Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Valicity LLC can help you get rid of your PMI.

It's typically known that a 20% down payment is accepted when purchasing a home. Considering the risk for the lender is often only the difference between the home value and the amount due on the loan, the 20% provides a nice cushion against the costs of foreclosure, reselling the home, and typical value variationson the chance that a purchaser defaults.

Lenders were taking down payments as low as 10, 5 and often 0 percent in the peak of last decade's mortgage boom. How does a lender handle the added risk of the small down payment? The solution is Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. This supplementary plan covers the lender in case a borrower doesn't pay on the loan and the worth of the home is less than what is owed on the loan.

Since the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is bundled into the mortgage payment and many times isn't even tax deductible, PMI is costly to a borrower. Different from a piggyback loan where the lender absorbs all the deficits, PMI is money-making for the lender because they obtain the money, and they receive payment if the borrower defaults.

Does your monthly mortgage payment include PMI? Contact us, you may be able to save money by removing your PMI.

How home owners can avoid paying PMI

With the employment of The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, on nearly all loans lenders are obligated to automatically terminate the PMI when the principal balance of the loan reaches 78 percent of the beginning loan amount. Smart home owners can get off the hook a little earlier. The law pledges that, upon request of the homeowner, the PMI must be released when the principal amount equals only 80 percent.

Because it can take many years to arrive at the point where the principal is only 20% of the initial amount borrowed, it's necessary to know how your home has increased in value. After all, every bit of appreciation you've gained over the years counts towards removing PMI. So why should you pay it after your loan balance has dropped below the 80% mark? Your neighborhood may not be following the national trends and/or your home may have secured equity before things settled down, so even when nationwide trends forecast plummeting home values, you should understand that real estate is local.

The difficult thing for almost all homeowners to understand is just when their home's equity goes over the 20% point. An accredited, licensed real estate appraiser can surely help. It is an appraiser's job to know the market dynamics of their area. At Valicity LLC, we know when property values have risen or declined. We're experts at determining value trends in Eureka, Humboldt County and surrounding areas. Faced with information from an appraiser, the mortgage company will often eliminate the PMI with little trouble. At which time, the home owner can relish the savings from that point on.

Want to learn more about PMI and the Homeowners Protection Act? Click this link:
Cancellation of Private Mortgage Insurance: Federal Law May Save You Hundreds of Dollars Each Year