Didn’t know you had one? Well, you do. Every claim you make on your home insurance is recorded in the CLUE insurance database — impacting your insurance premiums. But you can review it and improve it.
Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/protect-your-home/home-insurance/your-insurance-score/#ixzz1scYhTQuj Your CLUE insurance report keeps your homeowners insurance claims alive for seven years—and that could cost you on your premiums.
A tree falls on the roof of your house. You file an insurance claim with your agent, collect a settlement from the insurer, and fix your roof. End of story, right? Not quite. Every claim you make on your homeowners insurance is recorded in a widely used insurance industry database called CLUE, short for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange.
Almost all insurance companies use CLUE to check on the claims history of prospective policyholders. The CLUE insurance report also includes claims made on your home before you even bought it. A-PLUS is another company that maintains a loss-history database. What’s inside these reports can affect your insurance premiums, or even prevent you from getting coverage.
Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/your-insurance-score/your-clue-insurance-report-matters/#ixzz1scZGehGsYour claims history lives on in CLUE
The CLUE Personal Property report, which pertains to homeowners insurance, is divided into two parts: your personal record of claims (“Claims for the Subject”) and the claims on your home (“Claims History for Risk”). The number of claims in either section will affect whether you can get insurance for your home, how much coverage you can get, and how much you’ll pay in premiums. If you’re turned down for homeowners insurance because of information in your CLUE report, your insurance company is required to let you know why you were rejected.
Since the database is used by most insurance companies, your claims history follows you from one insurer to another. Actual claims, as opposed to inquiries, remain in the CLUE database for seven years from the date you filed them. Both LexisNexis, the owner of CLUE, and A-PLUS advise insurance carriers not to report loss information just because you called to ask a question about whether your policy will cover a particular loss. Individual insurance companies may keep a record of inquiries, though.
Insurance companies rely on CLUE reports because statistics show that if you’ve filed a claim in the past, you’re more likely to file one in the future, says Dick Luedke, a spokesperson for State Farm Insurance. The amount of a claim is less important than how often you’ve filed, he says. “We aren’t trying to make up for past losses, but to predict the risk of future claims.”
Each insurance company has its own formula for calculating how much a claim will affect your premium, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group that provides information to consumers. Suffice it to say the fewer the claims the less you’ll likely be charged. State Farm gives a 5% discount if you haven’t filed a claim in the last five years, says Luedke. That’s $40 off an average annual premium of $804 (this varies by company). Ask your agent if a claim-free discount is available.
Claims aren’t all that count
Knowing what’s on your CLUE report will give you a sense of whether you’ll need to pay extra for homeowners insurance, or even if you run the risk of rejection. Unfortunately, even a pristine report doesn’t mean you can be sure of getting homeowners insurance at a great price. That’s because the claims on your CLUE report aren’t the only things that affect your overall insurance risk.
Insurance companies also consider your credit score, which is based on such things as how much debt you carry, whether you pay your bills on time, and so forth. According to the Insurance Information Institute, studies show that how people manage their finances is a good indicator of whether they’ll file an insurance claim. The more likely you are to file a claim, the bigger risk you are to the insurance company. And more risk means a higher premium or denial of coverage. Other factors insurers consider include the location of your home and its type of construction.
Investors are buying up foreclosures in bulk, viewing the potential returns from REOs-to-rentals as better than most other investments.
But experts caution investors to be careful that they don’t take on more than they can handle, and make sure they devote some attention — and budget — into the rehabilitation of many of the properties they buy.
Nearly 95 percent of distressed homes are in bad shape and unsuitable for renting out, Morgan Stanley analysts estimate.
“The importance of getting construction — or specifically, re-construction or rehabilitation — right cannot be overstated,” according to a recent report sent to Morgan Stanley clients. “The quality and cost of rehabilitation can continue to benefit or haunt the asset far past the initial completion of work. For example, shoddy plumbing or other infrastructure work can result in significantly higher maintenance costs over time, and can also affect eventual exit pricing.”
Morgan Stanley provided estimates to investors in the report, citing estimates of renovation work to cost about 25 percent of the purchase price.
Source: “Rehabilitation Vital to REO-to-Rental Success,” HousingWire (April 13, 2012)
Minnesota State Required
8 Hour Closer Pre-license Course:
“Closing the Residential Transaction”
June 4, 2012 St Paul, MN
Closing the Residential Transaction presents an overview of the closing process. This course is designed for those wishing to obtain their Minnesota Closer License and/or anyone desiring a better understanding of the closing process, principles and procedures guiding the closing of real estate sales and mortgage transactions.
The course addresses:
The role of Closers, Lenders and Real Estate Agents in the closing process
Purpose and use of Title Insurance and reading Title Work
Drafting of Legal Documents and handling Legal Issues relating to closing
The impact of federal laws and regulations on the closing process
Documents present or executed at closing
Avoiding common issues for litigation in residential real estate transactions
Closing the Residential Transaction discusses the law as it relates to real estate and fixtures, types of estates, types of multiple or co-ownership interests and drafting documents. It explains how to identify problems at the closing state, and includes an important discussion of the important role of the closer as a neutral third party in detecting and correcting errors to assure a smooth closing.
