I don't know about your office, but our bunch seems to live by the motto: "If there is food, we will come!" This is especially true on Wednesdays when our MLS Broker Tour occurs. Many of us, me included, arrange our tour schedule after seeing who is offering what lunch at what property. Pretty pathetic way to plan the day, but when you are out and about for a few hours at a time, nutrition is important! In honor of letting our stomachs rule our tour day, when my new listing was due to be on tour I wanted to stand out a bit and do something different for 'lunch'. Going back to the years of packing school lunches for my rugrats, I decided to make "Grab & Go" sacks for the brokers. Boy were they a hit and so easy to prepare! I received lots of compliments and have observed another broker from a different company 'leverage' my idea...cool! Included in my clear cellophane bags from the craft store: a small water bottle, an apple, a cheese stick, a few homemade cookies (I always have a freezer full as I love to bake and have them ready for Open Houses or neighbor kids who know where my stash is!) and a napkin, tied off with a ribbon. I served these little grab & go bags sitting on ice in a nice decorative ice tub. You can add whatever you like, cheese and crackers, humus, baby carrots, nuts...so many individual serving sizes available now. I made them the night before, which made for a stress-free set up the next morning.
CLUE reports are based on two major property claim databases: The Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange and the A-Plus, or Automated Property Loss Underwriting System. Basically, it is a loss history report utilized by insurance companies to verify the insurability risk of a particular property.
Oregon state insurance laws allow insurers a 60 days binder review period after a policy is issued to thoroughly review the underwriting information, including the CLUE report, and can cancel a policy after the fact, based on information in the report. Most homeowners wait to purchase their homeowner's insurance until the last minute, thus not allowing underwriting to do a thorough review by the time closing takes place. There is a risk that the buyer, all happily moved into his/her new home, gets a surprise in the mail - his insurance company has canceled his policy and their new home isn't insurable. This was my concern as the leak referenced in my previous posting happened one week prior to closing and I needed to confirm the seller wasn't going to make an insurance claim that might show up with in the 60 review window. Now granted, early research by the NAR Insurance Task Force indicates that even though transactions are sometimes being delayed and associated costs are increased due to the inability to secure insurance, few deals are actually falling through.
To learn more about CLUE reports please visit:
www.oregonrealtors.org/.docs/pg/400/rid/10127/f/crrp.pdf
Homeowners can obtain a copy of the report for their property online at www.choicetrust.com
Additional Oregon homeowner's insurance information can be found at:
Having recently dealt with two different properties with water damage (one that caused the kitchen floor to be replaced and one with serious mold issues that needed to be remediated before listing), the question of insurability arose. Would my buyer be able to obtain a homeowner's policy if an insurance claim had been made by the previous owner for the water damage? On the flip side, would my seller (of the 2ndproperty) be able to sell due to the property's recent insurance claim (actually 2 big claims in the past 6 months) that might cause insurance issues for a potential buyer? Insurance companies are really tightening their underwriting of a homeowner's property that has experienced water damage.
As a risk management tool for your buyers, it might be advisable to state as part of your real estate contract that the seller must provide a copy of their CLUE report prior to closing on a home. (The seller has to order the report...the buyer can not.)
Has anyone experienced a denial of insurance, after closing, due to a CLUE report?
 |
|
|
Energetic, knowledgeable, organized and creative ~ Our community and real estate market is vast and varied and it would be my pleasure to share both with you.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
Powered by the ActiveRain Real Estate Network
© 2012 ActiveRain Corp. All Rights Reserved
