How to Buy A home - Home Financing Questions - Part 1

What is a Fixed Rate Mortgage vs. an Adjustable Rate? or maybe “What will my rate be?” Or “What am I paying when I pay my mortgage payment?” or how about “What’s PMI and will my monthly payments change during the loan term?

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb with the Chubb Realty Group and today I am answering those questions!

-        So “What is the difference between a Fixed Rate and an Adjustable Rate?

For a fixed rate mortgage, the interest will stay the same throughout the life of the loan. The most common fixed rate mortgages are 15 and 30 year notes. An adjustable Rate Mortgage, otherwise known as an ARM means that the interest rate can change periodically. This means that the monthly payments can go up or down. Generally the initial interest rate is lower than of a comparable fixed-rate mortgage which is called the teaser rate. After that period ends, interest rates-and your monthly payments can go higher or lower.

Your expected utilization of a property will ultimately help drive this decision. I will however note that interest rates are at historical lows and the only real place for them to go… Is well UP.

-        So “What is my interest rate going to be?”

That is a tough question to answer depending how far out you are from the actual buying process. The farther out you are, the bigger the guess! When you are getting pre-approved, you do not want to worry about a bank’s interest rates. Banks rates vary daily and a bank may be competitive one day and less competitive the other.

When you have found a home and gone under agreement on that home,...

How to Buy A home - Home Financing Questions - Part 2

Here are some recent questions that I received from people that are thinking about buying a home.

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb with the Chubb Realty Group and today I wanted to share with you some additional questions from prospective home buyers that I often here.

-        People often ask “What are the differences between a pre-approval and a pre-qualification.”

A pre-qualification is a quick conversation with your lender in talking about income, assets and the anticipated down payment. A buyer has not submitted any underlying paperwork to support this conversation and thereby a mortgage banker has not dug deep into the credit worthiness of a buyer.

A pre-approval is where a lender will verify the financial information needed and submit the loan to underwriting for a preliminary approval. A pre-approval takes a little more time and documentation, but offers a lot more certainty throughout the buying process.

Think of it this way, if you are looking to put an offer and it is a competitive offer situation, then the pre-qualification is not going to carry nearly the same weight as compared to the buyer who has a buyer that has actually been pre-approved. The pre-approved buyer will offer the home seller a little more certainty in what can be a very uncertain process. When you are a home seller and you are about to make a very serious decision, generally they are going to want to go in the direction of the most certainty.

-        Another great question...

How to Buy A home - Home Financing Questions - Part 1

Here are 3 Common Questions from people that are thinking about buying a home.

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb with the Chubb Realty Group and today I wanted to share with you some common questions from prospective home buyers.

-        The first question is “Do I really need to put 20% down to buy a home?”

And the answer is a resounding NO. There are programs available to home buyers in which they can put as little as 3.5% down. A buyer can always put more down, but this is the limit. Another not well-known fact is that this down payment can actually be gifted from a friend or family member. At the end of the day, the bank with these FHA type programs need to see at least 3.5% of owner equity in order to feel comfortable moving forward.

However, if you are a Veteran, the VA program will actually allow a buyer to buy a home with 0% down. This is only a program that is available to the men and woman currently or those that have served in our armed forces in the past.

-        The second question I often hear is “Do I need spectacular credit to get a mortgage?”

Like above, the answer to this question really varies by which mortgage program a buyer is evaluating. The FHA mortgage programs will lend to buyers putting 3.5% down with credit scores of 580 or higher.

If your credit score is below 580 however, you aren’t necessarily excluded from FHA loan eligibility. Applicants with lower credit scores will have to put down a 10% down payment if they want to qualify for a loan.

There...

The story of selling 560 Jerusalem Road, Cohasset

A case study that examines why it took the 6th agent to sell this home. 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2. TIRING HOUSE SALE PROCESS
3. REASONS HOUSES DO NOT SELL
4. STORY OF 560 JERUSALEM ROAD
5. SELLING HOUSE THE RIGHT WAY
6. FASTER WAY TO SELL YOUR HOUSE
7. REFERENCES FOR THE CASE STUDY 

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The homeowners of 560 Jerusalem Road in Cohasset failed to sell their home working with 5 different agents. They were able to accomplish their goals after working with their 6^th!

Some real estate markets favor sellers, some favor buyers. There are factors that dictate what type of market a community is in. Once you start to understand how your market works and the market conditions, you can do the extraordinary. Which is ultimately accomplishing your goals.

There are several factors that influence the time it will take when it comes to selling a house. There are some aspects of the house sale process that help sell properties faster and for top dollar.

This white paper sheds light on the notable problems house sellers face and the factors that may cause trouble.

An interesting case involving the sale of the house at 560 Jerusalem Road in Cohasset will be discussed in the middle of the document. Included will be important points that help sell properties faster and for top dollar.

   2. TIRING HOUSE SALE PROCESS

Selling a house is not an easy task. You will have to invest time and energy to the sales process in order to achieve your objectives

A number of challenges for house sellers have been identified in different research studies. Learning from these studies and other people’s successes as well as failures will increase your chances of a successful sale.

Traditionally, when people sell a property,...

Will the real estate market gains hold out as we go into the last month of 2019?

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb and I wanted to share with you the market stats for the first 11 months of 2019 for a couple markets throughout Massachusetts. Today we are going to look at MA as a whole, Brockton, Canton, Dorchester, Framingham, Quincy and Reading.  

All of MA Real Estate

Decreasing inventory is the story to be told through the Bay State. With Condos continuing the trend and now down 8.43% year over year. Meanwhile Inventory for Single Families continued to shrink and is now down 15.14%.

Sales are down in both the Condo and Single-Family segments with condos down 2.46% year over year and the Single-Family market now down .85% when comparing the first 11 months of sales for 2018 vs. 2019.

Home prices continue to be up year over year with the average sale price of a condo at $521,276 which represents a 3.84% increase and the average sales price for Single Families up 2.89% to $517,921.  

Recap: Inventory is down. Sales are down. Prices are up.

Brockton Real Estate

Inventory in Brockton has been down by a significant amount pretty much all year, however we saw a small surge of new properties hit the market. Inventory is now down 2.70% year over year with 108 Single Family homes currently on the market at the end of November.

The decline in sales also continued in November with now 759 units closed for the first 11 months of the year. This represents a 7.33% decline in the amount of homes sold year over year.

The great news is that the average home price continued to climb to $318,996 which represents a 6.38% increase in the average price appreciation.

Recap: Inventory is down. Sales are down. Prices are up.

Canton Real Estate...