Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Mark Schofield Appraisal Services can help you get rid of your PMI.When purchasing a home, a 20% down payment is usually the standard. The lender's liability is generally only the remainder between the home value and the sum remaining on the loan, so the 20% supplies a nice buffer against the expenses of foreclosure, reselling the home, and regular value variations in the event a purchaser is unable to pay. The market was taking down payments as low as 10, 5 and even 0 percent in the peak of last decade's mortgage boom. How does a lender handle the additional risk of the small down payment? The solution is Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. This supplemental plan takes care of the lender in case a borrower is unable to pay on the loan and the worth of the house is lower than the loan balance. Since the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is bundled into the mortgage monthly payment and generally isn't even tax deductible, PMI is costly to a borrower. Contradictory to a piggyback loan where the lender consumes all the losses, PMI is advantageous for the lender because they acquire the money, and they receive payment if the borrower doesn't pay. 
Does your monthly mortgage payment include PMI? Contact us, you may be able to save money by removing your PMI. How home owners can keep from bearing the cost of PMIWith the implementation of The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, on most loans lenders are forced to automatically eliminate the PMI when the principal balance of the loan equals 78 percent of the initial loan amount. The law guarantees that, upon request of the home owner, the PMI must be released when the principal amount reaches just 80 percent. So, wise home owners can get off the hook ahead of time. Considering it can take countless years to get to the point where the principal is just 20% of the initial loan amount, it's necessary to know how your home has grown in value. After all, all of the appreciation you've gained over the years counts towards abolishing PMI. So why pay it after the balance of your loan has fallen below the 80% threshold? Your neighborhood may not be minding the national trends and/or your home could have acquired equity before things calmed down, so even when nationwide trends indicate falling home values, you should realize that real estate is local. The difficult thing for almost all home owners to understand is just when their home's equity goes over the 20% point. A certified, licensed real estate appraiser can surely help. It is an appraiser's job to keep up with the market dynamics of their area. At Mark Schofield Appraisal Services , we're experts at analyzing value trends in St Johns, Saint Johns County and surrounding areas, and we know when property values have risen or declined. Faced with data from an appraiser, the mortgage company will often cancel the PMI with little anxiety. At which time, the homeowner can relish the savings from that point on.
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