Understanding PMI and Home Buying Process

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If you are looking for a new house, you have probably heard the terms PMI mortgage insurance and homeowner tax deductions, among a plethora of other terminology you don 't normally come across unless you are ready to buy a home. So what exactly does it all mean and why should you care? Well, the more educated you are when it comes to the home buying process the more likely you are to make better financial decisions based on your particular situation and the less likely you are to make any devastating mistakes. Real estate is extremely complex and not having at least the basic knowledge of the process could ultimately cost you dearly. Therefore, we are going to explain to you what the term PMI means and why you should care. Then we are going …show more content…

An FHA mortgage now requires that PMI be paid for the life of the loan and the only way to have that requirement cancelled is to refinance the loan. According to the FHA 's new policy, you will have to make two PMI payments on all FHA loans. The first one is the upfront payment which is 1.75% of the mortgage amount. The second PMI requirement is that you will have to pay the annual PMI premium as well, which can be paid in monthly installments and is based on the length of your loan, the amount you borrowed and the original loan-to-value-ratio of the …show more content…

And for those who are qualified, this can be easily done by using a piggy-back mortgage. What is a piggy-back mortgage you ask? Well, a piggy-back mortgage, also known as a second mortgage, is a loan that 's taken out by a borrower at the same time as he takes out the first mortgage. These types of loans are typically used to lower the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of a home, which will help a borrower qualify more easily and to eliminate the need for paying PMI. Not having to pay PMI premiums could ultimately save a borrower thousands of dollars on his mortgage. However, you will need to keep in mind that a second mortgage is usually charged a higher interest rate than your first mortgage. Therefore, you should make sure you are able to pay it off as quickly as possible. If you can 't, then you might be better off paying the PMI premiums, because if you can 't pay off your piggy-back loan quickly, it would probably be more cost effective to just go ahead and pay the PMI and drop it once you have reached 20 percent equity in your home. You also need to be careful with piggy-back loans because they can be a bit tricky. Quite often the terms of second mortgage include adjustable rates and they might also have a balloon provision included with them as

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