Monday, June 24, 2019 / by Nicole Solari
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRIVATE MORTGAGE INSURANCE (PMI)
Whether it is your first time or your fifth, it is always important to know all the facts when it comes to buying a home. With the large number of mortgage programs available that allow buyers to purchase homes with down payments below 20%, you can never have too much information about Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI).
What is PMI?
Freddie Mac defines PMI as:
“An insurance policy that protects the lender if you are unable to pay your mortgage. It’s a monthly fee, rolled into your mortgage payment, that is required for all conforming, conventional loans that have down payments less than 20%.
Once you’ve built equity of 20% in your home, you can cancel your PMI and remove that expense from your mortgage payment.”
As the borrower, you pay the monthly premiums for the insurance policy, and the lender is the beneficiary. Freddie Mac g ...
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real estate, home ownership, finances, real estate team, solari team, credit score, mortgage, mortgage insurance
Tuesday, June 18, 2019 / by Nicole Solari
WHY IS SO MUCH PAPERWORK REQUIRED TO GET A MORTGAGE?
When buying a home today, why is there so much paperwork mandated by the lenders for a mortgage loan application? It seems like they need to know everything about you. Furthermore, it requires three separate sources to validate each and every entry on the application form. Many buyers are being told by friends and family that the process was a hundred times easier when they bought their home ten to twenty years ago.
There are two very good reasons that the loan process is much more onerous on today’s buyer than perhaps any other time in history.
1. The government has set new guidelines that now demand that the bank proves beyond any doubt that you are indeed capable of paying the mortgage.
During the run-up to the housing crisis, many people ‘qualified’ for mortgages that they could never pay back. This led to millions of families losing their home. The gove ...
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real estate, home ownership, homes for sale, finances, napa valley, solano county, mortgage, first time home buyers
Thursday, June 13, 2019 / by Nicole Solari
16 Times Homeowners Got Overly Creative With Their Garage Doors
Ever get tired of those cookie-cutter garages with blank doors? Boring! Check out these examples of amazing garage doors that will definitely make those that pass by to a double take! Some of these are pretty mind-bending.
1. John Scarratt turned this into a brilliant ad as a catchy piece of art. I suppose the wall needed better coding.
Savefrom faildesk.net9Andrew BakerTech Fails
2. Have that rare car you want to protect? Do you just want to feel more like a secret agent?
McMills Construction and Beausoleil Architects created this hidden garage to maximize rent for a tenant as well as avoid penalties from city coding. The reasoning may have been a bit dastardly, but the results are quite cool.
SaveOddee58Heather GrantFunny Garage Doors!
3. This is a 3D garage sticker. And an accident waiting to happen.
Savejoilieder.tumblr.com8Overhead Door Company of GreenvilleUnique Garage Doors
4. Y ...
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real estate, home ownership, homebuyers, homes for sale, real estate agent, upgrades
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 / by Nicole Solari
Multigenerational Homes Are On The Rise
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As loved ones start to get older, we start to wonder: how long will they be able to live alone? Will they need someone there to help them with daily life? There’s a reason to ask those questions now more than ever, as the average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78 years old! As a result, 41% of Americans in the market are searching for a home that can accommodate a multigenerational family.
The graph below shows the number of people by generation that purchased a multigenerational home because they will either be taking care of an aging parent or they just want to spend time together.
Of those buyers, 26% indicated they will be taking care of an aging parent, and 14% said they want to spend time with an aging parent. These numbers do not come as a surprise. According to Pew Research Center, 64 million Americans (20% of the population) lived in a multigener ...
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real estate, home ownership, homebuyers, buying, first time home buyer, moving, napa valley, solano county, family homes, multigenerational
