Lower Homeowners Insurance?

The state and many insurance agents are reporting a drop in property insurance rates. Homeowners who have taken steps to make their home more hurricane resisitant are seeing large discounts. In addition, state capped rate hikes and a batch of new insurance companies bringing competition to the market have combined to help lower rates an average of 16 percent. Florida has been encouraging new companies to take policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state insurer of last resort. The good part is that these new companies must charge the same or less than Citizens. However, there are some concerns that some of the newer insurance companies offering cheaper rates haven't experienced an active hurricane season, so they may not be as reliable and will have less money to pay claims. For more info to lower your premiums, visit the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation at www.floir.com to see if your company is licensed in Florida, or the Florida Department of Financial Services at www.fldfs.com to get checklists and consumer guides. You can have insurance agents contact you by registering at Florida Market Assistance Plan, www.fmap.org. Find info on free home inspections and tips to make your home safer in a storm from the My Safe Florida Home program at www.mysafefloridahome.com.

Alternative (negative) credit

With credit scores so important when trying to get a loan - any loan - it pays to be aware of anything that might lower your score. A large part of your score is based on making payments on time for your mortgage, auto, and credit cards. Now, it seems, other potential creditors may turn up on your credit report as well. You may find that unpaid traffic tickets or even library fines are turned over to collection agencies, which report to the credit bureaus. And telephone and cable companies are looking at reporting your payment history to the credit bureaus as well. If you always pay on time, that could be a great help in obtaining a loan. But if you are regularly late, your score could drop like a rock.



Check your credit report regularly. You may obtain a free copy of your credit report at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.

Foreclosure and Short Sale Tax Relief

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Mortgage Cancellation Tax Relief Act, H.R. 3648 by a vote of 386 to 27. A similar bill is making its way through the Senate, and President Bush will hopefully sign it into law. Under the current tax code, any debt forgiven after a mortgage is foreclosed or renegotiated is considered income for tax purposes. The measure would eliminate having to pay that tax when the lender forgives or cancels part of your mortgage debt from a "short sale" or foreclosure. The legislation would be retroactive to January 1, to help those who lost their homes to foreclosure earlier this year. To offset the loss of tax revenue, it will become harder to avoid capital gains taxes on the profit from the sale of a vacation or second home.

"It is just not right or fair that families struggling through a foreclosure would then face a tax bill in addition to losing their homes when they have seen no increase in their net worth. This bill rights that wrong and provides tax relief to millions of American families," said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), author of the bill.

In addition, the new legislation would extend the tax deduction for mortgage insurance through 2014.

Welcome to my new blog!

Welcome to Mortgages and More! Although they are important, I believe that owning a home involves much more than just finding a great rate and low fees on a mortgage loan. Credit reports and scores, insurance, taxes, home inspections, family and retirement planning, foreclosure, hurricane readiness, remodeling, decorating and landscaping are all possible future topics. There will also be discussion of what is happening in credit markets and what things are influencing interest rates. And, of course, we'll talk about mortgages.

I hope you will find the posts helpful and informative.