Have equity in your home? Want a lower payment? An appraisal from Pendley & Pendley Appraisers can help you get rid of your PMI.It's generally known that a 20% down payment is accepted when buying a house. The lender's risk is often only the remainder between the home value and the sum outstanding on the loan, so the 20% adds a nice cushion against the charges of foreclosure, reselling the home, and natural value variations in the event a purchaser is unable to pay. The market was working with down payments down to 10, 5 and often 0 percent during the mortgage boom of the last decade. How does a lender handle the added 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 value of the property is less than the loan balance. PMI can be pricey to a borrower in that the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is compiled into the mortgage monthly payment and oftentimes isn't even tax deductible. It's beneficial for the lender because they collect the money, and they get paid if the borrower defaults, separate from a piggyback loan where the lender takes in all the deficits. 
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 makes the lenders on most loans to automatically terminate the PMI when the principal balance of the loan reaches 78 percent of the initial loan amount. The law pledges that, at the request of the homeowner, the PMI must be abandoned when the principal amount equals just 80 percent. So, savvy homeowners can get off the hook sooner than expected. It can take countless years to reach the point where the principal is just 20% of the initial amount borrowed, so it's essential to know how your home has grown in value. After all, any appreciation you've obtained over time counts towards removing PMI. So why should you pay it after your loan balance has fallen below the 80% mark? Your neighborhood might not be adhering to the national trends and/or your home may have gained equity before things settled down, so even when nationwide trends predict declining home values, you should realize that real estate is local. The hardest thing for most homeowners to know is just when their home's equity rises above the 20% point. A certified, licensed real estate appraiser can surely help. As appraisers, it's our job to recognize the market dynamics of our area. At Pendley & Pendley Appraisers, we're experts at identifying value trends in Cumming, Forsyth County and surrounding areas, and we know when property values have risen or declined. When faced with information from an appraiser, the mortgage company will generally eliminate the PMI with little effort. At that time, the home owner can relish the savings from that point on.
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