Searching for CLUEs: What Homebuyers & Sellers Need to Know About Homeowners Insurance

Homebuyers and sellers should be aware about issues involving homeowners insurance and the C.L.U.E. database. C.L.U.E. stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange and is a collection of homeowners insurance claim history enabling insurance companies to access five years worth of prior claim information to evaluate risks. The database is maintained by Choice Point Inc., a private Georgia firm, and contains over 40 million claims records on houses in all 50 states. Over 90 percent of insurers providing homeowners coverage provide data to the CLUE system.

In the same way that having a bad credit record affects your ability to finance a home, negative information in the CLUE database can affect whether a purchaser can get a homeowners insurance policy and at what cost. Many homebuyers are facing the grim reality of the decreasing availability and affordability of homeowners insurance. When a homeowner applies for insurance on a property, the insurance company will usually check the CLUE database to see what claims or reports of damage are on file about the property, and may charge higher premiums or possibly decline to offer insurance coverage. Without homeowners insurance it is nearly impossible to obtain a mortgage loan and in most instances a sale will fall through. Sellers of properties who never made an insurance claim but only lived in the house for a short period of time may be unaware of potential problems because of claims made by the prior owner. Another problem arises with "zero-dollar" claims which refers to things that did not result in a loss for the insurer being listed as a claim in the CLUE database, such as a homeowner calling the insurance company about possibly filing a claim, even if the claim is never filed.

The National Association of Realtors® believes that home sellers, buyers, and Realtors® need more education about CLUE. Homeowners and sellers may obtain the CLUE report on their property from www.choicetrust.com for $12.95. It is important that sellers review this report carefully to correct any inaccuracies which may inhibit a new owner from obtaining homeowners coverage. For buyers, it is critical to find out the claims history of a property before purchase by requesting a copy of the CLUE report from the seller in a contingency clause in the contract. Getting a C.L.U.E. report as soon as possible during a real estate transaction will help ensure that buyers and sellers do not receive unpleasant surprises at the last moment causing unneeded stress and delays and possibly causing a sale to collapse.

Brian Block is a Realtor with Re/Max Allegiance in Alexandria, Virginia. He is also a real estate attorney. He can be contacted at 703-626-0715. If you or anyone you know has real estate questions or is looking to buy or sell real estate in the Northern Virginia and Metropolitan D.C. area, contact Brian Block. For more information and to start your home search, visit his website at http://www.brianblock.com

More than 40 states signed onto a proposed $25-billion deal with major mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosure practices. New York, Nevada and Delaware joined California in holding out for better terms.

More than 40 states signed onto a proposed $25-billion settlement with major mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosure procedures, but California, New York and other key states were still not among them.

California has until Monday to share in a multi-state deal with banks to obtain mortgage relief and reforms. Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who walked away from talks last year, says the door remains open.

With a Monday deadline at hand, California officials have resumed direct talks with the Obama administration about joining a multibillion-dollar, multi-state mortgage settlement with the nation's largest banks, a source said Sunday.

The talk show host pays $12 million for the 4,088-square-foot house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The ocean-view home sits on 1.26 bluff-top acres with beach access.

In one of the more talked-about transactions in town, actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have sold their Malibu beach house to daytime host and comedian Ellen De Generes for $12 million.

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore lists for $2,875,000.

A decorative cast stone entrance opens to this restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style house in Pasadena's South Orange Grove area. Built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore, the house retains such original details as coffered wood ceilings and arched doorways.

They don't believe they can sell their property for what it's worth, so they're spending money on making their homes more comfortable.

Do you fit any of these descriptions?

A biennial research report by the National Assn. of Realtors indicates that a handful of real estate agents and brokers and their clients either don't know the law or don't care to follow it.

When it comes to lawsuits, real estate agents and brokers tangle mostly among themselves.

The president aims to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages.

 

The White House hopes to help millions of homeowners lower their monthly mortgage bill with a $5 billion to $10 billion plan to set up a streamlined refinancing program for people who are current on their payments.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of 20 large U.S. cities fell 1.3% in November from October as foreclosures continue to drag down the housing market.

Three straight months of home-price declines in the biggest U.S. cities showed that foreclosures remain a significant drag on a housing market that is entering its fifth year of deterioration.

L.A. Clipper Chris Paul may be quick down the court, but he moves pretty fast when it comes to buying multimillion-dollar real estate too.