Citywide Appraisals can help you remove your Private Mortgage InsuranceWhen getting a mortgage, a 20% down payment is usually the standard. Since the liability for the lender is usually only the remainder between the home value and the sum due on the loan, the 20% provides a nice buffer against the costs of foreclosure, reselling the home, and regular value variationson 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 even 0 percent. A lender is able to endure the additional risk of the reduced down payment with Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. PMI protects the lender if a borrower defaults on the loan and the worth of the house is less than what the borrower still owes on the loan. PMI can be pricey to a borrower in that the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is lumped into the mortgage payment and generally isn't even tax deductible. Opposite from a piggyback loan where the lender takes in all the costs, PMI is profitable for the lender because they collect the money, and they receive payment 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 homeowner avoid bearing the expense of PMI?The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 obligates the lenders on nearly all loans to automatically cancel the PMI when the principal balance of the loan equals 78 percent of the primary loan amount. Acute home owners can get off the hook ahead of time. The law guarantees that, at the request of the homeowner, the PMI must be dropped when the principal amount reaches only 80 percent. It can take many years to reach the point where the principal is only 20% of the initial amount borrowed, so it's essential to know how your home has appreciated in value. After all, all of the appreciation you've achieved over time counts towards abolishing PMI. So why pay it after the balance of your loan has fallen below the 80% mark? Despite the fact that nationwide trends forecast falling home values, realize that real estate is local. Your neighborhood may not be minding the national trends and/or your home may have gained equity before things settled down. An accredited, licensed real estate appraiser can help home owners understand just when their home's equity goes over the 20% point, as it's a difficult thing to know. As appraisers, it's our job to understand the market dynamics of our area. At Citywide Appraisals, we're experts at identifying value trends in Omaha, Douglas County and surrounding areas, and we know when property values have risen or declined. Faced with figures from an appraiser, the mortgage company will most often remove the PMI with little trouble. At which time, the homeowner can relish the savings from that point on.
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