Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Christine Staubs can help you get rid of your PMI.It's largely understood that a 20% down payment is accepted when getting a mortgage. Since the risk for the lender is often only the remainder between the home value and the sum remaining on the loan, the 20% provides a nice cushion against the costs of foreclosure, reselling the home, and regular value changeson the chance that a purchaser doesn't pay. During the recent mortgage boom of the mid 2000s, it became common to see lenders commanding down payments of 10, 5 or even 0 percent. A lender is able to handle the increased risk of the small down payment with Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. PMI protects the lender if a borrower is unable to pay on the loan and the value of the property is lower than what is owed on the loan. PMI is costly to a borrower in that the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is rolled into the mortgage monthly payment and often isn't even tax deductible. Different from a piggyback loan where the lender absorbs all the losses, PMI is lucrative for the lender because they obtain the money, and they get paid 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 can a home owner prevent paying PMI?With the utilization of The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, on nearly all loans lenders are forced to automatically eliminate the PMI when the principal balance of the loan equals 78 percent of the initial loan amount. Acute home owners can get off the hook a little early. The law pledges that, upon request of the homeowner, the PMI must be dropped when the principal amount equals only 80 percent. Considering it can take many years to arrive at the point where the principal is just 20% of the original loan amount, it's necessary to know how your home has grown in value. After all, every bit of appreciation you've acquired over the years counts towards abolishing PMI. So why pay it after your loan balance has dropped below the 80% threshold? Even when nationwide trends predict declining home values, understand that real estate is local. Your neighborhood might not be adhering to the national trends and/or your home could have acquired equity before things simmered down. The difficult thing for almost all homeowners to understand is just when their home's equity rises above the 20% point. A certified, licensed real estate appraiser can surely help. As appraisers, it's our job to understand the market dynamics of our area. At Christine Staubs, we know when property values have risen or declined. We're masters at determining value trends in Fort Myers, Lee County and surrounding areas. When faced with information from an appraiser, the mortgage company will generally eliminate the PMI with little anxiety. At which time, the home owner can retain the savings from that point on.
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