Anyone here have rental property?

[Scarpozzi]

I put my house on the market today to sell. If it doesn't sell by mid-July, I'm going to put it up for rent until real estate prices strengthen some.

If I were to rent my house, what protections can a rental management company give me? If I rented it without the management company, I would want to form a LLC to cover me in the event of someone getting injured on my property beyond what insurance will cover...so they can't come after me. I want to avoid this though because I would have to transfer the house to the LLC and refinance the property under the company name, thus losing my good rate.

Do most management comanies cover protection if someone is injured or does that fall on the owner. I can get a major insurance policy to cover everything, but am trying to maximize risk and reward here and don't want to eat into profits if I can help it.

 

[Pacfanweb]

I have a rental house, and do not have an LLC. Just have structural insurance on the house, a good rental agreement, and require renters insurance. Not worth the trouble of an LLC, unless you're going to have a bunch of them.

edit: Don't know about the management companies....we do it ourselves. No problems so far. Even had to kick someone out, no probs.

 

[OCGuy]

Are you going to try and buy a new house while you rent it out?

You will need to qualify for both full PITI payments, without allowing for the usual 75% of rents to go towards your income unless there is 30% equity in the house.


I bought my first rental at 19 years old, always used a mangement company.

 

[XZeroII]

I don't use a management company. I just maintain insurance and require renters insurance. What additional risks do you have? If you're concerned about insurance not covering enough then get more insurance.

 

[mshan]

Personally, I'd use a management company to protect your valuable asset again potential pitfalls you just may not be aware of (till it's too late).

If you decide to manage the property yourself, NOLO has some good guides: http://www.nolo.com/resource.c...D300558FB66A9/213/178/

 

[FDF12389]

Maintain adequate insurance and try to rent it yourself using resources on the net to help, if its too much work you can always sign with a management company.

 

[imported_weadjust]

I have one rental house owned in my name. I have it insured under a dwelling rental policy from State Farm. The policy has $300,000 liability insurance in the event someone gets hurt due to my negligence. I think $300,000 is enough coverage, but you could get a personal liability umbrella policy pretty cheap if you need more coverage.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Thanks guys. I'm going to call my insurance company tomorrow and see what they can quote me on libabilty insurance and what coverage options I have to avoid spending money on the other end. I'd rather write a check and have piece of mind.

Maybe I'll get the money I'm asking for the place if it sells this summer and won't have to deal with this stuff. Otherwise, I may post back with additional questions. Thanks.