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Cost of Appraisal Service | June 2019

The cost of a home appraisal is typically a closing cost fee paid in advance by the home buyer at loan inception, after offer acceptance. The fees vary depending upon the location of the property and complexity of the appraisal process, but the cost of an appraisal is also driven somewhat by market demand, as with any other service.

How to get rid of PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) | April 2019

If you bought a house with a down payment of less than 20 percent, your lender required you to buy mortgage insurance. The same goes if you refinanced with less than 20 percent equity.

Private mortgage insurance is expensive, and you can remove it after you have met some conditions. To remove PMI, or private mortgage insurance, you must have at least 20 percent equity in the home. You may ask the lender to cancel PMI when you have paid down the mortgage balance to 80 percent of the home’s original appraised value. When the balance drops to 78 percent, the mortgage servicer is required to eliminate PMI. Although you can cancel private mortgage insurance, you cannot cancel Federal Housing Administration insurance. You can get rid of FHA insurance by refinancing into a non-FHA-insured loan. If you bought a house with a down payment of less than 20 percent, your lender required you to buy mortgage insurance. The same goes if you refinanced with less than 20 percent equity. Private mortgage insurance is expensive, and you can remove it after you have met some conditions. To remove PMI, or private mortgage insurance, you must have at least 20 percent equity in the home. You may ask the lender to cancel PMI when you have paid down the mortgage balance to 80 percent of the home’s original appraised value. When the balance drops to 78 percent, the mortgage servicer is required to eliminate PMI. Although you can cancel private mortgage insurance, you cannot cancel Federal Housing Administration insurance. You can get rid of FHA insurance by refinancing into a non-FHA-insured loan.

Here are steps you can take to cancel mortgage insurance sooner or strengthen your negotiating position:

Refinance: If your home value has increased enough, the new lender won’t require mortgage insurance.
Get a new appraisal: Some lenders will consider a new appraisal instead of the original sales price or appraised value when deciding whether you meet the 20 percent equity threshold. An appraisal generally costs $700 to $900. Before spending the money on an appraisal, ask the lender if this tactic will work in the specific case of your loan.
Prepay on your loan: Even $50 a month can mean a dramatic drop in your loan balance over time.
Remodel: Add a room or a pool to increase your home’s market value. Then ask the lender to recalculate your loan-to-value ratio using the new value figure. Refinancing to get out of PMI When mortgage rates are low, as they are now, refinancing can allow you not only to get rid of PMI, but to reduce your monthly interest payments. It’s a double-whammy of savings.

The refinancing tactic works if your home has gained substantial value since the last time you got a mortgage. For example, if you bought your house four years ago with a 10 percent down payment, and the home’s value has gone up 15 percent over that time, you now owe less than 80 percent of what the home is worth. Under these circumstances, you can refinance into a new loan without having to pay for PMI. Many loans have a “seasoning requirement” that requires you to wait at least two years before you can refinance to get rid of PMI. So if your loan is less than 2 years old, you can ask for a PMI-canceling refi, but you’re not guaranteed to get approval.