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October 07, 2002
Shedding Mortgage Insurance with an appraisal
So my wife and I bought our home with only 5% down. We really loved it when we saw it and didn't have much more than that to put down. So after three years, now that the real estate market is booming, I decided to see if I could take advantage of the situation.
It looked like I would have a hard time with a home equity loan, since our rate was already pretty good and the best loans are reserved for people with 40%+ equity in their homes.
But, I was still paying PMI (over $100 per month). So I called my mortgage company to find out what I could do to get out of it, if a new appraisal might work. I went to Appraisal.com and ordered a new appraisal from an appraiser that was approved for my lender. It was about $300 and, although the appraiser missed some major parts of my house (his sketch of the master suite was WAY OFF), the appraisal value put me at 76.5% LTV, which is below the 80% required to get out of PMI. I just have to get the appraisal to Homeside (a Washington Mutual company), which is an incompetent Mortgage Servicer.
This is all good, since the taxed in West Deptford Township are going up. I don't really mind though, Riverwinds is really awesome.
Posted by Chris at October 7, 2002 03:24 PM
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