vacant home insurance louisville ky

We can insure your vacant home. If your current home is vacant we can obtain a free vacant home insurance quote from either Foremost Insurance or American Modern Insurance. We offer a 90 day vacant home policy. Call us today for a free vacant home insurance quote
Dick Watts Insurance
502-245-3625

Vacant Home Insurance

Vacant Home Insurance-

"Not everybody loves insuring vacant homes. But Foremost does. Lots of homes don't qualify for standard insurance for many reasons. The Foremost Vacant Program offers specialized coverages developed for the unique insurance needs of a vacant home and its owner. Homes in the Vacant Program can be for sale, in the name of an estate, or under renovation. We'll accept vacant homes valued up to $1 million, and there is no restriction on the age of the home...." Vacant Home Insurance-

Call Dick Watts Insurance for a Foremost Insurance Vacant Home Insurance Quote
502-245-3625

Vacant Home Insurance, 3 month or 12 month policies- Vacant Homes in Kentucky

Foreclosures Increase in Louisville KY

According to a recent article in Business First Louisville, foreclosures are increasing on multi-unit buildings and land that was to be used for developments....Foreclosures Claim more failed area developments ....

"At a time when demand is slack in every sector, millions of dollars in undeveloped properties that were slated to become subdivisions or patio-home developments, along with multi-unit buildings and condominium developments, are winding up in Jefferson County Circuit Court’s bi-monthly foreclosure auctions....." Foreclosures increase in Louisville KY

Vacant Home Insurance- Call us for a Vacant Home Insurance quote 502-245-3625
Dick Watts Insurance Inc, 12200 Shelbyville Rd 112, Louisville, KY 40243

Homeowners Insurance KY - Selecting Contractor

Do your homework before choosing a home contractor:

1. Get References
2. Ask the Experts
3. Compare Costs
   

Check on Insurance

"Most homeowners have heard of, and in some cases experienced, shady contractors who ask for

But a little research can help homeowners avoid such contractors.

Start easily and quickly online with free Better Business Bureau reliability reports that provide an unbiased assessment on many types of contractors operating in Louisville, Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky.

The bureau has included a "Find a BBB Accredited Business" button at its Web site, www.bbb.org.

For homeowners looking to make renovations, the bureau has the following advice on how to choose contractors they can trust:" more from Courier-Journal
Do your homework before selecting contractor

Homeowners Insurance Quote in Kentucky
Kentucky Homeowners Insurance

Pending Home Sales Hit Record Low in Feb

Pending Home Sales Hit Record Low in Feb 08

An industry group said Tuesday that pending U.S. home sales fell in February to the lowest
reading since the index began, signaling the housing market distress is not
yet over. The National Association of Realtors' seasonally
adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 84.6 from January's
upwardly revised reading of 86.2. The index stood at 107.6 in February 2007.....more

Foreclosures Shown on Heat Map

Foreclosures shown on heat map from TechCrunch
"If you want to see in stark colors exactly how the mortgage credit crisis is spreading across the country, go to real estate search site HotPads and look at the foreclosure heat maps in your area. These are map mashups that take foreclosure data from RealtyTrac and overlay them on a color-coded map. Red indicates a high rate of property foreclosures per capita, and blue indicates a low level. Since foreclosures are now hitting record rates, there is a lot of red on these maps...." TechCrunch

Vacant Homes for Sale... Insurance carriers

Vacant Homes for Sale....Insurance Carriers:

"Insurers in general don't like to cover vacant homes. That's because such occurrences as theft, vandalism, fire and water damage are far more likely to happen in vacant houses than occupied ones and the resultant damage is more likely to be worse because no one is around to report it or stop it......" Vacant Homes for sale, insurance carriers

Borrowing from a 401K should be last resort

Borrowing from a 401K should be last resort

Cash-strapped consumers are developing a bad habit: using their retirement
savings to tackle everything from credit-card debt and late mortgage payments to
income tax bills.
In 2007, 18% of employees reported taking out a loan from
their 401(k) or 403(b) (the employer-funded equivalent for public educators and
nonprofit employees), up from 11% in 2006, according to the Transamerica Center
for Retirement Studies, a nonprofit. ... .Borrowing from 401k last resort

Existing Vacant Home Sales Dropped Sharply in 07

"Year-end numbers released by the Wisconsin Realtors Association Thursday confirmed the expected: Sales of existing homes dropped off sharply in 2007, compared with 2006.The decline was even more pronounced in the fourth quarter.

