40) Your Insurer Is Not Your Friend & Outdoor Hospitality

Real Estate Investing with House Money

House Money Weekly

In this week’s episode, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Matt, the RV Park Guy. For the House Money Weekly segment, they discuss blog 138, 3 Must Haves for Every Investor Buy Box. Whenever Alan buys a property, he likes to narrow the scope. The more narrow the scope then the more you have a very clear buy box. The 1st must-have is a growing population. You want people moving into the area because you have more demand for rental properties. Lauren shares that for short-term rentals, especially for one of them, people go there because of the small town vibes. Matt's RV Parks are in tiny little villages with no population that's why they have to evaluate if it is a place that people can get to easily or if it is a desirable place to go. The 2nd must-have is a diverse economy. Atlanta is one of Alan's favorite places because of the huge healthcare population, the growing startup population and Atlanta has all different industries that even if you leave Atlanta while working in one of the industries there, you can probably still keep your job and find a new one in a different city. Lauren's apartment building is an island of 700 and it doubles in the winter. The 3rd must-have (according to Alan) is a two-hour drive to an airport. Alan likes this idea because most people are willing to do a two-hour drive to a major airport as part of their travel and an airport is typically where universities are built around and where new headquarters are going to be built so it will be a safe spot for new investors to invest in a property. Lauren agrees more that being within 2 hours of a large city (with an airport) is important to her. Matt’s rule of thumb is 3 hours.

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: When should someone lock their mortgage rate?

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Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Andy Gurczak, the Founder/CEO of AllCity Adjusting. Andy is a private-public adjuster. They represent the insured and advocate for the insured against their insurance company. The insurance company is trying to minimize claims, which is why you need someone on your side. Adjusters walk clients through the claims process where they cover everything. Adjusters are paid by receiving contingency pay (a percentage of the payout). Most adjusters charge anywhere from 10% to 20% and get paid once the claim is settled. Lauren asks Andy how he got into this kind of job and it’s because he met a public adjuster that was doing this job for almost 40 years. Andy also walked us through the claims process. When it comes to situations where people are not properly insured or underinsured, Andy finds it hard because they can only do so much about it. They look over their policies all the time to see what needs to be changed and where something isn’t covered. Lauren asks Andy a scenario where a property is flooded, can she go in there and cut drywall out on the same day? Although you want to mitigate, you want to have someone that photographs it and documents everything for the insurance. Some mistakes owners make are being underinsured, not documenting, not getting somebody in there quick enough, and not inventorying. Another mistake owners make is when they call to file a claim, they use the wrong terms, and they don’t properly read their policies or they don’t even know their policies. Andy also cautions against having “forced placed” insurance. And lastly, Andy makes real estate easy by keeping it simple. Understanding construction helped Andy, which leads to making real estate easy for him. Alan adds that having a niche is what helps. For Andy, it’s construction. Matt agrees that knowing construction isn’t a necessary skill, but you need to have some skills. For Lauren, it’s being organized and being able to manage people.

Contact our Guest:

Direct number: 708-655-4186

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-gurczak-528b9b64

https://www.allcityadjusting.com/

Guest Host's Segment

Guest Host Matt Guest Host Matt discusses a topic on the campgrounds RV Parks. There’s a trend of smaller rustic campgrounds being turned into landscape hotels. Matt is seeing lots of interesting concepts of cabins and high-end modular units that run for $800 a night. He asks for Alan and Lauren’s opinion on this topic. Alan only sees these creative properties on Airbnb. Traditionally, the one way to get attention on something like that was through short-term rental sites, but right now there is an influencer marketing playbook to launch direct bookings. Lauren asks about yurts. When it comes to short-term rentals, Lauren provides a budget friendly place to stay for people who need it while others are going to go to a certain destination for that “thing” alone. Alan agrees that approach is risky. Matt goes on to share how he’s re-imagining one of his properties.

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