Getting Rid Of PMI Insurance
I understand that once your house appreciates so that the loan to value is less than 80%, you can get the PMI removed. Can anyone give me some practical info on how to do that. Do you go to the lender (Bank of America)? Are they the ones who approve/disapprove? If so, what incentive do they have to let you drop the insurance, since it seems like they have something to lose and nothing to gain?
How do you establish value - do you need to pay an appraiser or is it enough to have a licensed real estate agent run you some comps?
Can anyone share real life experience with me?
Thanks much
Karl
Contact the lender they will give you their requirement(s). They usually require an appraisal which you pay for and the usually want to see that the payment history for the past 12 months had no 30 day late payments.
B of A is hard to work with. They were unreasonable so we refinanced & paid them off. Got ARM @ 1.95%, pulled out money and got smaller payments than with Bof A.
Thanks both of you for your help - Karl
Also be careful who they want to have appraise the property. You want to make sure that you have the option to get an independent appraiser. I think most companies will allow you to use anybody in the state you are in that is licensed. If you are close to the 80% mark and somebody low-balls you, you'd be stuck with the PMI and the appraisal bill.