10/19/21 | Ellie Botshon
Liz and Ellie have helped buyers in the Greater Boston area for decades. They’ve seen it all, from housing bubbles to busts, from no inventory to overflowing inventory. But one thing that doesn’t change is educating you on how the whole process works.
Impacts whether or not you qualify for a mortgage;
Determines if you must purchase private mortgage insurance (a LTV ratio above 80% requires PMI);
May lead to a loan not being approved if the LTV ratio is above 97.5%;
Affects the interest rate on your loan.
Be able to back out of the deal;
Increase their down payment and rewrite the Purchase & Sale (P & S);
Pay a higher loan rate;
Pay for personal mortgage insurance (PMI);
Petition the lender to take another look based on properties they may not have included in the appraisal.
The loan to value ratio is an important consideration when putting together an offer for a home.
Find the LTV ratio by dividing the amount of the loan by the lower of either the appraised value or the offer price. The answer is a percentage. 80% or below is ideal. If it’s higher than that, you may need to purchase Personal Mortgage Insurance or pay a higher rate. If the LTV is upward of 97%, your loan might be denied.
The appraisal number only comes in after the offer has been accepted. This means you must think through and plan for all possible appraisal outcomes when making an offer—Ellie and Liz can help with that!
Use your attorney to protect yourself in the Purchase & Sale agreement. Talk with them about which contingencies fit your needs.
An informed buyer is more likely to be successful. Ask your agent and your lender lots of questions.
Greater Boston's market might feel like a rollercoaster, but we think that the numbers tell a different story. We didn’t have a particularly active residential real estate market last year, at least by local standards. Nonetheless, homes across most communities continued to hold their value — and even appreciate, in many cases.
As of November 2022, it’s illegal to dispose of any textiles in the trash here in Massachusetts. You may have read the headlines or heard a neighbor complain about it (or perhaps you were the one complaining?). But what the heck are you supposed to do with your old socks and stained undershirts? They sure look like trash—why can’t you send them to the dump? The answer is logical, and we’re prepared to get you excited about giving your textiles new purpose after you’re done with them.
It’s the end of the year again, which means it’s time to look back and reflect on 2022. This year, we’ll focus on how we were able to turn lemons into lemonade! Here are some of the most challenging—or as we like to say, interesting—experiences we’ve had this year.Â
With their complementary communication styles, responsiveness, competence, and ability to truly listen, Ellie and Liz enable their clients to feel at ease throughout any real estate transaction. They would welcome the opportunity to be your next real estate advisors.
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