May 14-15, 2012 St Paul, MN
WHY TAKE THIS SEMINAR?
To Improve and Update Knowledge of Title Abstracting
To Improve and Update Knowledge of Title Examination
To Review for the Minnesota State Abstracter’s License
AS A RESULT OF THIS SEMINAR, PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
Read, Draw and Recognize Valid Legal Descriptions
Condominiums, Co-ops, Common Interest Communities, etc.
Construct and solve missing links in a “chain of title”
Remember information for your abstracter’s license test
Jeanine W. Johnson will be a conference speaker at the ALTA Business Conference in Louisville, KY March 26th. A primary function of the American Land Title Association (ALTA) is to provide important educational programs. A “Train the Title Trainer” session will explain adult learning styles and demonstrate how to teach important and complex title issues to staff. Ms Johnson is a professional speaker on title topics, and is often hired to speak at Land Title Association conferences. She also owns an online school for Professionals in Land Title Training. Online Courses include Title Insurance, Closing, Abstracting, Title examination and National Concepts in Title.
WHY ATTEND THIS SEMINAR? WHY EDUCATE STAFF?
COME HEAR MORE Jeanne Johnson is a professional Land Title Association (LTA) public speaker and teacher. She has spoken at many Land Title Conferences. At the upcoming ALTA Business Strategies Conference,she will teach a workshop on how to explain complex title topics. While the workshop focuses on understanding adult learning and instructor delivery, she demonstrates tips for training title. A blueprint handout will show specific skills for teaching abstractors, examiners and closers complex title issues.Jeanne will actively demonstrate ways to teach to all types of learners about “rights, title and interests” so staff can identify title issues as “okay” or “problems” needing to be resolved.
And, on top of all that, you might just find a speaker for your next land title conference!
For more information on the conference, go to this ALTA Link
Press Release
| Targeted News Service |
BALTIMORE,Feb. 7– The U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland issued the following news release:
U.S. District JudgeWilliam M. NickersonsentencedStephen J. Troese, Sr., age 72, ofDavidsonville, Maryland, today to a year and a day in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud arising from a scheme to defraud lenders and a title insurance company of$2,838,231.
The sentence was announced byUnited StatesAttorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosensteinand Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of theFederal Bureau of Investigation.
According to his plea, Troese practiced as a title attorney and was variously an owner, part owner, or the controlling figure of a number of title companies that did business in theBaltimore,AnnapolisandWashington, D.C.metropolitan areas, includingTroese Title Services, Inc.(Troese Title), located inCamp Springs, Maryland;Troese/Hughes Title Services, Inc.(Troese/Hughes), located inGreenbelt, Maryland; andTroese/Prestige Title Services, Inc.(Troese/Prestige), located inEllicott City, Maryland. These companies performed title searches, provided title insurance, and conducted settlements. Troese Title, Troese/Hughes and Troese/Prestige each had an agency agreement with Chicago Title enabling them to provide title insurance, which meant that Chicago Title was liable for title defects to homeowners and lenders.
Troese Title and Troese/Hughes, which Troese formed in 1994 with co-defendantJames Kevin Hughes, shared a joint escrow account for the receipt and disbursement of funds in connection with real estate closings carried out by both title companies. Co-defendantBrenda Lukenichwas the escrow accountant for the joint escrow account as well as for most of Troese’s other title companies.
By 2005, the joint escrow account had developed a shortfall of more than$2 million, partly as a result of several major employee errors and embezzlements. Sometime in 2006, the joint escrow account was split into two new accounts and the existing balance from the joint account was divided between the new Troese Title and Troese/Hughes accounts, effectively assigning a$1 millionescrow shortage to each company.
In approximately 2006, the real estate industry started to slow, resulting in a steep decline in business for Troese Title and Troese/Hughes, further aggravating the problem of the shortfall in the escrow accounts.
In 1994, Troese had refinanced his home, claiming that the$655,000loan would be used to pay off the previous first and second mortgages. In fact, the mortgages were not paid off. InFebruary 2006, Troese again refinanced his home, representing that the loan of$964,533.26, would be used to pay off the two existing mortgages. Again, the mortgages were not paid off, but instead the funds were used to help cover the existing shortfall in the Troese Title escrow account. Troese concealed the fact that the mortgages were not paid off by continuing to make the monthly mortgage payments on all three loans. The resulting loss to Chicago Title was$937,183.47, which it was required to pay to satisfy the two previous mortgages and pass clear title to the new lender.
InMay 2008, Chicago Title terminated its agency agreements with Troese Title and Troese/Hughes, which had a significant number of mortgage pay-offs that had not been made because the escrow accounts were depleted as a result of theft, errors and omissions.
