Back together for a week before Bonnie gets some R&R! In this week’s REal Talk, we highlight a few pitfalls we’ve seen in the past couple of years: oil tanks (the perennial favorite!), solar panels, and insurance claims. Tune in and share!

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Video Transcript

Susie (00:02):

Hi Bonnie!

Bonnie (00:03):

Hi Susie. I’m so happy you’re home from Vacation.

Susie (00:07):

Yes, me too! And you’re off to vacation on Monday. So this is a little in betweenand we have to do this quickly cause you have to go to an appointment. We wanted to talk quickly about a few things, things that we’re seeing a few, maybe I guess we could call them like hurdles or stumbling blocks that we’re seeing, that we hadn’t seen as much of before last year,

Bonnie (00:33):

On the buyer and the seller side actually.

Susie (00:36):

Yes, yes. One thing everyone knows oil tanks are a thing around here, but we have seen, as we have mentioned, I think in the past, our undue share, I think of oil tank situations.

Bonnie (00:48):

Yes. I just want to say, we’re not going to go into anything too deeply just to keep it short. So if you have questions about oil tanks or you’re thinking about selling or you’re thinking about buying and you want to know the ins and outs, feel free to call us because we’ve kind of been in every possible situation. There is. But we are seeing a lot of second tanks on properties where the homeowner has either bought a house that had a no further action letter and a tank had been removed or where they personally removed a tank. And they know they saw with their own eyes that there’s no tank on the property. We are finding second tanks. So it is not uncommon. And that is why we make all of our buyers do a tank sweep whether or not the seller says there’s a tank.

Susie (01:33):

And I’ll tease without going too far into it, that we are also seeing some what we suspect to be scammed situations, where there were supposed to have been tanks removed and remediated where, and we’re finding we’re finding ones anyway, or contaminated soil where a tank has been removed. So lots of different things pitfalls to be aware of in the oil tank arena. And we have become much better versed. We’d like to be, but it’ll all be good for everyone listening. Second thing that we’ve been seeing more of as an issue potentially are solar panels.

Bonnie (02:10):

Right. So we’re not opposed to solar panels in general. I think solar is, you know, definitely we’re headed in that direction where a lot of people, more and more people will get solar. We also were just talking about cars that are becoming solar, which is incredible…

Susie (02:27):

The first all Solar car. Yeah. We definitely are big proponents of anything that’s going to help the earth and help us be more eco-friendly. And but having said that from a real estate transaction standpoint, we are seeing some, some issues. So again, not going to go into long detail about it, but just know that we have had a couple of deals fall through because of solar panels.

Bonnie (02:50):

Right.

Susie (02:50):

And we just want you to be aware of, if you are thinking about getting solar panels, put on your house, have a conversation with us. We’re not going to dissuade you. We just want you to know.

Bonnie (03:00):

Not all companies are the same. Not all companies handle the selling process the same. Contracts are widely different. I know a lot of our attorneys don’t love solar panels, so it is good to talk with a real estate. You know, we’re happy to tell you what our experience has been. And also, you know, we advise you to talk to either one of our real estate attorneys or one of your own just to get kind of the scoop. So you really know what you’re dealing with.

Susie (03:28):

And this is definitely becoming an issue because the Realtors Associations, even taking this up as a lobbying point and a legislative issue. So this is not something that’s just not our experience. So that’s the second thing. And then the third thing that we’re learning about as we go is insurance claims on a house.

Bonnie (03:48):

Yes. So yeah, so we’ve been through it with some clients who had a difficult time. And we learned a lot of things in the process about people who maybe file a claim on something small and, or even call their insurance company to ask a question. And it goes onto the record as an actual claim, whether or not there was a payout. Just a lot of intricacies about it that we didn’t know. And I learned a lot about even my own house, my own situation. So…

Susie (04:21):

We have filed insurance claims on both of the homes that we’ve owned in Maplewood, South Orange, and they were both water related and that’s a big part of what can be an issue. And so this isn’t to say you shouldn’t file insurance claims. Obviously you should trigger insurance where you need it. That’s why we have it. But we do partner with Goosehead insurance who has been really great at helping educate us about some of the things that you should be aware of. And that’s what all of this is about. It’s just, there are a lot of things that we just didn’t know that we didn’t know. And I’m sure that’s the case with a lot of our listeners. So just know that insurance, your homeowners insurance, how you activate it, how you use it, who you work with can effect how you sell your house in the future?

Bonnie (05:08):

Yep. I’ll add that. We’re thinking about doing like a webinar on insurance with goose head and possibly one on oil tanks. So if you guys have questions type them in here, just what kind of be, even if they’re just really basic or you want an overview of something, or if you have a very specific question about any of the three topics we just mentioned because we would like to kind of get some experts to weigh in on this. We’ll do like a live webinar and you know, you can either join or watch later, but we’re planning some of these for the fall. So let us know, you know, feel free to call us, but feel free to type a question in below and let us know if there’s something we can answer for you or answer for you on the webinar.

Susie (05:50):

Yeah. Bottom line, if you are thinking about moving, actually what I say is everybody moves sometimes. So if you don’t know about these things, if you’re thinking about solar and if you are thinking about claims or if you’ve done some insurance claims on your home just reach out to us and we’re happy to answer whatever questions you have or tell you about some things you should be concerned about or thinking about. All right. All right, everyone.

Bonnie (06:16):

Well, have a great weekend everyone, and we’ll see you next time!