Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Atlas Appraisal, LLC can help you get rid of your PMI.A 20% down payment is usually the standard when purchasing a home. The lender's liability is often only the difference between the home value and the sum due on the loan, so the 20% adds a nice cushion against the charges of foreclosure, reselling the home, and regular value fluctuations in the event a purchaser defaults. During the recent mortgage upturn of the mid 2000s, it became customary to see lenders commanding down payments of 10, 5 or sometimes 0 percent. How does a lender endure the increased risk of the low down payment? The answer is Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. PMI covers the lender if a borrower defaults on the loan and the market price of the property is less than the loan balance. PMI can be expensive to a borrower on the grounds that the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is rolled into the mortgage monthly payment and many times isn't even tax deductible. Separate from a piggyback loan where the lender absorbs all the deficits, PMI is advantageous for the lender because they collect the money, and they get the money 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 homebuyers prevent paying PMI?The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 obligates the lenders on nearly all loans to automatically stop the PMI when the principal balance of the loan reaches 78 percent of the beginning loan amount. Acute homeowners can get off the hook sooner than expected. The law guarantees that, upon request of the homeowner, the PMI must be abandoned when the principal amount equals just 80 percent. It can take many years to arrive at the point where the principal is only 20% of the initial amount of the loan, so it's crucial to know how your home has grown in value. After all, any appreciation you've accomplished over time counts towards dismissing PMI. So why pay it after your loan balance has dropped below the 80% threshold? Even when nationwide trends predict falling home values, realize that real estate is local. Your neighborhood may not be reflecting the national trends and/or your home might have gained equity before things settled down. The hardest thing for most homeowners to know is just when their home's equity goes over the 20% point. An accredited, licensed real estate appraiser can surely help. It is an appraiser's job to recognize the market dynamics of their area. At Atlas Appraisal, LLC, we're experts at analyzing value trends in San Diego, San Diego County and surrounding areas, and we know when property values have risen or declined. When faced with figures from an appraiser, the mortgage company will usually eliminate the PMI with little anxiety. At that time, the home owner can relish the savings from that point on.
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