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(Written by Bob Ruth)

Each time I first sit down with a potential client, we discuss qualifying for a mortgage, and the 3 main aspects we use to determine whether a borrower can get financing: ability to repay the loan, willingness to repay the loan, and the collateral value of a house which is determined using an appraisal. Each of these is weighted equally and all 3 aspects determine the suitability of a borrower to obtain the financing to buy a property. This is essentially the foundation for buying a home. 

You may be able to qualify for the payments and the house is sufficient collateral for the loan, but if you don't have good credit you may not be able to get the mortgage. This is also true if the appraisal is ok and your credit is good,…

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The successful sale of your home is directly correlated to PRICING, MARKETING, and ACCESSIBILITY. 

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Many owners require that their Agent present the property to prospective buyers in person.  What these owners do not realize is that this actually decreases their chances of sale.  After many years of research we have found that the average buyer does the following…

  •   Takes 15-20 minutes to look at each home for the first time.
  •   Looks at 23 homes prior to writing an offer.
  •   Looks at the home of their choice twice before writing an offer.
  •   Prefers to look at your home with only one agent

Buyers and Buyer’s Agents do not want the listing agent to be present during their first viewing of a property as it makes them feel…

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Would it be better to sell this home now, or rent it out and sell later?  Making an informed decision can impact your financial well being for decades to come.  Often times moving goes hand in hand with selling a home…..but not always.  In some cases people know that they will only be leaving for a few years while they pursue a degree, project for work, or perhaps a sabbatical.  Sometimes the wannabe seller has no choice but to rent as the value of the home is less than the mortgage and they do not have enough cash to cover the difference at closing. Maybe the market is on the verge of an uptick which will cause the value of the property to surge.  

Regardless of the reason, it is extremely important to understand the financial ramifications of…

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If you’re thinking about remodeling your kitchen, or finishing your basement, you probably want to get your investment back when you sell your home. But when it comes to payback value of home improvements, some are definitely more profitable than others. As a general rule, kitchen and bathroom projects usually get a nice return on investment, typically 90% or more. Things like adding rooms or finishing basements tend to pay back the least. Finishing a basement usually returns less than 50%, so it’s not a project likely to show profit at selling time.


There are a number of factors that go into determining how well a project will pay back. Payback value depends a lot on the current market conditions in your area. If the market is hot and homes are…

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Over the past decade, as pricing began to inflate artificially, we were lead to believe that the real estate market was lined with gold. All of the fundamentals no longer seemed to matter. Values of commercial properties were no longer correlated to income but to projected future appreciation. Residential properties were experiencing a similar scenario where you could not lose. People were anticipating that the market would forever increase and the Market Value of their properties would do nothing but compound.

Some of the fundamentals ignored were as follows:

Competition: If a certain type of property is introduced to an area and begins to sell at higher than normal prices then this will cause other properties of similar caliber to be built in hopes…

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The following example can be applied to properties in all price ranges in every town in CT. We are extremely excited to be able to add even more value to our clients than ever before.

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Are you planning to purchase a home in these towns in the next 6 months?  Did you know that there are currently 130 properties on the market between $200,000-$300,000?

What if you could have inside information on the pricing for these 136 properties?  How helpful would it be to know which of these 136 homes are priced well below their current market value? Don’t you think having access to this kind of information would help you to make the right decision about which properties to consider buying? 

I have developed a system that can give you access to just this…

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 What is the difference between a Customer and Client when buying Real Estate in CT?

One of the factors leading to our success has been a strict adherence to morals and ethics as well as obedience to State and local real estate laws.

As a Customer I CAN do the following for you…. (A Customer has not yet entered into a written buyer-agency agreement)

  1.        Send you an automated list of properties available in the market place.
  2.        Give you information about our firm
  3.        Give you information about local reputable business people.

As a Customer I CAN NOT do the following for you….

  1.        Show you properties.
  2.        Ask you to disclose confidential information.
  3.        Express an opinion or give advice about…

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Are you planning to purchase a home in these towns in the next 6 months?  Did you know that there are currently 130 properties on the market between $200,000-$300,000?

What if you could have inside information on the pricing for these 130 properties?  How helpful would it be to know which of these 130 homes are priced well below their current market value? Don’t you think having access to this kind of information would help you to make the right decision about which properties to consider buying? 

I have developed a system that can give you access to just this type of insider information and, in the process, save you thousands of dollars by showing you which properties to avoid …the ones that can’t sell because they are overpriced.

For…

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What came first, the chicken or the egg? Okay, okay… so I guess we are not here to talk about evolution, but we are here to talk about schools and homes.

As many people know, parents often find a school for their child before they have found a home to live in. So what do people do when they want to find a home in a certain school district or in relation to a specific school? Well look no further, Seaport Real Estate Group provides the only School Directory in southeastern Connecticut that provides school information and gives people the ability to search for homes based off of the specific school they are interested in.

When parents try to find general school information for their children there are several national sites that provide good…

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Effective marketing is the key to selling your home quickly and getting the highest price. Aggressive, effective marketing of our Client's homes by every available medium is how we've become  top real estate agents in the Mystic area. It's our job to assure that you get as many qualified offers as possible, allowing you to extract the highest price the market will bear.

One of the most important elements of marketing your home effectively is setting the price right. Set the price too high, and you won't get any offers and your home will take too long to sell. Set it too low and you cheat yourself by not getting your home's full, fair value. As  experts in the Mystic area real estate market, We analyze the market and set area home prices every…

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