Willow ,'Storyteller'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Adorable.
OK, I need an intervention. I'm trying to listen to the radio, read the monitor and surf. I need to walk away from the computer but I have this block about not monitoring it even though it really doesn't need to me to while it loads music. Sheesh.
Do you guys have to pay mortgage insurance?
We didn't, because our down payment (and therefore our equity) was at least 20%.
Here, for single family homes, you generally have to buy private mortgage insurance, on the difference between your down payment and 20% of the purchase price.
You do have to purchase home owners insurance though (which covers for things like fire, and against personal injury claims, etc.), to protect the bank's investment.
We didn't, because our down payment (and therefore our equity) was at least 20%.
Oh, then maybe that was why we didn't have to. (All I know is our broker never mentioned it.)
You'll probably need some kind of insurance Jess, for hazard-y stuff.
What's the difference between a co-op and a condo?
Here, for single family homes, you generally have to buy private mortgage insurance, on the difference between your down payment and 20% of the purchase price.
We have to pay mortgage insurance if the downpayment is less than 25% of the purchase price. The amount you pay is a percentage of the purchase price and depends on how much downpayment you have.
We have to pay mortgage insurance if the downpayment is less than 25% of the purchase price.That used to be the general case for condominiums, in Massachusetts (different states can have different regulations on stuff like this), but I'm not sure if it is, any more.
When you finally have 25% equity, can you get out of the mortgage insurance? I know there was a move towards that here, in the last few years, but I didn't follow the stories closely, because it didn't apply to us.
When you finally have 25% equity, can you get out of the mortgage insurance?
I don't know. I would assume yes.
You'll probably need some kind of insurance Jess, for hazard-y stuff.
Well, we already have regular apartment insurance (which covers our personal property, and the inside of the apartment) in addition to the building's overall policy.
What's the difference between a co-op and a condo?
With a condo, you're buying airspace -- you legally own the inside walls of the apartment and everything within it. With a co-op, you're buying shares in a corporation that owns a building, and those shares just happen to be exactly enough to lease yourself an apartment in said building. In practice, you end up "owning" an apartment either way, but from the bank's perspective, if you buy into a co-op, you're not buying property, and so you don't get a mortgage. Instead, you get a loan that acts in every practical way exactly like a mortgage, but the bank doesn't call it one, and legally you're not considered a homeowner (even though you still get all the same tax benefits).
Huh. I always figured they were the same and that one term was just older. Co-ops came first, right?
I think it's more that condos are more common in some places and co-ops in New York others.