Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Assured Real Estate Services LLC can help you get rid of your PMI.A 20% down payment is usually the standard when purchasing a home. Since the risk for the lender is often only the remainder between the home value and the sum due on the loan, the 20% provides a nice cushion against the charges of foreclosure, reselling the home, and natural value variationson the chance that a purchaser defaults. During the recent mortgage boom of the last decade, it became common to see lenders requiring down payments of 10, 5 or even 0 percent. How does a lender manage the added risk of the small down payment? The answer is Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. PMI protects the lender in case a borrower is unable to pay on the loan and the value of the home 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 bundled into the mortgage monthly payment and oftentimes isn't even tax deductible. It's lucrative for the lender because they collect the money, and they get paid if the borrower is unable to pay, separate from a piggyback loan where the lender absorbs all the damages. 
Does your monthly mortgage payment include PMI? Contact us, you may be able to save money by removing your PMI. How can a homebuyer refrain from paying PMI?The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 makes the lenders on most loans to automatically cease the PMI when the principal balance of the loan equals 78 percent of the primary loan amount. Wise homeowners can get off the hook a little earlier. The law stipulates that, upon request of the homeowner, the PMI must be dropped when the principal amount reaches just 80 percent. Considering it can take many years to get to the point where the principal is just 20% of the initial amount of the loan, it's important to know how your home has increased in value. After all, any appreciation you've accomplished over the years counts towards dismissing PMI. So why pay it after your loan balance has fallen below the 80% threshold? Despite the fact that nationwide trends indicate falling home values, understand that real estate is local. Your neighborhood may not be reflecting the national trends and/or your home might have acquired equity before things settled down. 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 difficult thing to know. It's an appraiser's job to keep up with the market dynamics of their area. At Assured Real Estate Services LLC , we know when property values have risen or declined. We're masters at pinpointing value trends in Walker, Livingston County and surrounding areas. When faced with data from an appraiser, the mortgage company will usually drop the PMI with little anxiety. At which time, the homeowner can delight in the savings from that point on.
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