In the spring of 2008, Troese entered into new agency agreements with Chicago Title for three title companies, including Troese/Prestige. Thereafter, Troese/Prestige also served the clientele of Troese/Hughes and Troese Title. Troese/Prestige conducted settlements, but instead of using the lender money that was wired into Troese/Prestige’s escrow account as directed in the HUD-1 settlement statements, the money was transferred into escrow accounts at Troese/Hughes and Troese Title to cover the mortgage pay-off checks that were still outstanding for those entities.
In the summer of 2008, Chicago Title received information that a mortgage had not been paid off and audited Troese/Prestige. The escrow account did not contain enough money to cover the outstanding mortgage pay-offs. Chicago Title, as the title insurer, was forced to make the mortgage pay-offs, to pay off funds that had not been made by Troese/Prestige, and one mortgage that still had not been paid off by Troese Title. In total, the loss to Chicago Title stemming from the Troese/Prestige pay-offs was approximately$1.7 million.
The total loss attributed to Troese as a result of the above schemes was$2,838,231.
James Kevin Hughes, age 53, ofCrownsville, Maryland, andBrenda Lukenich, age 51, ofHughesville, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and mail fraud, respectively. Hughes and Lukenich each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison at their sentencing, scheduled forFebruary 15, 2012andFebruary 28, 2012, respectively.
The Maryland Mortgage Fraud Task Forcewas established to unify the agencies that regulate and investigate mortgage fraud and promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of mortgage fraud schemes. This case, as well as other cases brought by members of the Task Force, demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraud and promote the integrity of the credit markets. Information about mortgage fraud prosecutions is available at the Department of Justice.
The Daily Times, Farminton, NM
New Mexico Title Co. closed abruptly on Jan. 30 when it stopped accepting title work and interim manager Quentin Smith sent employees home. For days afterward, a phone message said that the business was closed. Customers began to stream in to inquire about their escrow accounts and the status of their real estate transactions.
Several New Mexico Title Co. customers told The Daily Times they had not received expected disbursements from escrow accounts, or that their payments to escrow accounts were not properly credited.
Edward Blinzler, a local businessman, filed a complaint with state regulators after an expected escrow disbursement did not appear. He has an escrow account with New Mexico Title for payments from a couple who bought a house from him. The homebuyers’ check has cleared their bank, he said.
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, ‘Where am I, Cathy?’
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
___________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He’s 20, much like your IQ.
___________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shitting me?
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
_____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I’m going with male.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 PM.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?
______________________________________
And last:
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.
You know things are tough when Fidelit National y, one of the world’s largest title insurers, decides to further diversify by purchasing restaurants. The web was abuzz today with news from everyone. The Wall Street Journal stated
“Here’s a deal that seems a bit odd on the surface: Fidelity National Financial is taking over O’Charley’s.
That makes a title insurer meets casual dining merger, not exactly a classic combo-platter like O’Charley’s surf and turf.
But for Fidelity National, it apparently fulfills a recent checklist,…”
Bloomberg has a much more detailed description of the philosophy, in an article entitled “Fidelity CEO Seeks Restaurants as Insurance Focu Narrows.” Under the current circumstances it seems to make sense! After all, everyone has to eat.
Heart Attack Symptoms Women Should Recognize
I rarely post personal items, but this time it’s different. As many of you know, I have had a couple of very tough years with some very serious surgeries, putting me pretty much out of commission. Thankfully, I am on the mend. But last week my wonderful sister-in-law, Suelin, had a stroke. She had no idea what was happening, and luckily my brother Jay rushed her to the hospital. She is currently in rehab, but has a long way to come back. So when my friend Walt sent me this email, I thought I’d pass it on. Maybe it will save a life.
FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I’ve ever read.
Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack.. you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman’s experience with a heart attack.
‘I had a heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, ‘A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.
A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you’ve been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you’ve swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn’t have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation–the only trouble was that I hadn’t taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).
This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. ‘AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening — we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven’t we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I think I’m having a heart attack!
I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a heart attack, I shouldn’t be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else… but, on the other hand, if I don’t, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a moment.
I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics… I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn’t feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.
I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don’t remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like ‘Have you taken any medications?’) but I couldn’t make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.
I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stints.
Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.
1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body, not the usual men’s symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn’t know they were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they’ll feel better in the morning when they wake up… which doesn’t happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you’ve not felt before. It is better to have a ‘false alarm’ visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said ‘Call the Paramedics.’ And if you can take an aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER – you are a hazard to others on the road.
Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what’s happening with you instead of the road.
Do NOT call your doctor — he doesn’t know where you live and if it’s at night you won’t reach him anyway, and if it’s daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn’t carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr will be notified later.
3. Don’t assume it couldn’t be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it’s unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we’ll save at least one life.
*Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends (male & female) who you care about!*