Due to the efforts of our Insurance Commissioner, Scott Richardson, we now have many new insurance companies willing to write business for real estate in our area. All of the companies are A-rated or better and admitted to the State. This means that the insurers are bound by South Carolina's Guarantee Act.

These new companies are competitive and give us options so that we are, in most cases, no longer bound to the expensive Lexington and Lloyds products.

As a generalization, I would say that insurance prices have dropped to about 1% of the purchase price of the home, sometimes less. This is a considerable drop from the previous year's when it was as much as 2%.

I hope this gives you a little insight into the insurance market. My thanks to Kristin Hayrinen at Kinghorn Insurance for her insights. Please email me hiltonheadjr@aol.com if you have further questions.