Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Bayou Country Valuations can help you get rid of your PMI.A 20% down payment is typically the standard when buying a house. Since the risk for the lender is oftentimes only the remainder between the home value and the amount due on the loan, the 20% supplies a nice cushion against the costs of foreclosure, reselling the home, and regular value changeson the chance that a borrower defaults. The market was working with down payments as low as 10, 5 and often 0 percent during the mortgage boom of the last decade. How does a lender handle the added risk of the small down payment? The solution is Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. This supplementary policy protects the lender in the event a borrower is unable to pay on the loan and the worth of the home is less than what the borrower still owes on the loan. PMI can be costly to a borrower on the grounds that the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is compiled into the mortgage payment and generally isn't even tax deductible. Contradictory to a piggyback loan where the lender takes in all the damages, PMI is money-making for the lender because they secure 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 bearing the expense of PMI?With the employment of The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, on nearly all loans lenders are obligated to automatically cease the PMI when the principal balance of the loan reaches 78 percent of the primary loan amount. The law designates that, at the request of the homeowner, the PMI must be dropped when the principal amount equals only 80 percent. So, smart homeowners can get off the hook a little earlier. Because it can take many years to get to the point where the principal is only 20% of the initial amount borrowed, it's important to know how your home has appreciated in value. After all, every bit of appreciation you've accomplished over the years counts towards abolishing PMI. So why pay it after the balance of your loan has dropped below the 80% threshold? Your neighborhood might not be adopting the national trends and/or your home could have gained equity before things cooled off, so even when nationwide trends hint at plummeting home values, you should understand that real estate is local. The hardest thing for most home owners to know is just when their home's equity rises above the 20% point. An accredited, licensed real estate appraiser can definitely help. As appraisers, it's our job to know the market dynamics of our area. At Bayou Country Valuations, we're experts at pinpointing value trends in Alexandria, Rapides County and surrounding areas, and we know when property values have risen or declined. Faced with information from an appraiser, the mortgage company will often cancel the PMI with little anxiety. At which time, the home owner can retain the savings from that point on.
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