Clue Reports: A Tool to Discover Property Problem

Buyers now have an additional tool available to discover potential problems with their new home - a report of the seller's insurance claims during the past five years, called a Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (C.L.U.E.) report.

by Mark C. Young

Imagine that you are a home buyer, purchasing a "perfect" house. Nothing appears out of place. But unknown to you, the sellers made a claim against their insurance carrier last year for damage from a lightning strike. While there is no obvious lingering damage apparent, the claim was for more than $8,000, so the lightning caused some significant harm. As the buyer, had you known of the claim, you might have wondered, did the lightning strike cause any fire? Was the wiring in the home compromised? Was the resulting harm limited to the seller losing a state-of-the-art big screen TV? But all of this assumes you found out about the lightning strike in the first place.

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