Loan-to-value Basic Question

[Patrick Smith]

Hi,

I am a brand new to the BiggerPockets community and trying to learn about REI so that I can begin investing on my own.

I am trying to understand how LTV works and why it is that low LTV is typically worse for the investor? Why is it that with low LTV you typically have less of the value of the asset available to you as cash?

Thanks in advance for entertaining what to many may seem like a stupid question :)

Patrick