cliquez ici pour Français
Three frustrating situations commonly experienced by REALTORSTM :


      1- You work with a client to find the perfect house and then the client either delays or abandons the purchase because he still has a house to sell and can't risk the financial drain of carrying two houses.

      2- You have a client who has given you a 60-90 day listing and then, if the house hasn't sold within the initial listing period, switches REALTORS TM leaving you stuck with the sunk costs of time, mileage, signage, and advertising.

      3- You work to develop a great listing prospect and then the prospect decides to try to sell his own property with the help of a FSBO marketing company.

If you have ever experienced any of these frustrating and expensive situations, help is on the way.
A major national insurance company will soon bring to market a new, patent-protected
insurance product designed specifically for the real estate industry.


This new product allows a house seller to buy insurance that will pay the on-going monthly carrying costs (mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities) if the house does not sell at a fair market value within a normal market sales interval.


This product will not be of interest to all house sellers. It is designed to meet the needs of that smaller percentage of home sellers who


      - want to move ahead quickly with the purchase of another property, and
      - will rely on the sale of their primary residence as a major source of funding toward the
        purchase of another primary residence, and
      - have concerns about their ability or willingness to manage an additional carrying cost for
        an indefinite period of time.


This product will provide three significant benefits for REALTORSTM:


      1- faster sales, in two ways: a) since they don't have to worry about the carrying costs of
        their current property, sellers can often move ahead without delay on the purchase of their
        new house, and b) the insurance company will require that the insured property be listed at
        or near the value determined by an appraisal, and houses that are properly priced usually
        sell faster
      2- lower list turnover costs due to longer list terms (there is much less incentive
        for a seller to switch REALTORSTM if the cost of a delayed sale is protected by
        insurance)
      3- a significant and meaningful tool to combat growth of FSBO. (the insurance company
        will provide the insurance on only Board MLS-listed properties.)


REALTORSTM will not sell this product.
Home sellers who wish to purchase the insurance will apply on-line and buy their policy directly from the insurer. (A paper based system will also be available). However, REALTORSTM would help create product awareness by providing product information brochures to home sellers.


The home seller who purchases this insurance product will enjoy three significant benefits:


      - can determine in advance what will be the worst case cost of a delayed sale
      - can choose from among optional levels and duration of coverage protection
      - will enjoy peace of mind.

We would appreciate your feedback.

Complete the following 3-Question Survey and you could
WIN $1,000

As our way of saying "Thank You" for responding to this survey, answer the following three questions and you could win:

EARLY BIRD PRIZE - From among the first 100 unique respondents a draw will be conducted and the winner will receive $100.00

MILESTONE PRIZE - From among the first 250 unique respondents a draw will be conducted and the winner will receive $250.00

GRAND PRIZE - From among the first 500 unique respondents a draw will be conducted and the winner will receive $1,000.00


SURVEY
Considering the typical clientele and market conditions of your own experience, if this product were available today:

1. How willing would you be to help create product awareness with appropriate customers? Please click on the button that applies:
Not all Occasionally Regularly

2. How many times in the next year would you anticipate that your customers would be interested in such a product? Please enter your estimate number in the box below:

3. Where are you located? Please click on the button that applies:
NL NS PEI NB PQ ON
MB SK AB BC NT YK

4. To protect your privacy we are not asking for your contact information. However, in order that we may contact you if you are a winner, please provide your REALTOR (TM) number & broker name:

5. Additional comments are welcomed and appreciated:

Thank you for your interest, and your input, and GOOD LUCK on the draw!

Please see below for answers to Frequently Asked Questions about this new product.




WHO WOULD BE A TYPICAL CUSTOMER?


A typical customer could be a couple like Alice and Bill:      


The factory closed, and Bill’s recent job loss will require moving to a new town, too far away for a daily commute. They are faced with selling their home and buying another in their new town.


The new town is booming and houses appear to sell quickly - should they buy something quickly, before the prices go up again, even if their current house hasn’t yet sold? They know their savings would cover the carrying costs of two houses for about 6-8 months if need be, but after that, things would be painful.


They could wait until the current house sells before they buy in the new town. They might rent for a while, but that could be expensive, or Bill might find a place to board and Alice could stay here until the house sells, and Bill could travel back and forth on weekends. What if it takes a long time to sell? – the factory closure put 200 people out of work and there may be a lot of houses on the market.

This new insurance product could be an ideal solution for them.


HOW DOES  A CUSTOMER QUALIFY FOR A POLICY?


To qualify for insurance coverage:

- the property must have been recently appraised, and not listed for more than

(or reasonably close to) the appraised value

                -  the property must be listed via Board MLS

- the insurer must “self-insure” during the “normal market sales interval” which begins with the Policy activation. (Based on the appraisal and other factors, the insurer will determine an initial period of self-insurance after which - if the property has not sold - the benefits will be paid)

- the property must be maintained in an as-listed condition throughout the list term

- the property must offer clear title

- the insurer must accept any  bona fide offer that is within the price range specified in the policy (the insurer will typically require that a house seller accept a bona fide offer that is, say, 95% or more of the list price)


HOW DOES  A CUSTOMER ACQUIRE A POLICY?


▶ They become aware of the insurance product through various marketing and advertising promotions, lawyers, bankers, mortgage brokers, and through you, their REALTORTM.

▶ They go on-line to find out more.

▶ They request a preliminary quote by providing certain basic information such as the address for the house that will be for sale, their anticipated list price, the desired length of the coverage term, and their estimated carrying costs for that property.

▶ They receive the preliminary quote and are advised that in order to get a firm quote the Insurer must first have an appraisal done on the property. They are advised that they must pay for the appraisal in advance, and they can use the Appraiser of their choice from a list of approved Appraisers, and if they purchase the policy the appraisal fee will be deducted from the premium price.

▶ They decide to proceed, pay the appraisal fee with a credit card on-line and provide some additional detail, and within a few days – once the appraisal has been completed – they receive a firm policy quote from the Insurer.

▶ The appraisal report notes the appraised value of the property with a “normal market sales interval” of, for example, 90 days.

▶ The firm quote notes the key conditions of the policy including that the property cannot be listed for more than 5% above the appraised value, the coverage will not begin until the normal market sales interval (for example, 90 days) has elapsed, and that if the house has not sold during the normal market sales interval the policy would then pay the coverage amount for the selected coverage term (minimum one year) following such interval, or until the closing date of the sale of the property, whichever occurs first.

▶ They decide to proceed with the policy purchase since they now know that their worst case cost, if the sale takes longer than the normal sales interval, is the cost of the premium.


WHAT WOULD A TYPICAL POLICY COST AND WHAT WOULD IT COVER?


It is anticipated that a typical basic - or standard - policy would, for a one-time fixed premium, pay the covered carrying costs for up to one year beyond the “self-insured” period.  For example, if the covered monthly carrying costs were $1,600, the premium cost would be approximately 1.5 x the monthly carrying cost. In this example a one-time premium of $2,400 (which includes the appraisal cost) would provide coverage to pay the carrying costs for up to one full year beyond the self-insured period.


However, home sellers (policy purchasers) will have a lot of flexibility in the selection of coverage levels and coverage duration, and the options chosen will ultimately determine the actual premium cost.