Save Money on Your Homeowner’s Insurance

 

Don’t you think it’s about time that we get a little relief from property insurance costs?  Here are a couple of ideas that might help you:

 

Florida has set up a new state-sponsored program that can help you identify how you can strengthen your home and reduce hurricane damage. You can get a FREE wind inspection that could also help you save up to 20 percent on your homeowner’s insurance. You also might be eligible for up to $5,000 in matching grant funds to make improvements recommended by the inspection!

 

To apply for the free inspection, visit www.MyFreeWindInspection.com or call 866-354-4040. Insurance carriers are going to start making us pay for these inspections in the future, and they’re free now and good for five years, so you might want to take advantage, and perhaps save some money in the process.

 

The homeowner’s insurance rates with your existing company could be going up. But insurance rates are DROPPING in the area with many carriers. This might be a good time for you to get several more quotes. (And, don’t just use the big names. Some of them have the worst rates.)

 

I’ve gotten great feedback on prices from some clients who have used Florida Chartered Insurance Group. (I don’t have any business relationship with them for recommending them, but am just passing this along for you to check out.) 

 

Agent Camille Gentles can be reached at 321-832-0390. When you call, be sure to tell her the address of the property, the use of the home (primary or secondary home), the square footage, garage (attached or detached and number of cars), number of stories, year built, and whether it has a pool.

 

Hope that helps! Drop me a note if you end up saving some money with any of these plans, and please share any companies that have good prices so I can pass that info along.

 

Best Regards,

 

Scott Gregory

Realtor

Keller Williams Realty

http://www.SunnyBeaches.com

http://www.PensacolaShortSales.com

scott@sunnybeaches.com

850-501-2574

Will You Have Access to Your Home Equity Credit Line Much Longer?

Be careful if you are counting on a home equity line of credit for any of your financial needs. Your access to those funds could be cut off in the near future.

Lenders have the right to close out your line of credit for an array of reasons beyond being late with payments … or even anything to do with you or your credit.

We’ve already seen this happen to thousands of people nationwide who were depending on access to those funds. The chances are good this trend will continue as lenders are trying to stay in business, and are worried about declining home values.

http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.cfm?story=20080424-HELOC

 

Market Opinions Range from One End of Spectrum to Other

I’ve been hearing a lot of opinions that go from one end of the spectrum to the other. In any given day, I’ll talk to two people who will tell me two different things … one is that homes here aren’t selling, and another is that we’re just about out of this “down market,” and the turnaround is right around the corner.

 

The stats show that neither of these statements is true.

 

Homes ARE selling in this market, by professional agents through hard work and aggressive strategies. In March, 6 percent of the inventory sold in Pensacola, 4 percent in Gulf Breeze, 8 percent in Navarre, and 10 percent in Fort Walton Beach. The insinuation that “no one is buying” and “homes aren’t selling” just is not true.

 

On the other hand, the statistics simply aren’t backing up the belief some have that the market has bottomed. We’re still not making a dent in the inventory. If another home were not listed in Pensacola, for example, it would take about 23 months to deplete the inventory. A healthy market has about a 6-month supply of homes. We also know that a good number of people have a desire to sell, but have pulled their homes from the market until the market heads upward again. These stats don’t even take those people into account. We also expect to see a large increase in bank-owned listings, which further pushes prices down.

 

I do believe that the long-term outlook for real estate in this area is wonderful. Baby boomers will be retiring in huge numbers in the next 20 years, and many of them will turn to sunny Florida for primary and vacation homes. Real estate, like life, runs in cycles.