Nick & Trudy Vandekar

With Title Insurance being one of the highest in the nation and making a large part of buyers closing costs as well as those refinancing, this week the Pennsylvania Insurance Commission held a hearing to discuss possible reduction of title insurance rates in Pennsylvania.

Prompted by a February 2009 rate increase request filed by the Title Insurance Rating Bureau of Pennsylvania, which the Attorney General's Office opposed the Commission met to discuss the issue. Pennsylvania consumers paid nearly $585 million in title insurance premiums last year, but Corbett the Attorney General pointed out that the majority of those premiums - up to 85% - were paid as commissions to title insurance agents.

Attorney General Tom Corbett urged the Commission to reduce the rates, which are some of the highest in the country and to closely review other proposed changes to improve competition and benefit consumers who are purchasing or refinancing homes. He also reported that companies were competing to pay increasing commission rates to agents who guide the purchase of title insurance policies in Pennsylvania.

In the past, the Department has used the Title Insurance Rating Bureau to conduct reviews, which places this industry-controlled board in direct conflict with its agents across the state. Corbett encouraged the Insurance Department to use independent analysts for any review of the current title insurance system.

When did you last purchase Title Insurance? Were most of your closing costs for your purchase or refinance derived from the cost of Title insurance?

I was speaking at the Chester County Estate Planners meeting last night about my experiences on the Antiques Roadshow and mentioned that because of my back ground in antiques and being a realtor I am a good source for estate planners to contact when they need advice on an estate. Sort of like a one stop resource.

I know auctioneers locally and in large cities including New York, as well as dealers, collectors, and museums around the world. When deciding what to do with an estate there are many options not just selling although this is of course one option but is it best for the estate? Whilst there are the collections to deal with there is of course the real estate as well and we can handle both angles for these planners because of our connections and experience.

We can arrange on site auctions of both the real estate and the collections or have the collections removed and the home staged for sale to bring the best price for the estate. It is all a matter of a little planning ahead and laying out a route with the input of the collector and their family being best when possible.

If you need help with an estate feel free to contact me. This is when the team concept is most apt to handling a transaction.

Cleaning gutters is important because it can affect water penetration in your house. So often when there is water coming in you can find the source is bad grading on the exterior. often that bad grading can be from clogged gutters that overflow and then wash away the soil allowing water to penetrate the home. so keeping those gutters clean is an important issue.

Certainly you can use gutter guards and there are many sorts, some working better than others. But I have found even with gutter guards some seeds and debris finds its way in to the gutter so they need to be regularly cleaned to keep them free and working efficiently. Which is harder with the guard as you have to remove them and re-attach them as well.

It is a necessary evil, cleaning your gutters and a job that I have not found anyone I know to love till now. Why now? I saw this handy new tool that came out about a year ago I believe, see video below. I have not used one but it certainly looks fun and easier than climbing on the roof and inching along getting your hands filthy from all the debris. You still have to get up on a ladder and you would obviuosly need to remove the gutter guards but with this machine it may not be necessary to even have the guards if you use this regularly.

Every home inspection I attend I hear inspectors explain that in their report they will list maintenance that home buyers will need to undertake over the course of their ownership of the home. I watch them explain how to change filters and make sure the buyer understands the workings of their new home.

So why is it that when they come to sell so many homes are in dis-repair? Do buyers ever pick up that home inspection report and look at it after they buy? A home inspection is not a method to just get another few hundred or thousands off the price of the home and then can be tossed aside. It is an important document that you should look over regularly and see what maintenance needs to be done.

Just as you maintain your car with oil changes and required maintenance so you need to maintain your home. You need to spend money on your home to keep it updated, to keep it clean, to give it curb appeal and to keep its value up just like your car. So pull out that inspection report and read through to see what you might need to replace, repair or simply paint.

Here is a short video of Chesterbrook in Wayne, PA. Chesterbrook falls into Tredyffrin Township in Chester County and Tredyffrin Easttown School District although Wayne is Delaware County. It is a great place to live, work and play being close to Valley Forge Park, with lots of restaurants close by and access to major roads and other transport options such as the R5 Septa line for access to center city Philadelphia from Paoli, Devon or Wayne.

 For more information please contact me as we have relocation packages available for companies wanting to move to Chesterbrook and know the area well. There is great variety from single family homes, condos, apartments and town houses.