Box Appraisal Services can help you remove your Private Mortgage InsuranceWhen buying a house, a 20% down payment is typically the standard. Considering the liability for the lender is oftentimes only the remainder between the home value and the sum due on the loan, the 20% adds a nice cushion against the expenses of foreclosure, selling the home again, and natural value fluctuationsin the event a purchaser is unable to pay. Lenders were taking down payments down to 10, 5 and even 0 percent during the mortgage boom of the mid 2000s. How does a lender handle the additional risk of the small down payment? The solution is Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. This supplementary plan 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. Because the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is bundled into the mortgage monthly payment and generally isn't even tax deductible, PMI can be expensive to a borrower. Separate from a piggyback loan where the lender absorbs all the costs, PMI is beneficial for the lender because they collect the money, and they receive payment if the borrower doesn't pay. 
Does your monthly mortgage payment include PMI? Contact us, you may be able to save money by removing your PMI. How can home buyers prevent bearing the expense of PMI?With the implementation of The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, on most loans lenders are obligated to automatically cancel the PMI when the principal balance of the loan reaches 78 percent of the original loan amount. Acute home owners can get off the hook sooner than expected. The law guarantees that, upon request of the home owner, the PMI must be dropped when the principal amount equals just 80 percent. Considering it can take many years to get to the point where the principal is only 20% of the original loan amount, it's necessary to know how your home has increased in value. After all, any appreciation you've obtained over time counts towards dismissing PMI. So why pay it after the balance of your loan has dropped below the 80% mark? Despite the fact that nationwide trends signify declining home values, realize that real estate is local. Your neighborhood may not be minding the national trends and/or your home may have secured equity before things simmered down. An accredited, licensed real estate appraiser can help home owners understand just when their home's equity rises above the 20% point, as it's a tough thing to know. As appraisers, it's our job to keep up with the market dynamics of our area. At Box Appraisal Services, we know when property values have risen or declined. We're masters at pinpointing value trends in Spring Branch, Comal County and surrounding areas. Faced with information from an appraiser, the mortgage company will often cancel the PMI with little effort. At that time, the homeowner can relish the savings from that point on.
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