Daily Real Estate News  |  March 2, 2005  |   N.J.: Task Force Tackles Insurance Issues The New Jersey Association of REALTORSŪ has formed an insurance task force to address the growing problem of obtaining or affording adequate property and casualty insurance. NJAR is asking its members to fill out an insurance questionnaire available through the members-only section of NJAR’s Web site to help the task force identify key problem areas and make recommendations for action. Mary Davis, president of NJAR and broker-owner of Mary Davis Real Estate in River Edge, N.J., says she decided to form the task force after hearing insurance horror stories from practitioners in other states as well as in her area. The aim of the task force, she says, is to head off the problems in New Jersey before they become even worse. A key insurability problem in the state centers around underground oil storage tanks, Davis says. In New Jersey, most older homes have underground storage tanks for heating oil. There’s a concern that the tanks could leak, causing environmental damage. In the past, insurers were concerned about the tanks only if the homes were abandoned. But more and more insurers don’t want to insure inhabited homes with underground oil storage tanks. In one recent case, Davis says, a home sale that was ready to close had to be delayed when the buyers couldn’t obtain homeowners insurance because of a tank. Davis says the task force may end up recommending that the process of getting insurance should begin before a contract is signed, rather than at closing. —By Pat Taylor for REALTORŪ Magazine Online