Do You Need Private Mortgage Insurance?

Do You Need Private Mortgage Insurance?

Tips For Looking Beyond Decor And Staging While Home Shopping

by Luke Fields

If you are looking for a new home and feel overwhelmed by attempts to see past deceptive staging and other people's clutter, then you are not alone. It can be very hard to see yourself in a home that is full of other people's belongings and decorated to their taste. However, by following each of these tips, you can see a house for what it really is:

Tip: Look at the Home's Layout Not the Furniture or Wall Coverings

As you walk through a home, try to force yourself to focus on the overall layout and not the wall colors and other designer finishes. You need to picture all of the walls blank and the rooms empty. This will help you evaluate if the layout of the house will meet your needs without expensive remodeling.

Tip: Look at the Quality of Finishes in the Kitchen

The most expensive things to replace in a kitchen are its cabinets. If you walk into a kitchen and the cabinets are damaged or badly finished, then this will be an expensive repair.

The second most expensive things in a kitchen are the appliances. However, since kitchen appliances wear out and need periodic replacement anyway, as long as the appliances in a kitchen are in working order, then they should not deter a purchase.

Finally, the counter tops, sink, and flooring are other aspects of a kitchen that can easily be replaced for not a lot of money. As long as a kitchen has quality cabinets and working appliances, then you can safely ignore the rest.

Tip: Look at the Quality of Finishes in the Bathroom

As with the kitchen, a home's bathrooms should have high-quality finishes and fixtures. Since paint and light fixture issues are simple to remedy, the walls and lights can be ignored when you view a home. However, you should check closely to make sure the tub, shower, and sinks are in good condition.

Often, home sellers will try to hide an old bathtub or sink by refinishing it with an epoxy paint. To determine if old fixtures were repainted, look for these signs:

  • No visible grout

  • Paintbrush marks in the tub or tile

  • Epoxy glaze over-spray on a wall or the floor

While a repainted sink or bathtub isn't a bad thing, you need to know what you are working with when you decide on your purchase offer price.

Tip: Look at the Garage's Size and Layout

Finally, you need to look inside of the garage and try to picture it empty. Think about how you want to use the space and evaluate the garage to determine if there is going to be enough space once the current owners remove all of their stuff.

For example, you may want to park both of your cars in the garage and build yourself a workbench. Since it is a major remodeling project and very expensive to add on to a garage, you must verify the existing space is large enough to meet your needs. Once you are sure of the home you want, take care of the final steps with your local real estate agents, like those in Carmel, CA.


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About Me

Do You Need Private Mortgage Insurance?

Welcome to my website. My name is Larry Silva, and I want to talk a bit about private mortgage insurance. You may have heard the term PMI mentioned when you were in the process of purchasing real estate. When I first heard my lender talking about PMI, I was very confused. It was my realtor who sat me down and explained what private mortgage insurance was and when someone is required to purchase it. He told me that PMI is not lifelong insurance; it can be cancelled when the mortgage principal balance reaches a certain point. Once it was explained to me, private mortgage insurance was no longer a mystery or a confusing concept. I would like to pass on what I learned and hope that you find it to be of value.

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