Lexwin Realty LLC

Greater Boston Real Estate Company (781) 367-8522 info@lex-win.com

Testimonials

"Our family recently moved from Ohio to Boston because of job change. We spent a lot of on looking at homes at Lexington, Winchester and its surrounding towns, and we worked with several local real estate agents before we contacted Carlos. After we met with Carlos, we are convinced that Carlos is the most knowledgeable, the most diligent, the most honest and the best listener, and he was the person that we were looking for. He helped us to find our dream home in Lexington. We are more than happy to recommend his professional services." - T. Li & Y. Fang (Lexington)
"Carlos impressed my wife and me immediately with his professional demeanor and knowledge of the Lexington real estate market. He provided valuable advice and guidance through every step of the home-selling process. Before we needed to make a decision, he fully explained out options, and provided us with his recommendations. He was always professional, prompt and courteous, and his services really exceeded our expectations. We received 11 offers due to his marketing skills, and we would gladly recommend him to anyone looking to sell a property in Lexington." - P. Wang & J. Yu (Lexington)
"First time home buyers always have a lot of questions, and Carlos had a great patience to guide us through the process with assurance and confidence. He was unfailingly responsive and extremely professional from our first meeting through the closing. We were amazed that Carlos remembered every street with double lines and single line in Winchester. We recommend him without reservations." - S. & J. Grey (Winchester)
"We spent almost every single weekend to look open houses during 6 months before we purchased our home at Acton. When we asked Carlos to help us to give an offer for a house that we found from open houses, he immediately convinced us to not buy the house with his reasons. We really appreciate for his honest and his knowledge. With his help, we quickly found our dream home. Carlos will be our lifetime realtor and lifetime friend. We recommend him to everyone who wants to purchase a home in Acton." - S. Carboni & G. Guo (Acton)
"We recently moved from Burlington to Wellesley, and Carlos served us as our both seller agent and buyer agent. We were really impressed with Carlos' 'client first' philosophy. He always gave us a lot of opinions, and never pushed us to make a hasty decision. He had good communications, negotiation and interpersonal skills. He developed marketing strategies and promoted our house through a lot of media. We received several offers, and the selling price was much higher than our expectations. We immediately hired Carlos as our buyer's agent to purchase our new home in Wellesley." – H. Dong & Y. Meng (Burlington/Wellesley)
"We moved from China to Boston through our investment immigration. We had no friends in Boston, and we don't have any knowledge about the Boston real estate market. Carlos shared his insightful market analysis, which helped us to quickly make the decision about the house location. He was willing to spend extra time helping his customers. We enjoyed working with Carlos in our house hunting." - L. Peng (Weston)
"Carlos is an excellent agent and friend. He helped and educated us on every step of the buying process of our home in Wayland. His outstanding and rare combination of sales, marketing, negotiation and interpersonal skills really impressed us. His time commitment and dedication to his work turned out wonderful results and total customer satisfaction. We are really glad and fortunate to have worked with him and we recommend him to anyone who wants a result-driven agent." – C. Dai & H. Wu (Wayland)

What is mortgage insurance?

Mortgage insurance is protection for the lender (not the borrower) in the event of default. The mortgage insurance company will reimburse the lender for all or part of losses they may have if the home is foreclosed on and must be sold by the lender. If your down payment is less than 20 percent, or you are refinancing more than 80 percent of your home’s value, most lenders will require that you purchase mortgage insurance. Typically, mortgage insurance is not required for home equity loans. Although mortgage insurance is primarily for the benefit of the lender, it does allow homebuyers to purchase their home with a low down payment. The borrower pays the mortgage insurance premium on behalf of the lender.

The terms and conditions for mortgage insurance have changed several times in the last decade, particularly for private mortgage insurance. For current guidelines on maximum loan amount, loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, mortgage types and premiums, you should consult with a lender.

There are many different options that lenders can offer you to pay the premium for mortgage insurance. The most common method is by adding a small premium amount to each monthly payment, called a monthly premium. Lenders can also offer a single premium that will require you to make a large payment at closing rather than adding the premium to your monthly payments.

Depending on the type of premium used, you may be due a refund of some of the premium paid if your loan is paid in full early.

If you are planning to keep your mortgage for only a few years, the monthly premium plan is probably the best deal. If you are planning to keep your mortgage for several years, look into a one-time premium.

Canceling Mortgage Insurance Payments

The lender may allow you to discontinue the PMI premiums when your loan-to-value (LTV) declines below 80 percent. This can happen in two ways:

1. Several years of monthly principal payments will reduce your loan balance and your LTV ratio.

2. If the value of your home goes way up, your LTV ratio goes down. An appraisal will be required to verify the new value and lenders will require that you pay for it.