Call Dick Watts Insurance 502-245-3625 for Vacant HomeInsurance Quote

The association contended there was a silver lining in the figures which also showed that median home sale prices crept up slightly even as sales fell off.Wisconsin home sales declined last year by 10.8 percent compared with 2006, but median prices rose 0.2 percent to $164,000, according to the report.
Sales in the Midwest were also down by a similar margin, falling 10.5 percent over ".....Vacant Home Sales Dropped

Vacant Home insurance Project Lifeline New Hope for Homeowners

"Six of the big mortgage companies involved the Hope NOW Alliance announced that the Alliance is expanding its efforts to help homeowners facing foreclosure.
The rate freeze program announced by President Bush in December applied only to borrowers who were facing resets on subprime adjustable rate mortgages but who were current, in fact had never been delinquent, on their mortgage payments. ...." Mortgage News Daily

Older Homes Command Higher Prices

"Age apparently has its advantages in California's real estate market. The median price of resale homes in the state is well above that of new homes, which is counter to the national trend.
The National Association of Realtors reported that the U.S. median price of resale homes was $218,900 in 2007, 11.3 percent below the median new-home price of $246,900 in 2007....." Inman Real Estate Blog

Vacant Home Insurance Vacant Homes

"Banks have moved to whittle away a rising pile of foreclosed houses. The lenders are more aggressive in their quest to unload the residences whose loans defaulted.
During November, 446 foreclosed homes were sold in the nine-county Bay Area. That's 11 percent of all the home resales in the region in that month, according to an analysis by the Times of sales data compiled by Dataquick Information Systems.
In the East Bay, 229 foreclosed homes were sold in November -- 16 percent of all the resales in that area.
Banks and other lenders now account for a sharply rising share of the homes being sold in the Bay Area and East Bay. A year ago, 1 percent of all home resales in the Bay Area involved a foreclosed house....." Vacant Home Insurance

Roost.com Real Estate Search

Roost.com Real estate

"Rather, Roost has cultivated partnerships with local MLS’ and brokers’ IDX feeds to provide complete coverage in each market it enters. It reminded me of the approach another of my favorite search tools, [4] Estately.com, has taken.

Unlike Estately however – which only works in Washington State - at launch Roost will be live in 14 markets. These include Atlanta, Baltimore, Boise, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Orange County, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento/Modesto, Washington D.C. and San Diego. Chang expects by the end of 2008, they will be in close to 40 markets.

How it works is, in each market, the search results are sponsored by an individual broker (e.g. “Portland listings brought to you by…”). As a consumer, if you want more information on any particular listing, including contact information, all the traffic drives through to that sponsoring broker’s site.

Every market however, can have an unlimited number of sponsors and the sponsors rotate in based on the amount of traffic they have bought." more Future of Real Estate

Vacant Homes rising in 29 markets

"Vacancies have risen in 29 markets in the fourth quarter of 2007, including Las Vegas, Palm Beach, Memphis, Orange County, Calif., and Orlando, according to Reis Inc., a New York real-estate research firm. Ron Witten, a Dallas-based housing analyst, estimates there are 760,000 vacant condos and homes for sale nationwide beyond what the market could normally carry, in addition to a surplus of 350,000 vacant rental properties.

Behind the trend are tens of thousands of unsold condominium units that are being dumped on markets such as South Florida, Las Vegas and Phoenix. While thousands of single-family homes also are coming on the market, renters prefer condos to houses, which typically have more expensive upkeep. "Tenants have to pick up more of the bills," says Artur Ciesielski, a Phoenix real-estate agent....." Vacant Homes Increase

Commercial Property Crunch Las Vegas

Las Vegas Default Highlights Commercial Property Crunch:

"The credit crunch that roared through the residential real-estate market is starting to bite commercial projects, too.

