Teaming with Our Sister States?

I’ve written about the lack of affordable of housing in CT before. Add to this a few of my other pet peeves, suburban sprawl (yes, I know it is counter-intuitive for a REALTOR to dislike sprawl) and youth drain, and we’ve got the potential for long term economic hardship not only in CT, but all of New England. Clearly, on a town by town basis, we can start business development and real estate development projects

Closing Issues

Here are a couple of quick tips in order to avoid potential issues at closing. If you know you’ve found the home you’d like to purchase, before you leave the property, make sure you go over the Inclusion and Exclusion sheet. If there are items that you would like included that aren’t spelled out on the I/E sheet, make sure they are written into your purchase and sale agreement. No one likes to go through

Pest Control and Identification

We’re moving into the wet season and this is when we start to see pest infestations. Here’s a great website to check out regarding different types of pests, how to identify them, the damage that they do, and how to prevent infestations. While the site is sponsored by UC Davis, we still see many of these pests in New England. Enjoy! Integrated Pest Management

Subprime Bailouts

Congress is starting to rumble about devising a program to bailout subprime borrowers. Now that adjustable rates have started to rise, potentially 1.1 million homeowners could be forced into foreclosure in the next 6 months. The government isn’t suggesting it will pay off loans, but that a program focused on counseling and loan restructuring could help the problem. No offense, but I don’t want my tax dollars to pay for this program. Why isn’t accountability

Government Loans

I attended a government loan seminar yesterday and picked up some interesting information I thought I would share… Advantages of an FHA Mortgage – No reserves are required to qualify – Lower monthly mortgage insurance – Lower closing costs and no “junk” fees allowed – Gift money is allowed for your entire downpayment – Generous debt to income ratios are allowed (sometimes up to 49%) – Lower credit scores considered (a FICO score as low