1. Mortgage Insurance Protects The Bank (Not You)
So you want to buy a home, but you can’t afford that 20 percent down payment. Fear not—you can probably still get your home, but there’s a catch. In many cases, if you can’t afford the standard down payment, you’ll need to buy mortgage insurance.
Most of the time when you buy insurance, it goes to protect your most-treasured valuables: Your home, your car, or your health.
But mortgage insurance, sometimes called private mortgage insurance (PMI), is a safeguard that pays the bank a percentage of the original loan amount in the event of a loan default or foreclosure. Basically, you pay the premiums, but your bank is the beneficiary.
If you’re in this situation, read on—before you decide to take on PMI payments, it’s important to understand exactly why you need it and what it’s all about.
2. Mortgage Insurance Is Mandatory (Sometimes)
If you don’t personally benefit from private mortgage insurance, then why get it?
Simply put: you may need it in order to secure your loan. Like we said above, most banks require PMI if you put down less than 20 percent of the value of the home. If you put down more than 20 percent, you generally won’t need to get PMI.
However, it’s not always mandatory. There are different requirements for loans purchased through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or the Veterans Administration (VA). The loans guaranteed by these public agencies don’t require you to purchase PMI.
It’s important to note that an FHA loan doesn’t get you out of purchasing mortgage insurance entirely; these programs just have their own mortgage insurance programs, each with slightly different rules and requirements.
3. Your Mortgage Insurance Rate Varies (But Not Much)
How much of a financial hit is PMI going to be for you? It depends on the terms of the loan, your credit score, and the amount of the down payment, but typically the range is between 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent of the original loan amount per year.
For example:
- If you have good credit and you buy a $200,000 home with 10 percent down, the PMI would cost somewhere around $1,000 a year
To calculate the PMI for your specific situation, check out this handy tool.
4. You Can Pay PMI Monthly (Or Not)
There are only a couple options when it comes to how you can pay your PMI:
- You can roll the PMI amount and interest into your monthly mortgage payments, or
- You can pay your PMI upfront and save on the interest rate over time
Obviously, if you’re only putting 5 percent down on your home, you may not have the additional thousands needed for an upfront payment.
But there’s hope! Many buyers ask for and receive concessions from sellers, which come in the form of anything from cash back, to a reduced asking price, to a total coverage of closing costs. If the concession amount is big enough, it could be enough to significantly offset or even pay the PMI entirely.
5. There Are Ways Around PMI (Even With Less Than 20 Percent Down)
Another trick of the trade you might want to look into rather than paying for PMI is to take out two mortgages: one that represents the bulk of the loan and one that covers the difference between the down payment amount and the 20 percent down required to skip PMI.
Typically, with this method, you’d still need at least 5 to 10 percent down, and you’ll need to consider that a second mortgage comes at a higher interest rate than the first.
But when many borrowers do the math, they realize that—even with the higher rates—a second mortgage is worth it to avoid PMI. Definitely talk with your lender to see if this possibility is an option for you.
6. Your PMI Payments Will End (Sooner or Later)
Since you only need to have PMI when you have less than 20 percent equity in your home, you can cancel it when you hit that magic 20 percent number.
Unless you have an interest-only mortgage—where your premiums cover only the interest on your loan and none of the principal—every month that you pay your mortgage you’re getting closer to that 20 percent goal.
In fact, your bank is required to tell you at the closing of the loan when the 20 percent mark will be reached if you make your monthly payments on schedule.
But, if eliminating PMI is important to you, you could hit this number more quickly a few different ways:
- Make extra or higher-than-necessary mortgage payments to pay your loan down more quickly than paying the minimum (shortening the amount of time it takes to have 20 percent equity).
- Take a look at similar homes in your neighborhood to see if your home may be appreciating. If you can prove to the bank that rising values have increased your home equity to 20 percent or higher, it will have to cancel your PMI.
- Talk to your banker if you’ve taken on a kitchen remodel or added square footage to your home. Since major renovations add value to your home, you can see if these improvements are enough to increase your equity to 20 percent.
7. The Bank Will Cancel Your PMI (But You Can Jumpstart the Process)
By law, the bank must cancel PMI when the loan balance hits 78 percent. But if you keep track of your premiums and your (hopefully) growing equity, you can notify the bank when your loan balance hits 80 percent and get the process started faster.
You can call the bank to let them know that you’re interested in cancelling your PMI. You should ask the bank to provide, in writing, how much your home must be valued at to cancel PMI.
This number will be important when you have the home appraised, which the bank will require you to do and pay for if you want to proactive cancel PMI. The cost of the appraisal could be anywhere from $200 to $500, depending on your market.
If the appraisal comes back with that magic number—say it with me, now: 20 percent—your bank will cancel PMI and you can spend that money on something more important, like, say, finally decorating your home sweet home!
Emily Landes is a writer and editor who is obsessed with all things real estate. She also has a DIY problem that she blogs about at pritical.com.
