.

C3 would be its classification code on condition. I believe anything under a C4 is in the green as far as condition of property a lender will make a loan for. This of course is if they are using codes from an appraisal point of view, which would make sense from public records.

 If the buildings are taxed separately then it would show that the plot of land has been split into two separate parcels. Granted the easier route would be to see what public records shows, but I am just basing it off the information provided. It may be on one piece of land, but doesn't mean that it wasn't legally split into two or more.

 Sure, but my standpoint was really knowing what is reasonably needed to provide and what shouldn't matter. Maybe agreeing wasn't the right word, I should have said "questioned" the inquiry instead. It's not needed, I am not paying. Anything you would want to use against me would be found on a background check. Just is just my opinion of course.

@Monica Marusic As a side note, I would ask the daughter if she wants to now cosign for the lease. It could potentially help her out later down the road to establish some rental history if you are reporting it to the bureaus. Since you already ran credit and such, that could be an option if she believes she would not need to worry about paying the bill. Just something to discuss.

Nick