News Archive

Peck & Tuneski, P.C. is pleased to announce the opening of our new office located at 6 Business Park Road, Old Saybrook, Connecticut. For over twenty years our firm has serviced clients in the real estate community with excellent closing services at reasonable prices in our New London office. We now look forward to providing those same services to clients in the Old Saybrook area. We are approved closing attorneys for virtually all lenders and have developed relationships with dozens of real estate agencies and agents. Our staff of legal assistants have over thirty years of closing experience. Our new office at 6 Business Park Road, Old Saybrook, Connecticut is now open. The office is easy to reach, with plenty of parking. We look forward to working with the residents of the Old Saybrook area and would be happy to speak with you to discuss our fees and our services at any time. 

In June, 2000, the Connecticut Legislature passed a new law that allows the State’s municipalities to establish a local scholarship fund to provide financial assistance for post secondary educational expenses of its residents. 

Any Connecticut town interested in a local scholarship fund can, by ordinance, establish a fund and a committee to select the scholarship recipients. That committee has full responsibility to oversee the administration of the fund for that town. 

To assist the town in receiving donations, the town’s motor vehicle property tax bill mailed out to its taxpayers can be redesigned to permit the taxpayer to voluntarily check off and donate an amount of at least $1.00. This donation does not decrease the taxes paid but is a payment in addition to the town taxes in the nature of a donation. The town Treasurer will deposit all monies collected as a result of the motor vehicle property tax bill into the scholarship fund and can also accept donations from other sources. 

Contact your local town government to determine whether your town has decided to participate and what you can do to qualify for.

Peck and Tuneski, P.C.'s web site has been selected as a finalist, by Law Office Computing Magazine, in its 3rd Annual Best Law Office Web Site Contest. Peck & Tuneski, P.C.'s site was selected for this honor in the small firm category and competed against hundreds of other sites. We thank the editors of Law Office Computing and our web site designers, Active Internet Technologies, Inc. We will continue to work to improve our site and encourage those who view the site to submit comments or ideas for improvement.

FHA MORTGAGE INSURANCE UPDATE

It has been almost two (2) years since Congress enacted legislation to protect home buyers from endless payments of Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). As most home buyers know PMI will automatically be canceled by a lender upon reaching a point when the loan to value ratio is 78%. This means the homeowner has reached 22% equity. Lenders must also cancel PMI upon request of a Borrower when 20% equity is reached. Lenders must give borrowers amortization schedules indicating the outstanding principal due after each payment so they may know when this equity position is reached. Until this year FHA mortgage borrowers have not had the same protection. This inequity has now been remedied.

Beginning January 1, 2001, the monthly mortgage insurance payment on an FHA loan will automatically be canceled when the outstanding principal balance reaches 78% of the original purchase price (provided that the monthly mortgage insurance payments have been made for a minimum of 5 years for 30 year loans). 15 year mortgages where the home buyer makes a down payment greater than 10% of the purchase price will not have to pay the monthly mortgage insurance at all. This brings FHA purchasers in line with conventional loan borrowers and makes it unnecessary to refinance to eliminate PMI. For more information on FHA Mortgage Insurance click on the information link, FHA Mortgage Information.