ANOTHER WAY YOU CAN LOSE YOUR HOME

Nov. 16, 2015 - There is another way you can lose your home: through fraud, of course.  More on that later (next posting), but it's about shell companies who set themselves up as LLCs.   They often have only a PO box.  They like to find people who are delinquent or whose house is in  need of repair/maintenance.  Always verify a business and the individuals you come in contact with.  I plan to summarize a NYT article on this particular type of fraud, and will post it soon.



Oct. 2015 - If the roof on your home is 20 years old or older, your insurance company might not continue to insure you.  If you don't have your house insured and you have a mortgage, you can lose your home.

This issue was brought up on The Property Man television show a couple of weeks ago, but the solution was not given at the time (a couple was about to lose their home for this reason).  I plan to do more research and will post my results.  I have a cedar shake roof that was new when I bought the house almost 20 years ago.  It has thick shakes, which I believe  has a longer than 25-year expected life; maybe 50 years.

UPDATE:

I called the Washington State Insurance Commissioner and was told that an insurance company has to give you 45 days if they are not going to renew your policy and they  have to give a reason.  The person I spoke to said he has never known of a case where an insurance company refused to renew because of the age of a homeowner's roof.  (The condition of the roof would be another matter.)

You should check with your own state's office of insurance.  Homeowners have to stay one step ahead of the people who would actually like to see you lose your home (many servicers) or insurance companies who are looking for another captive clientele to enrich their coffers.