A newsletter provided for professionals in the (insert your market) market.  The purpose of this newsletter is to keep you informed of current consumer topics and pending economic indicators that affect the mortgage and real estate markets.
U.S. Treasury Bonds
Maturity Yield Last
Week		 Last
Month
5 Year 4.36 4.43 4.54
10 Year 4.45 4.51 4.60
30 Year 4.65 4.71 4.79

Treasury Market Summary: 

A day that started on a bearish note ended up sending the bulls into the weekend on a feel-good note. The short and sweet of it is that the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 were down 101, 23 and 11 points, respectively, in the first 15 minutes of trading as liquidity concerns linked to reports of the Bank of England providing emergency funding to Northern Rock, the U.K.'s third biggest mortgage lender, Merrill Lynch downgrades of Intel (INTC 24.93, -0.42) and American Express (AXP 58.94, -1.66), and weaker than expected retail sales and industrial production reports for August, prompted a broad-based wave of profit taking.Consistent with this week's bias, though, stocks caught a bid and recouped just about all of those losses before mid-day.   They then held their ground throughout the session and finagled a positive finish on some late-day buying interest.There wasn't any specific news catalyst for the reversal, but the resilience to early selling activity and the recognition that the economic data weren't that bad proved to be an igniting factor for today's participants who, based on NYSE volume of just 1.20 billion shares, were limited in number.Basic materials (+0.7%) was the best-performing of the 10 economic sectors while telecom services (-0.6%) brought up the rear.  Although the market made up a lot of lost ground, it couldn't make much headway from the unchanged mark because of the lack of involvement of the financial (-0.04%), technology (-0.3%) and health care (-0.2%) sectors, which comprise roughly 50% of the S&P's market capitalization.We would note that there were takeover rumors today surrounding several stocks.  Those rumors were indeed questionable when taking into account the light volume that makes it easier to move stocks on a day like today and that next week brings a quadruple witching options expiration.For the week the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 gained 2.5%, 1.4% and 2.1%.Next week brings a slate of key happenings, the biggest of which is Tuesday's FOMC meeting.  Briefing.com expects the Fed to cut the fed funds rate by 25 basis points.  Separately, several investment banks will be reporting their quarterly results while the economic calendar features the telling PPI, CPI and Housing Starts reports.

 
 

Economic Indicators for this week that could impact the mortgage or real estate markets include...

 

Adding To Your Homeowners Insurance: 

 

Do You Need A Rider?

 

Jewelry, Oriental Rugs, Home Office? Yes, You Need a Home Owner Rider

If you have a good home owners insurance agent they will take the time to help you understand your insurance policy and ask a lot of questions. But, not everyone has a good insurance agent and even good agents are not able to know about everything you own. It is important for you to know what is covered and what is not on your homeowners insurance before you need to make a claim.

A False Sense of Security?

Often after one buys a home and purchases their home owners insurance policy they never look back. They feel protected until something goes wrong and they find out they were not. Many times this lack of protection is because the home owner had extra items that their home owner insurance either excluded or had limits on.

Expensive Items Such as Oriental Rugs, Jewelry, and Home Office Equipment, Probably Need a Rider

If you own certain expensive items, such as jewelry, Oriental rugs or home office equipment, more than likely you will need a rider on your homeowners insurance policy.

Here is a list of the most common home owners insurance policy riders:

Jewelry: Most basic homeowner policies only cover up to $1,000 for jewelry. Purchasing a jewelry rider is very inexpensive and will protect each individual piece of jewelry you own not only against damage but theft. Make sure when you get your policy each valuable piece of jewelry you own has an agreed upon itemized value listed in the policy so there is no conflict if you have to make a claim. Also, see if you can get a discount on your jewelry rider for storing your valuables in a safe deposit box or fire safe box.

Artwork and Antiques: Typically, art work and antiques are covered better than jewelry, up to 75% of the value of your homeowner policy but some people would like additional coverage if they own a lot of expensive artwork and/or antiques. A rider for artwork and antiques is very inexpensive so it is certainly worth the cost.

Silverware: Coverage for silverware on most policies is around $2,500 but like jewelry, theft coverage is not included. This means that you will not get any amount of insurance if someone steals any of your silverware. With an insurance rider, theft is included so if you have some silverware that is valuable to you and you would like to cover it for more than $2,500 and against theft then a silverware insurance rider would be a good choice for you.

Oriental Rugs: This is another item that has limited coverage under a typical home owners insurance policy. Home owners insurance companies know Oriental rugs are expensive and they do usually include them in your policy, but only up to $5,000 per rug with a limit of $10,000 total for all Oriental rugs. So, again, if you would like to make sure the cost of your Oriental rugs are reimbursed to you if they are damaged then you should purchase an insurance rider for them.

Home Office Equipment: This is a huge area that is commonly underinsured in most homes. It is common for a lot of families to have a home office as a central hub for the family to do research and planning. But, all those technological gadgets are expensive and most home owners policies limit home office equipment to $1,000. Make sure you tell your insurance agent about any expensive computers, fax machines, printers, and other communication devices and see what coverage you currently have. If you are not satisfied with your current coverage, add an insurance rider so you can replace any damaged or stolen items if needed.

One should consult with a qualified insurance planning professional prior to implementing any real estate planning strategies. If you are a mortgage planning, real estate, financial or tax planning professional receiving this newsletter, please call our office and introduce yourself to us.  We are always seeking to grow our referral network and expose more service professionals to our client base.