Yesterday, Ian Bruce Eichner, the developer of a twin-tower casino resort in the heart of Las Vegas, defaulted on a $760 million loan from Deutsche Bank AG after he failed to get refinancing. The default on the loan supporting the $3 billion Cosmopolitan Resort Casino is a signal of trouble for Mr. Eichner, who gained notice during an earlier real-estate downturn in the early 1990s when he lost several projects in New York City.

Owners and developers of some of the country's choicest properties are having trouble refinancing shorter-term loans they received during the boom days......" Real Estate Journal

Vacant Home Policy Vacancies....

"It happens oh so often, the customer calls their agent and states, "I need to renew my policy but the home has been vacant for 2+ months as we try to sell." The statement immediately positions the insurance company to non renew the policy...

The multiple listing services documents the vacant status well too: home "vacant"? Many insurance companies will offer little to almost NO coverage after a home has been vacant for more than 30 days. ...." Vacant Home Real Estate

Call Dick Watts Insurance toll free at 1-866-540-9504 for a free quote for Vacant home insurance....

Foreclosures Increase , Investors

Foreclosures Increase, Foreclosure Process

"Smitha has been involved in real estate for 30 years as a licensed broker and agent, and has been a builder for the past 12. He said he has been an investor all along, but his pace has picked up during the past couple years as the market has declined.

"It presents some risks but on the other side of the coin in presents opportunities: The best time to buy is when everyone else thinks you shouldn't," he said. "The best time to sell is when everyone else thinks you should buy."

Smitha is among the more than half of auction buyers who are investors, not owner occupants. He awaits closing on it, then plans to fix it up and sell or lease it sometime next spring. Still, he said he expects to spend more than $40,000 to repair and renovate it.

That's an even greater risk in a down market — but he sees much the same upside that Tadeus and Lorraine Cyman saw 30 years ago, including a nice neighborhood, solid school district and ample living space.

"There are literally hundreds of these houses on the market in the Detroit area," he said. "It's sad but obviously I didn't create the problem. Someone has to buy these and fix them up. Rental Property Insurance

"Really, what people like me do, is return a house to the market in a livable condition that prior to that most people didn't want to walk through." Foreclosure Investors

Foreclosure Bargains Kentucky Insurance

Kentucky Insurance

"You've heard a lot (probably too much!) about real estate market problems and especially the rapid rise in foreclosures. But as a real estate investor you're picking up big-time "bargain" signals on your antennae. visit Kentucky-Insurance.com

The headlines are ominous: some 243,000 foreclosures in August, up 36% from July and 115% from August 2006. There's blood in the streets.

So how do you get from "there must be bargains out there" to "how much will I save, and where are the best bargains?"

I like to guide any buying decision as much as possible with the facts. But while lots of foreclosures are out there, how good an opportunity they might be was hard to know. Until now....." Bargain Foreclosures Vacant Homes

visit Kentucky-Insurance.com

Can a company cancel if my home is Vacant?

Yes, your insurance company may decide to cancel an existing policy on an insured property that becomes vacant. You will need to review your insurance policy to see if occupancy is a condition for coverage. Are you going to rent it? You'll need to acquire an insurance policy designed for rental units. The point is that your situation regarding that residence has changed and so you'll need to review your insurance options given the new scenarios. In some cases, you may need to find a new insurance company willing to insure the "property" under these new conditions. If your home is now vacant, contact Dick Watts for a Vacant Home Insurance Quote...502-245-3625

vacant home insurance

Insuring Vacant Homes

Insuring Vacant Homes Can be Tricky

At a time when houses are taking longer to sell, some people must move into a new home before their old one is sold, leaving it to sit vacant with a for-sale sign out front.

