All Forum Posts by: Jim B.

@Cierra Seay Being a fellow 27 year old, I feel the same way, but other's on the forum would probably give an arm to be in our shoes!

I was pondering it recently, think of it this way.  If you were 40-something and just discovering real estate, what would your goals be?  For me, it would be to have enough cash flow for retirement in 10, 15, 20 years.  Now, how great is it to be 27 years old and be thinking of "retiring" at age 35, 40, or 45?

Start small, what would it take to replace your income as it stands now?  For me, $3,000/month would pay my bills and give me some excess to play with or have for emergencies.  Break that down by how many "doors" you would need to make the $3,000.  10 doors might be a little aggressive, but 15 is reasonable if you find above average deals.  How long would it take you to get a couple duplexes or multi-families? Say you got a duplex and 3-unit this year, you're already 1/3 of the way to freedom!!  Duplicate that the next two years and you're at your 15 units, paying you $3,000/month, paying your bills, and giving you freedom.  And.....you're only 30 years old.  

Obviously this would be in a somewhat perfect world, but even if my scenario takes you TWICE as long, you're still not even 35 years old and financially free.  I'm not doing this to be rich, I don't need to drive a Mercedes and live in a 5,000 square foot house.  I want to not have a boss, be comfortable, volunteer, coach football, raise my future children....

Best of luck to you, hopefully I'll be seeing you around the boards!

It's all about structuring your day and sticking to a routine for me.  I'm up and in the gym by 5, home and showered by 6:30, make breakfast and send my wife off to work by 7:15, then I knock out my menial tasks (email/voicemail follow ups, etc.) and by 8 or so I'm ready to do whatever it is I need.  By 3 or so I'm usually done with everything on my revolving to-do list, so I try to get a jump start on tomorrow.

That's just what I do.  Actions become habits, habits become the norm.  It was tough at first but now if any part of my routine goes out of whack I lose my mind!  I had to replace a flat tire on my car at the dealership the other day, which took all of about 1 hour of time total, and I felt like I lost the entire day!

I like where your head is at.  I had a rental coming off of active duty as well, but ended up selling it eventually due to the stress of being an out of state landlord.  Wish I would've bit the bullet and paid for management rather than do it myself and buy beer and pizza for some privates to clean it out after the lease ended.  Those military bases aren't going anywhere, hang on to that house when you leave, there will always be somebody willing to rent it (and BAH will always increase!!!).

Along with the importance of RV rather than ACV, I would HIGHLY suggest that you all TAKE PICTURES OF EVERYTHING IN THE HOUSE!!!!

This includes personal property (usually just appliances that you own that are in the unit) as well as every single room from every single angle.  In the case of a loss, this will give the adjuster plenty of information regarding the real cost to replace everything you might not think of (crown molding, flooring, countertops, fixtures, toilets, vanities, etc.).  Getting a few dollars less than you deserve here or there on certain items listed above can really make a difference in the long run when it comes to getting you back to "whole", which is why you have the insurance in the first place.

It hasn't happened often, but as an insurance agent myself, I've had some VERY unhappy customers who experienced a loss, whether fire or flooded basement, and if they don't show proof of everything they had at it's original state, you'd better believe that the insurance company will try to screw you for every penny they can muster.  I had a guy with a custom pool table in his basement worth about $20k or more, and when a big rain came and his sump backup failed, he got $6k in replacement cost because it was so destroyed and they had no proof of what it looked like originally.  Hard to put a value on something when it's been soaking in water for 24+ hours.

Take the pictures on your phone, save them to your SD card AND internal phone memory.  It takes all of about 15 minutes to transfer them to your computer and/or "cloud" drive (whatever the hell that is).  Those 15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more!  No...I don't work for the gecko, but you get my drift.

And for the love of whoever you worship, PLEASE make sure you have at least $300-$500k in liability PER PROPERTY as well as an umbrella policy.  It's the least expensive portion of your premium in most cases, literally about $20-50 annual increase to increase liability by a few hundred thousand in coverage.  You're crazy not to have it.

Which also brings up the importance of having your tenants on renter's policies to protect their personal belongings.  It's about $150-300 per year for them depending on how much personal property they want to insure.  I would have a section on the lease that points out whether they do have coverage or are declining coverage to CYA in case there is a loss and they starting asking you to buy them new clothes and a flat screen (which I've also seen from clients).

Best of luck to you.  If you need anything else let me know.

Check out this site:

http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY...

It will give you the run down on HUD's FMR for a given area, so it will give you an idea of what THEY think is FMR.

Typically you'd want some form of broad coverage for the dwelling itself, as well as liability coverage.  Your contractors should have their own policies that cover damaged/stolen materials throughout the construction process, but if somebody vandalizes the building or injures themselves on the property, you would be open to liability or cost of repairs.

Hope that helps!

Jim

Hey everybody-

Somewhat new to the forums and getting started investing myself.  I wanted to make myself available to all of you here on the BP forums for anything regarding insurance.  I can try to answer any questions for you regardless of the state you're in.

All the best-

Jim

Hey Jake-

I'm a licensed broker in IL, MI, and WI.  If you want me to take a look at what you have and see if I can help on the premiums, shoot me a PM.

Take Care

Thanks @Brett Russell I'll check those out.  Glad to see investors in the Detroit-ish area.  I used to live near Ann Arbor, very cool part of the state.