Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Chuck Roberts & Associates can help you get rid of your PMI.A 20% down payment is typically the standard when buying a house. The lender's liability is generally only the remainder between the home value and the sum due on the loan, so the 20% provides a nice cushion against the expenses of foreclosure, selling the home again, and regular value variations in the event a borrower is unable to pay. Lenders were working with down payments down to 10, 5 and often 0 percent during the mortgage boom of the mid 2000s. A lender is able to handle the increased risk of the small down payment with Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. PMI covers the lender in the event a borrower is unable to pay on the loan and the market price of the home is less than the loan balance. Since the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is rolled into the mortgage monthly payment and generally isn't even tax deductible, PMI can be costly to a borrower. It's lucrative for the lender because they acquire the money, and they get the money if the borrower defaults, opposite from a piggyback loan where the lender takes in all the damages. 
Does your monthly mortgage payment include PMI? Contact us, you may be able to save money by removing your PMI. How homebuyers can avoid bearing the cost of PMIThe Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 makes the lenders on nearly all loans to automatically terminate the PMI when the principal balance of the loan equals 78 percent of the initial loan amount. Keen homeowners can get off the hook a little earlier. The law guarantees that, upon request of the homeowner, the PMI must be released when the principal amount equals just 80 percent. Considering it can take countless years to arrive at the point where the principal is just 20% of the original loan amount, it's essential to know how your home has increased in value. After all, all of the appreciation you've achieved over the years counts towards removing PMI. So what's the reason for paying it after your loan balance has fallen below the 80% threshold? Your neighborhood might not be adopting the national trends and/or your home might have gained equity before things calmed down, so even when nationwide trends predict plunging home values, you should realize that real estate is local. The difficult thing for almost all home owners to know is just when their home's equity rises above the 20% point. A certified, licensed real estate appraiser can definitely help. As appraisers, it's our job to know the market dynamics of our area. At Chuck Roberts & Associates, we know when property values have risen or declined. We're experts at analyzing value trends in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County and surrounding areas. Faced with information from an appraiser, the mortgage company will generally do away with the PMI with little effort. At which time, the homeowner can enjoy the savings from that point on.
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