Lost in the shuffle of furniture and belongings may be a crucial detail: your homeowners' insurance policy typically requires that you live in the home. So unless you make some changes, you may not be covered if there's a fire, agents say.

"They don't think about it," said Chris Oehrle, senior vice president of Weichert Insurance Agency in Morris Plains. "They have a lot of other things going on in their lives, and calling their insurance agent isn't the first thing on their mind."

There are options. Insurance companies offer policies that cover vacant properties for fire, vandalism, storm damage and even frozen pipes, said Keith Taege, account representative at Turton Signature Insurance in Point Pleasant Beach.

Oehrle said Weichert has written 20 percent to 25 percent more of this type of policy so far this year, compared with last year.

Why? Homes are not selling as fast as they did previously.

"People still need to move. You get a new job. You are transferred to another city," Oehrle said. "Since houses sit on the market a lot longer, the need for a vacant-home policy is greater."

Taege said he, too, has seen an increase in plans for vacant homes, but "not anything dramatic."

"Many people don't know if their coverage is in jeopardy because their property is vacant," Taege said. "They are not going to call an agent up and say, "By the way, my house has been sitting vacant for six months.' "

An insurance company might find out about a vacant home if it is inspected as part of the sale process, or if the owner files a claim, which could be rejected, Taege said.

Sharon Cooper, a spokeswoman for Selective Insurance Group Inc., said homeowners and insurers often find out as part of the process of signing up for homeowners' insurance for a new home. "You would be talking with your insurance company or your insurance agent anyway."

Homeowners' policies don't cover vacant homes. Often, insurers can delete vandalism coverage if a house has been vacant for more than 30 days, Taege said. State law says that an insurer can suspend homeowners' coverage when a property is vacant or unoccupied beyond 60 days.

Companies consider a vacancy a major change in the use of a home. It also increases the possibility of damage, including vandalism or frozen pipes.

"They become neighborhood clubhouses sometimes," Oehrle said.

Some insurers have different ways of handling the situation.

Selective tries to work with policyholders who move into a new home before the sale of their old home by continuing coverage with a dwelling policy for a "reasonable amount of time for the sale to occur," Michele Aromando, vice president of personal lines, said in an e-mail.

How long a policy is continued would be determined by factors including whether a contract is pending, if the home is checked regularly and if the utilities are on, she said.

Once notified by an owner or an agent, State Farm Insurance Co. generally gives a policyholder six to nine months to sell a vacant home or may extend it to the policy's expiration, spokesman John J. Baldino said in an e-mail.

"The company does understand that the real-estate market is cooling down," he said. "We will evaluate each unique case."

But if it is vacant for more than 30 days, the policy may only cover major losses, such as from fire, and not smaller problems such as vandalism or broken windows, he said. People can buy add-on coverage for vandalism and malicious mischief.

"Certain losses may go unnoticed for an extended period of time, which will escalate the severity of damages, whereas if the dwelling was occupied, the issue could be more readily identified and addressed," he said.

But State Farm won't renew a homeowner's policy if a house is vacant, and the company does not insure vacant homes, he added.

Taege said there are speciality insurance companies that cover vacant homes. The policies can be more expensive than a traditional homeowners' policy and can cover fire, storm damage and vandalism.

"If their house is sitting vacant for sale, it is important that they get in touch with their agent to make sure they get the proper coverage," he said.

As a last resort, homeowners also have the option of applying for vacant home coverage from the New Jersey Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, or FAIR. Created by the state Legislature in 1968, it offers property coverage for major losses, such as fire and storm damage, said Steven Mutterperl, vice president of underwriting.

More expensive than insurance in the general market, it also includes a requirement that an owner board up a home to reduce the possibility of damage." from : Vacant Home Insurance

Call Dick Watts Insurance 502-245-3625 for a Vacant Home Insurance Quote

(disclaimer: Every insurance contract is different. Consult your own insurance policy and insurance contract for specific coverages. If you have a question about coverage in your specific policy contact your insurance agent. Coverages above are not included in all insurance policies.)

Vacant Home Insurance Kentucky 502-245-3625