Insurance Agent Forum

[Markingriffin]

I'm going to tell you a way to get your foot in the door and help clients while you are at it.

I went 3 years after buying my new home, before someone told me what Homestead Exemption was and how it could save me money on my property tax bill. No one in 3 years had told me about this and how simple it was to file it. Homestead means that you live in the home that you own and they gov't gives you a small break in your property tax bill. I could not believe that something like this was out there and I didn't know about it. So I called the local court house and asked them if this was for real, and she told me yes and to come down and just sign one sheet of paper that said that I live in the house that I own and do not rent it out. It was very simple. I save $700 dollars a year or you could look at it, I wasted $2,100 because no one ever told me about this. In the sub division that I live in, you have to be the homeowner and the homeowners can't rent out their homes. So I went door to door, asking all of my neighbors did they know about this, and less then half of them did. I became the hero of the subdivision over night. The avg homeowner saved at least $400 a year, some of them saved more.

Now I'm going to tell you how this can help you reach new clients or help some of the clients that you already have.

I look up most deeds on local tax assessors website's and it shows me if they have filed this or not. I can tell if they are renting out the house, by if the mailing and physical address match. But you would not have to do this. I think at least 1/3 of the homeowners have not ever heard of this or know how to do it.

So I would start off by writing them a letter introducing myself to them and tell them that I'm the local life insurance agent and I would love to help them save some money on their property tax bill. I even send them the form that I got from the court house when I went, that explains how to do this. I give them the number to the court house, in case they have any questions. I offer them some of my other free services like my free living wills, free credit reports and let them know that I'm here to help them and I can also protect their family if something happened to them. I tell them there are a number of things that I can help them with.

After they go and file and see how much money they will save on their next tax bill, they usually always call me and thank me, which gives me another chance to offer my services to them. Also think that most people have already budget this money to pay for the tax bill each year, and this may help them afford some insurance. In my case I now had $700 a year to spend on something else.

I want to save them money, and then protect their family at the same time.

I have made an audio tape on this, if you will email me at markcrosenthal@aol.com I will forward it to you. This is a new tape that I have made and hope this idea helps someone.

Just some food for thought and you may take this idea of mine and make improvements on it. Also if you have not filed homestead yet, don't feel bad. It took me 3 years to do it.

Mark Rosenthal
www.realfastservice.com

[ALG]

What is the primary Insurance you market.

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Mark...not to shoot down your theory...but doesn't everyone get that exemption? I know I do. One of the P&C guys in the office tried that and found out that 98% of the homeowners were already getting it.

[Markingriffin]

Originally Posted by CHUMPS FROM OXFORD

Mark...not to shoot down your theory...but doesn't everyone get that exemption? I know I do. One of the P&C guys in the office tried that and found out that 98% of the homeowners were already getting it.

I went three years without it myself. $2,100 wasted and I feel stupid. Most of the people in my subdivision didn't know about it. I had to tell some of my own family members about it. Once I found out, I started telling everyone about it. Over half of the people I asked, didn't know about it. I'm personally finding tons of clients that didn't know about this. It is not an automatic thing. You must go to the court house and fill out the form.

I asked the court house, why didn't they write me a letter and tell me and she laughed at me. The Gov't is never going to help you pay them less money. I did one time, in my tax bill, find a little something telling me about the many ways to get an exemption, but I don't think many people understand what it is. Most people know about if you are disabled, or when you get old enough you can stop paying it, but not the homestead.

In my state, I use Georgia Tax Assessors - Your One Stop Portal to Assessment, Parcel, Tax & GIS Data for Georgia Counties! to look up deeds. On the online public deeds section, it will tell you if they have filed or not. I can show you examples of people that you can find still today that have not filed. I have had a few people that didn't believe me and would not even call the court house to ask them about it.

So you never filled out the paper for it, they just gave it to you or did someone else like your wife do it for you?

Each state may do this different also. But it is worth checking on and seeing if this will work for you. It does in Georgia.

[Newby]

It must be a regional thing because I already thought the same thing. Who in the world doesn't know about the Homesteaders tax exemption?

In my area that would be like calling people and saying "The sky is blue. Have a nice day!"

Mark, I give you credit for thinking outside the box though.

[somarco]

We have bought 3 houses over the years in 2 different states. In every case the closing attorney, and our realtor, told us about filing for the homestead exemption.

I guess I could check the records and see how many folks in my area have not filed, but life insurance is not my market.

[Charpress]

The odds of finding people out there who are not aware of homestead exemption are very slim.

But why not be a bit creative? In my state we have something called the senior freeze. Assessments for those over 65 who are making less than about $70k per year are frozen and cannot go up. This is something that probably half the people in our state do not know about since you have to file an application to get it.

I'm sure there are things in every state that a bit of work could uncover that would be considered a tax advantage or some sort of non-tax advantage. Put together in a presentation or ad would establish expertise and credibility.

The idea is good. Some tweaking might make it better.

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Ohio enacted a new program in 2005 called "Retro-Retirement."

If you are over 70, live alone, and rent...then you are allowed to "upgrade" your apartment at no cost. That is, you get to pick another apartment in your local township within $100 of your monthly rent. If you find one you like, the tenants in the more expensive apartment have 90 days to move. Then, you get the better apartment for yourself.

You can only exercise the option once between ages 70 and 72.

[somarco]

In Fulton county GA (and probably in other counties as well) when you turn 65 you no longer have to pay the school tax portion of your property taxes.

But you do still have to support Grady Hospital, the taxpayer funded charity hospital that is essentially bankrupt.

[GreenSky]

I knew a guy in Vegas that used homesteading as a loss leader to get seniors into his office to sell them annuities.

The "great" thing was this guy was also inviting them to invest in his business. He was doing the same thing as they did in "The Producers." Never went to jail but obviously lost his SEC license.

He offered me a job years ago.

Rick

[mickeyma]

California has the Property Tax Exemption, which I used for several years to get in the door as a fairly new agent. At that time, it saved @ $100 a year. Most people did not know about it.

As taught to me by a successful GA, we would go and leave cards on the door of 10 homes every day. I can't remember the specifics, but it went something like:

"Bob, I'm calling on you because of your mortgage with _____. You may be eligible for a free government program that will save you money on your property taxes. I'll stop by tonight to discuss it in more detail."

It was important to write the name of the lender on the card to give the impression this information was coming from the lender.

After explaining about the exemption, we would say: "Another thing I wanted to talk to you about was a Mortgage Protection plan......"

The GA would give 3-4 pitches a night and sell 4-6 policies a week.

You had to market this in the poor areas. Middle class areas were too smart to let you in the door. But, in 1979, my GA was making over $100,000 doing this in the all-black area of Watts (Los Angeles). He was white with a bowtie and slick mustache. Go figure why no one shot or robbed his cracker butt.

[somarco]

Uh .. . they thought he was Nation of Islam?