All Forum Posts by: Ryan Spath

Totally agree with you here. We invest (buy and hold) in a small town on the eastern seaboard, and we’ve seen firsthand how these factors affect premiums:

• Homes built after 2002 often benefit from lower premiums due to stricter post-Hurricane Andrew building codes and improved construction standards.

• Flood zones matter—a lot. If the property is in a FEMA-designated zone (e.g., Zone A, AE, V), separate flood insurance is required, and it can be expensive.

• Roof age is critical. Older roofs (15+ years) can increase premiums or even make a property uninsurable without replacement. Wind-resistant or newer roofs often qualify for discounts.

• Claim history is another big one. Water damage claims in particular can be red flags. Always ask your insurer to pull a CLUE report during your due diligence period—this can reveal past claims that might impact your policy or rates.

• We have been going back and forth of moving the capital into a different market to avoid the long term risks.

You're absolutely right to be cautious — living in Florida without coverage for named storms is a major exposure, especially with how frequently hurricanes affect the region.

While commercial insurance might be attractive for things like liability or rental flexibility, if it excludes named storm coverage, you're potentially on the hook for catastrophic losses from wind, rain, or flooding during a hurricane — which is exactly the kind of risk insurance is meant to protect against.

Here’s a quick breakdown of your situation:

• Florida = high hurricane risk.

• Named storms = the biggest insurance threat in Florida.

• No named storm coverage = you could lose the entire structure without reimbursement.

Hey everyone, quick question for my fellow investors and agents out there —

I was recently networking with some other agents not in my market and came across a couple who are actively offering 30–40% below market value on MLS listings.
Surprisingly, they’ve been having some success getting responses and even a few accepted deals.

It got me thinking —
Have any of you tried this strategy in your market?

• Are sellers actually entertaining these lower offers where you are?
• Does it seem to work better with certain types of properties (distressed, long days on market, etc.)?
• Any tips on making these low offers more likely to get a response?

Would love to hear if anyone’s had experience — good or bad — with this approach recently!

@Brett Ponters 

We have properties in Florida a couple hours north of you, and my agent has been telling me that other investors have been offering around 40% below MLS asking prices — and they’re actually getting responses and even some accepted offers.
If you can communicate directly with the listing agents and have solid cash buyers lined up, definitely give it a try!

With how things are sitting right now, it seems like there’s more room to get aggressive, especially on those light rehab deals where sellers are a little more motivated.

@Dalton Prows 

Hey, welcome to BiggerPockets — glad you jumped in! Sounds like you're making great progress on your first rental.

About your question: while building code typically requires a minimum of 70 sqft for a bedroom, what really matters is what’s typical and expected in your market. I'd highly recommend researching local rental listings (especially ones near your property's size and location) to see how big bedrooms usually are.

In some markets, smaller bedrooms are totally normal and renters won't mind, especially if you're offering three total bedrooms and two baths. In others, tenants might expect larger rooms and could see the small size as a downside.

If your market leans toward valuing functionality and higher bedroom count (like for families or roommates), two smaller bedrooms might rent better.
If space and comfort are bigger selling points, one larger bedroom could make more sense.

Bottom line: let the local market guide you — and great job thinking this through before pulling the trigger!

@Shane Murphy 

Building Wealth One House at a Time by John W. Schaub is my all-time favorite — the principles are truly timeless, in my opinion.
BiggerPockets has a great collection. 

• The Book on Managing Rental Properties by Brandon Turner

• The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner

• Landlording on Autopilot by Mike Butler

• Build a Rental Property Empire by Mark Ferguson

• The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy

• Tax-Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright, CPA

• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko

• Lifeonaire by Steve Cook and Shaun McCloskey

I've personally used the BiggerPockets leases provided to Pro members, making edits along the way as needed.
For insurance, you can reach out to almost any company — we've been happy using State Farm here in Idaho.
As for ROI calculations, we keep it simple: we created a basic Excel sheet to quickly run the numbers and decide if a deal is worth pursuing further.

What market are you interested in investing in?

@Ryan Ramsay welcome to the amazing world of investing! House hacking is definitely the way to go! Portland is a great market (I used to live in Tigard) the landlord tenant laws are a bit tricky so be sure to become familiar with these especially if you purchase a property with tenants in place. I'm local in Idaho, Boise specifically if I can help in any way, please reach out. 

@Jasmyne Rucker, welcome to the wonderful world of RE investing! Read, Watch, go to.

1. Read every book you can on the topic, BP has an amazing source of books to choose from. Building wealth one house at a time by John W Schwabb is one of my all time favorites!

2. Youtube university is another great resource. Brandon Turner, Chad Carson, David Green, Ken McElroy are a few of my favorites.

3. Lastly dive in, go to local meet ups, and see what people are doing and get ideas from them, we all love to share, there is so much opportunity to go around we can seize it all.

Best of luck, lean in if you have any specific questions, I'm in Boise, Idaho for reference and also invest long distance in a small market in Florida.

Welcome to the exciting world of real estate investing! When I wasn’t a more seasoned investor (yet), I have dipped my toes in by renting out a room in a townhome I owned. It actually went pretty well. Sure, you give up a bit of privacy and share common spaces—kind of like being back in college—but it was worth it. That simple hack covered about 50% of my mortgage, which was a huge win.

Looking ahead, a duplex might be the smarter move. Not only can it offset your living costs now, but when you eventually move out, it has the potential to generate solid cash flow as a full rental property.

At the end of the day, the real question is: How uncomfortable are you willing to be now in order to be financially comfortable later?

We handle all of our property bookkeeping in-house using a custom-built Excel spreadsheet system tailored to our rental portfolio. Each property has its own dedicated tab where we track income and itemized expenses, giving us a clear view of each unit’s financial performance.

We also maintain a consolidated summary tab at the end of the spreadsheet that provides a high-level snapshot across all properties — perfect for reviewing overall cash flow and portfolio health.

Currently, we manage a dozen long-term rental properties. Classifying and updating monthly expenses typically takes about an hour. To keep everything organized and separate, we use a dedicated business credit card and bank account strictly for our rental operations — no co-mingling of personal funds.

For online rent collection, we use ScheduleMyRent.com, which charges $2/month per property. It handles rent collection and deposits funds directly into our account, saving time and hassle.

For leases, we use DocuSign, which allows us to upload our lease agreements and have all parties sign electronically via phone or computer. They offer various plans depending on how frequently you use the service.

We’ve used Zillow for rental applications and background checks. While I’ve heard others mention reliability issues, we haven’t personally had any problems with it.

When screening tenants, it's crucial to create a clear, written set of criteria — and stick to it. Make sure you're familiar with your local landlord-tenant laws and always operate in compliance.

Congrats on your rental property! Feel free to reach out with any questions — happy to help where I can.