If your house, or a house you inherited, is left vacant, you must be careful and do the unthinkable, that is, read your homeowner’s insurance policy. In handling estates and trusts, frequently the deceased’s home is empty and must be sold. Another circumstance that pops up alot is a client moving out of his house to rehab the house.

Most times you will find that the insurance still covers you, but theft and vandalism are not covered if the house is vacant more than 30 days.

If you are rehabbing your house, and move out, many policies still cover you for everything including theft and vandalism.

Some insurance agents state in a blanket fashion that there is no coverage on an empty home and then try to sell you a policy for $4000 or more per year in premium.

Do yourself a favor and check the terms of your insurance policy. It will give you peace of mind and save some cash.

(Credit to Terry Griffin Esq. for the above)

Recently, as interest rates rose and the number of files on their desks exploded to record levels, some mortgage companies bailed out on clients and failed to close. In two cases I was involved in (both of which are new construction) the mortgage companies literally “forgot” about the client. The loans were not ready to close because no one paid attention to the file for months. The other problem is that some lenders blow the “lock-in” period. The client is left with a lame promise that the mortgage company will do a “free refinance” later to cure the problem.

How can you prevent this? Pick a reputable lender in the first instance; not one from the internet or your brother-in-law who thought he would try out mortgage brokerage. Stay in touch with the lender. If all else fails, file a complaint with the office of banks and real estate. Here is the form to file the complaint:

http://www.bre.state.il.us/CONSUMER/FORMS/c-Form41.pdf

It rarely pays to file a lawsuit against the lender. Attorneys fees are cost prohibitive and your damages are hard to prove.