Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Cole Appraisal & Consulting, LLC can help you get rid of your PMI.It's largely inferred that a 20% down payment is the standard when purchasing a home. Since the risk for the lender is generally only the remainder between the home value and the amount due on the loan, the 20% adds a nice cushion against the charges of foreclosure, reselling the home, and typical value fluctuationson the chance that a purchaser is unable to pay. During the recent mortgage upturn of the mid 2000s, it became customary to see lenders requiring down payments of 10, 5 or sometimes 0 percent. A lender is able to manage the added risk of the small down payment with Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. This supplementary plan protects the lender in case a borrower defaults on the loan and the market price of the property is less than what is owed on the loan. Since the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is compiled into the mortgage monthly payment and many times isn't even tax deductible, PMI is pricey to a borrower. Different from a piggyback loan where the lender takes in all the losses, PMI is money-making for the lender because they collect the money, and they get paid if the borrower is unable to pay. 
Does your monthly mortgage payment include PMI? Contact us, you may be able to save money by removing your PMI. How can buyers keep from bearing the expense of PMI?The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 obligates the lenders on most loans to automatically cancel the PMI when the principal balance of the loan reaches 78 percent of the beginning loan amount. Wise homeowners can get off the hook beforehand. The law stipulates that, at the request of the home owner, the PMI must be released when the principal amount reaches only 80 percent. It can take many years to get to the point where the principal is only 20% of the original amount borrowed, so it's important to know how your home has appreciated in value. After all, every bit of appreciation you've accomplished over the years counts towards dismissing PMI. So what's the reason for paying it after your loan balance has dropped below the 80% threshold? Your neighborhood may not be adhering to the national trends and/or your home might have acquired equity before things settled down, so even when nationwide trends indicate plummeting home values, you should understand that real estate is local. A certified, licensed real estate appraiser can help homeowners understand just when their home's equity rises above the 20% point, as it's a hard thing to know. As appraisers, it's our job to know the market dynamics of our area. At Cole Appraisal & Consulting, LLC, we know when property values have risen or declined. We're masters at identifying value trends in Eveleth, Saint Louis County and surrounding areas. When faced with information from an appraiser, the mortgage company will most often cancel the PMI with little effort. At that time, the homeowner can enjoy the savings from that point on.
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