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Nannette Martin

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Salem, Oregon...How to Catch a C.L.U.E. as a Home Buyer

05-03-09
Nannette Martin

As an Exclusive Buyer Agent's our job is to make sure that you have ALL the information. So with every sales agreement we ask for that the seller provide a C.L.U.E. insurance report. C.L.U.E. stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. This database contains information submitted by insurance companies and provides a five-year history about any losses the property you are considering might have incurred. The report gives the date of the loss, the type of loss and the amount paid out for each loss. This history really can give you a “CLUE” into the property and any problems it may have faced.

This report can only be ordered by sellers, so as the buyer it is important to request this information in your sales agreement when you first submit your offer to purchase. If a property has had problems you may end up paying more to insure the property through higher premiums. Knowing ahead of time what you might encounter helps you make an educated decision in one of the largest purchases of your lifetime.

It is interesting as an Exclusive Buyer Agent to encounter listing agents who don’t have a clue what a C.L.U.E. insurance report is. It’s just one more area that we set the Gold Standard in representing you as a buyer. We are here to make sure your interests are protected 100% and you have every piece of information available to put you in the best position possible when you purchase real estate in the Salem, Portland, or other cities in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.

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Salem, Oregon...Why I'm an Exclusive Buyer Agent

04-30-09
Nannette Martin

I’ve lived in Salem, Oregon for twenty years and bought four homes over the years. The last few times I bought, I contacted the agent who was listing the house and they were more than happy to help me buy their listing. I signed something saying that I understood that the agent was representing me as the buyer, and also the seller – a Disclosed Limited Agency Agreement. It didn’t seem like that big of deal at the time. But I really didn’t understand until my last home purchase exactly what I was giving up by signing something that limited my ability to be fully represented.

When I walked into the basement of my current home, I smelled something chemical and I asked the agent about it. She assured me that it was just cleaning chemicals that the “boys” had been using. Well, that should have clued me right then. The “boys” were five or six college guys living in the house, and well…it wasn’t what you would call “clean.” Still, I took her at her word. We put the offer on the home and proceeded to get our pest inspection.

When the pest man walked into the basement he noticed the smell and asked about it. I told him what the listing agent told me and he said, “No, that’s diesel and we’re going to find it.” Within a minute he walked behind the gas furnace and found the leaking fuel tube that had been attached to the old oil furnace. There was a spill of oily diesel on the floor out gassing in the entire basement. He traced the tubing along the wall to where it exited the home. “There he said, behind this wall is an oil tank and it has not been decommissioned.”

I told the listing agent and she said, “My sellers are going to be so upset about this?” She was furious that our pest man had discovered this. At that very moment I vowed I would never again buy a home using the listing agent because I learned very quickly that she did not have my interests represented. I learned what the word “limited” in the Disclosed Limited Agency Agreement really meant. I was grateful to have a pest man who was looking out for me, but shouldn’t every buyer have a real estate agent looking out for their best interests?

I later learned that Exclusive Buyer Agents represent buyers 100%. They never list property – not even their own. My experience meant enough to me that I decided that I wanted to be an agent that worked for and represented buyers exclusively. I love being an advocate for home buyers and giving them the highest level of representation available when they buy a home in the Salem, Oregon area.

www.oregonexclusivebuyersrealty.com

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