Phyllis Van Wyhe
CPCU, CIC, CSP
| 
The Van Wyhe Group
E-NewsLetter | PO Box 4130
Waukesha, WI 53187
Phone (800)326-4741 Fax (800)476-2945 February 1, 2009 |
| Can This House Be Saved?Since the first of the year, I have been doing seminars on foreclosures, vacancy, and declining property values, pointing out the insurance implications and E&O dangers. During that time I also spent two weeks in Florida and then ten days in Phoenix giving me an opportunity to see what is happening in two of the country’s worst housing markets. Foreclosures can devastate a neighborhood stripping value out of adjacent homes that are guilty simply by association. One can feel the pain of the property-owner, whose mortgage is paid up, but is living on a street where half the houses sport “For Sale” signs. And the end is nowhere in sight. A new wave of subprime Loans come up for reset over the next twelve to eighteen months which will push more houses into foreclosure. We are also seeing an increasing number of foreclosures in prime and near-prime loans due to job losses. At the same time, something similar is just beginning in the commercial real estate market. As some businesses go under, others are faced with renewing their financing at a time when bankers no longer return phone calls. When will the real estate market bottom out and stop dragging down the value of my home? The basic principle to apply is that foreclosures trail the economy. They do not begin immediately in a downturn and they do not stop as soon as recovery sets in. Do not expect the wave of new foreclosures to stop until sometime after the economy has turned the corner. Just cross your fingers and fasten your seat belt; the ride has just begun.
Write Your Governor, Now!Wisconsin enjoys some of the lowest automobile insurance rates in the country and now our governor would like to change that. He would increase the state minimum liability limits to 100/300/25, something the legislature has repeatedly declined to do because it would increase the number of uninsured drivers significantly. In addition, he would make substantial changes to Uninsured and Underinsured motorist coverages. UM and UIM would be mandatory at 100/300. Uninsured Motorist would apply to a hit-and-run even though there was no sign of physical contact with another vehicle, Umbrella policies would have to offer excess UM, and the anti-stacking provision that has kept UM rates affordable would be banned. I will not even mention that he wants to institute joint and several liability; if I explained the implications of that, no one would believe me. Did this former president of the state trial lawyers present his proposals at a press conference or address the legislature? No, he slipped them in a side door by burying them in the bowels of his billion dollar budget bill. Wisconsin agents; write your governor. Now!
Words of WisdomCalling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like calling a drug pusher an unlicensed pharmacist.
We Are:InsuranceCe is brought to you by The Van Wyhe Group, an education firm coaching agents in ways to add value to the insurance transaction. Agents who master adding value attract business rather than chase it. | |
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