California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is initiating a review of insurance companies doing business in California to determine their level of Iran-related investments.

Poizner, who will officially announce his review on Monday, is acting on two fronts.

He wants to ensure compliance with a state law that took effect in January that prohibits California-based companies from investing directly in Iran’s government or companies associated with it.

He then wants to review investments in certain sectors for all insurance companies operating in California to determine whether they indirectly benefit Iran.

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When Chad Gartzke put his three-bedroom ranch home in Wauwatosa up for sale for $196,000, one of the first people to view it liked the house so much she was willing to pay $196,500 to make sure she got it.

Despite a tough residential real estate market, it looked liked smooth sailing for Gartzke, who already had his eye on a bigger house in Richfield for him and his family.

Then the appraisal came in.

The appraiser concluded the house was worth $190,000, a judgment based in part on information about sales of “comparable” area homes. In turn, the buyer’s mortgage lender didn’t want to finance a house for more than its appraised value.

After the appraiser refused to reconsider what Gartzke and his real estate agent considered a flawed valuation, they were left to try to salvage the sale with a new deal.

The buyer ultimately was able to come up with another $1,000 for the down payment, and Gartzke reluctantly lowered the selling price to $191,000.

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The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has criticised a reverse mortgage report – citing it contains case studies that are out of date.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Paul Clitheroe led Australian Government Financial Literacy Board’s guide is designed to assist consumers understand if a reverse mortgage is suitable for them.

Tony D’Aloisio, chair at ASIC, said the regulator’s research had found consumers find it difficult to understand what a reverse mortgage is and ASIC is concerned that people are being encouraged to borrow more than they actually need.

However, Martin Lynch, head of reverse mortgages at RBS, said while the information within the guide is correct, he is disappointed with the tone of the case studies used.

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Gov. Charlie Crist has vetoed a bill that would have deregulated rates for some residential property insurance policies.

The bill (HB 1171) would have let homeowners pay higher, unregulated rates for insurance covering hurricanes, fires and other hazards from highly capitalized national companies.

In his veto message Wednesday, Crist wrote that the so-called ”Consumer Choice” bill ”actually gives the choice to a select group of property insurance companies.” It would have let them choose to sell unregulated policies only to customers who pose the lowest risk, Crist wrote.

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There may be another culprit scuttling a U.S. housing recovery: low home appraisals.

Flawed appraisals are derailing real estate sales and depressing values across the U.S., the National Association of Realtors said yesterday as it reported that existing home prices declined 17 percent in May from a year earlier.

“It’s pointing to thousands of delayed or canceled transactions,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the Chicago- based Realtors group, said in an interview. “We’ve had a massive inundation from members saying this is a big problem.”

Appraisal rules that went into effect on May 1 require lenders that sell loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to set up a firewall between appraisers and loan officers to prevent improper influence. The rules are the result of an agreement between the mortgage buyers and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who said an investigation found appraisers inflated values under pressure from lenders.

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When Judy Kralik and her husband, Andrew, downsized and moved to Valparaiso in 2005, she thought life would be easier.

But when her husband of 47 years died from esophageal cancer less than a year later, things got tough: her income did not comfortably cover her mortgage and other living expenses.

“Our income just really went down, and I was on Social Security,” Kralik said.

Kralik, 69, turned to a reverse mortgage to get the extra money she needed. She now receives a check each month for about $435 that will continue for the rest of her life.

Like Kralik, more seniors are using reverse mortgages to tap into their home equity and pay off debt. Reverse mortgages allow the borrower to receive income in monthly installments, a lump-sum payment or a line of credit from which the borrower can make periodic withdrawals.

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Lawmakers and businesses are calling for expansion of a tax credit for first-time home buyers that has helped spark home sales in an otherwise dismal real estate market.

With the tax credit scheduled to expire in fall, some business groups say the amount of the credit, now capped at $8,000, should be raised to $15,000 and applied to anyone who buys a home.

First-time buyers make up a hefty 40% of home purchases, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which is about 5 percentage points higher than the historical average.

The credit, introduced in July 2008, was expanded in February as part of the economic stimulus package. The proposals may face headwinds amid growing public criticism of government spending to rescue the economy and the widening budget deficit.

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Local seniors had the chance this week to learn about reverse mortgages, an oft-touted financial move but one that may not be right for every retiree.

Bill Morrison, advocacy volunteer with New Mexico American Association of Retired Persons, gave a short presentation on reverse mortgages during Carlsbad AARP Chapter 651’s monthly meeting at North Mesa Senior Center earlier this week.

The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage is FHA’s reverse mortgage program that allows senior homeowners to convert the equity in their home into cash or monthly payments or a combination of both. Although no repayment is required as long as the home is the borrower’s principal residence, there are many restrictions and fees that apply.

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SB 1122 will undermine PPO networks, raise health-care costs

With many Floridians struggling financially and businesses working hard to stay alive, a bill passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Crist Wednesday will make health insurance more expensive and more difficult to obtain.

Senate Bill 1122 will dismantle the vast cost-saving networks of health-care providers that insurance companies use to negotiate lower rates for consumers. The result will be higher health insurance costs, which could increase the ranks of uninsured in our state. That is why we urged Gov. Crist to veto the measure.

Some characterize the discussions around SB 1122 as a controversy between doctors and insurance companies. It is not. Rather, the focus should have been on the effects SB 1122 will have on affordability of health care and access.

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Pick a dollar amount be zero and 1 billion. Depending on who you ask, that’s what State Farm Insurance owes its Texas customers for overcharging on homeowner policies dating to 2003.

The Office of Public Insurance Counsel, the state’s consumer advocate for insurance, says in documents filed this month that Texas’ largest property insurer owes policyholders $785 million plus interest, or nearly $1 billion. State Farm has 1.2 million customers in Texas.

The Texas Department of Insurance calculates the overcharges at about $250 million, plus nearly $100 million more in interest.

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