Cynthia & Preston's Blog

One thing I learned from the field investigator for my insurance company over the course of this slip and fall incident was that a claim against a homeowner's policy does not adversely affect future insurance rates. Auto policies, as we all know, are priced according to risk of loss, based on a l...

I apologize if I am stuck on the topic of insurance lately. I almost had it out of my system when I opened an envelope from Amica (homeowners policy) this morning with a check for almost $450. This is the result of a premium reduction, thanks to my sending them the report from my recent My Safe F...

In a previous post, I told of the dreaded “slip-and-fall” call I got from my tenant. Based on my experiences, here are my suggestions for how to handle one of these: First of all, relax. This is why you have insurance. It’s not your fight to fight. This is the insurance company's job. They do it ...

We've been landlords for almost 7 years, and have managed to do it pretty successfully. I won't say we're rich from it (yet) but we have avoided almost all the horror stories that are often told by bitter ex-landlords. We have accumulated a few good stories. I’ve been waiting until our case got s...

I don’t know about you, but the stories I hear from others about their insurance companies are not flattering to the companies or encouraging to me. It seems that we have come to expect that our insurance companies will pay only if they must, and will do anything to avoid paying. And if that's th...

"Avoid bargains in parachutes and brain surgery." This old saying is out there in many variations and versions, but the message remains the same: Some things are too important to shop for on price alone. Econ 101 taught us that some items are commodity goods -- the product is the same regardless ...

According to the Consumer Federation of America and Washington Mutual, an annual survey indicates that consumer awareness around credit scores remains poor. That matters because credit scores affect how much you'll pay for credit, be it a home loan, car loan, credit card. Not only that, it can af...

A few days ago we mentioned that Florida's free wind inspection program is coming to an end soon, so hurry up and order yours! According to the Palm Beach Post, the program target was 400,000 free inspections. 411,000 have been processed, but because not everyone follows through with the inspecti...

I mentioned in the previous blog how encouraging it is to see dirt being stirred up again in St Petersburg (www.stpete.org). Here's how I see it: The Grand Central District (www.grandcentraldistrict.org) and the Historic Kenwood neighborhood (www.historickenwood.org) was the scene of a lot of red...

I mentioned a few days ago how excited we are to have our designs and renderings for our boutique infill project in St Petersburg. Wednesday, the most exciting thing so far has happened: Breaking ground! More than an exciting event for us, we also see this as one more sign of continued improvemen...