Your Valuable Home

In the Replay today, Kevin and Ron raise awareness of roofing companies promoting new roofs and citing hail and wind damage. They’ll even represent you in talks with your insurance carrier. Think twice before you fall for this.

If you have a home with multiple acres of property in a rural area, be on your guard. A large company may own the mineral and oil rights to your property and can legally extract what lies beneath your property. But for a call from an alert neighbor, Frank, our engineer and editor, could have lost his 16-acre property in upstate PA this way.

In our Feature, we move along with the 2024 real estate roundup. We get into an engaging discussion with super

successful realtor, Wendy Oliver. Wendy’s office is around the corner from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, the Capital of Maryland and the crown jewel of Anne Arundel County. Besides the location on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Anne Arundel offers easy access to some of the most acclaimed healthcare institutions in the U.S.– including Johns Hopkins – and to Washington, DC If any seniors in our audience are looking for an incredible place to retire, this could be it...particularly if you’re into boating.

In the Replay today, Kevin and Ron reveal the scams, lies, and shaky sales

pitches some contractors employ to get jobs.

In the Horror Story, we cite a bad roofing job that led to a bad siding job.

The Real Estate Roundup continues with Loretta Starck of the REMAX

Elite Bograd Team, with offices in Philadelphia, Margate, an exclusive town

area on the Jersey Shore, and Miami. Loretta briefs us on the performance

of these three very different markets in the first nine months of 2024, and

offers her views on what’s to come in 2025.

Afraid of bats? Stephanie Stronsick, head of a non-profit dedicated to nursing sick and injured bats back to health, conducts BAT 101. She explains bats’ important role in the ecosystem, their mostly docile nature and habits and a disease that ravages bat populations. You’ll also learn what to do about a sick or injured bat or a bat colony that you find in or near your home.

In the Bad Guy Bulletin today, Marc Furber from the Bucks County DA’s office alerts us to SMISHING that employs fake text messages to get you to part with your money and/or sensitive information. WHAT NEXT? You need to hear this.

Then, we begin the Your Valuable Home Real Estate Round Up 2024 with Joe Bonacci, an agent for Corcoran in New York. Joe explains new rules that govern the relationships between buyers, sellers and agents, the market for buyers and sellers in the five boroughs of New York City and rural areas north of the city and what he

sees happening in his markets in 2025.

We put our Replay and Horror Story on hold for this release in order to bring you a full one-hour interview on vacation time sharing. We talk with industry expert, Jason Gamel, about the history of the industry, a new point system that allows owners more flexibility and the enduring appeal of time sharing, especially for younger families.

SPECIAL EPISODE!!!

Host Karin Murphy puts her Co-Host "Jeopardy" Jack Cutrone from LI Pariot Radio interview Ron Melk (Your Valauble Home co-host) about the hard-hitting issues facing Americans today—from the squatter crisis and skyrocketing insurance costs to the fight for affordable housing. 

After listening to today’s replay, it would be a good idea to determine if your house is properly insulated.

In the Horror Story, Ron and his friend, Master Plumber, John, set out to change the cartridge in the shower of Ron’s rental condo. They were surprised to discover that the only shut-off valve for the condo - and all other condos in the building - was in a locked room in the building’s basement. Multiple phone calls later they got the combination to the lock and completed the job. A simple plumbing job became a multiple-hour ordeal. 

In today’s feature, New York State Senator Mario Mattera explains the resistance to Governor Kathy Hochul’s planned ban on natural gas usage in new residences. A suit has been filed to prevent the ban from happening. According to Senator Mattera, who has been acknowledged for his support of environmental protections, “what we need is a plan…not a ban.”

In the Replay today, we interview Sean about his choice of new

ProVia® windows. The look and the limited lifetime warranty, in

particular, stood out in Sean’s mind.

It's the 3rd Friday of the month and it's time for the Bad Guy Bulletin, Marc Fuber from the Bucks County, PA District Attorney’s Office, shares the latest in scams and shakedowns to be on the lookout for.

In our Feature, Senator Mattera explains the four related bills

he’s put forward to give homeowners in his state control over squatters. Some horrific squatting incidents triggered the timing. Don’t miss this.

In our Replay, Joanne shares the early stages of what it’s like to build multi-generational living accommodations in her son’s house.

In the Horror Story is a must-listen. If you have a timeshare offshore U.S., and someone offers you a bundle for it, think twice.

In our Feature, Eric Dunn, Director of Litigation for the National

Housing Law Project, defines squatters, the type of residences they prey

on and how prevalent squatting is in the U.S. You’ll want to hear this,

especially if you have rentals or a vacation property.

In our Replay today, with the help of New Pod City's Frank Sasso, we scam a scammer who is eager to flip off an estimate for a roofing job sight unseen and take a credit card number over the phone. You’ve got to hear this!

In our Horror Story, we warn of a timeshare shakedown that could cost you

dearly. If you have a timeshare out of the country, you could be particularly

vulnerable. Time to take notes.

In last week’s Feature, we learned from the PEW Family Trusts why housing in the U.S. is becoming less and less affordable. This week, our Featured interview will be with the famous international researcher, Wendell Cox. Wendell, who is the author of the annual study, the Demographia International Housing Affordability Report,

proves that the U.S. is not alone when it comes to unaffordable housing

and the reasons behind it. In fact, the U.S. has plenty of company in seven

other countries around.

In this week's replay, Donna Butts, Executive Director of the DC non-profit Generations United, reports on that organization’s recently released survey of multigenerational homes, and our own Kevin Kennedy and his family are applauded for their multigenerational lifestyle.

Our Horror Story today is about the case of the lost house, as told by Kim

Sledge, legendary singer, songwriter and longtime friend. Kim endured a

three-month ordeal after selling her home, and learning that her new home

was sold to another buyer. Kim also fills us in on her latest project. In our

Feature today, Tara Roche, the co-head of the Housing Policy Initiative at

the renowned PEW Charitable Trusts, briefs us on the key factors PEW

sees contributing to the unaffordability of American housing...especially for

first-time buyers. AND IN NEXT WEEK’S FEATURE we’ll learn from the

famous researcher, Wendell Cox, that the U.S. is not alone when it comes

to unaffordable housing and the reasons behind it. In fact, we have plenty

of company in countries around the world.