How to Avoid Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)

Many home buyers find it difficult to provide the required 20% down payment and are forced to pay private mortgage insurance, or PMI, in order to buy a home. Private mortgage insurance solves the down payment problem but creates another two: it increases monthly payments and on top of that it is not tax deductible. Fortunately, there is more than one way to get your desired home without having the 20% down payment and avoid PMI at the same time.

Terminating PMI When You Already Have One

The use of private mortgage insurance has been a great way to make it possible for a borrower to buy a home with as little as 3-5 % down payment and give the lender insurance in case the borrower defaults on the home loan. However since PMI payments can be significant, the borrower starts to ask himself/herself how to get rid of those payments.

The Homeowner's Protection Act includes rules for automatic suspension of PMI payments and cancellation of PMI when 22% equity in the borrower's home is reached. Those rules apply to mortgages signed on or after July 29, 1999, and exclude government-insured FHA or VA mortgages that are considered high-risk to default.

Additionally, disregarding the time when the mortgage was signed, the borrower may ask for PMI termination once s/he exceeds 20% equity.

Avoiding Private Mortgage Insurance via a Piggyback Loan

Piggyback loans are a very popular way of avoiding private mortgage insurance. It consists of taking a loan (first mortgage) covering 80% of the sale price of the home and taking and placing additional 5%, 10% or 15% on a second mortgage. A combination of 80% first mortgage, 5% second mortgage and 15% down payment is referred to as 80/5/15. Accordingly, the other two loan combinations are 80/10/10 and 80/15/5.

Although second mortgages generally have higher rates, in the end the borrower may save money because in contrast to PMI payments, now the loan payments are tax deductible.

Choosing a Finance Single Premium Option over Private Mortgage Insurance

Since an increasing number of borrowers are turning to piggyback loans in order to avoid PMI, the mortgage insurance industry came up with this solution claiming that it lowers monthly mortgage payments to the same or lower level as a piggyback loan. With this option homebuyers pay a single premium on their insurance and it is amortized over the term of loan.

One of the pitfalls of this solution is that few lenders offer this option, since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not work with this kind of PMI structure.

Finding a Loan with No Private Mortgage Insurance

Loans with no PMI have one great disadvantage - they typically have higher interest rates. Instead of paying regular PMI, the latter is included in the higher rate of the mortgage.

Which of the above solutions will be best for you depends entirely on your particular case. Sometimes paying the private mortgage insurance might turn out more beneficial than choosing to avoid it with a second mortgage. Therefore you should consider your decision carefully and make all the necessary calculations in order to make the right choice.

Jim Cramer is an expert who shares his knowledge and years of experience in the mortgage field providing hundreds of Mortgage Questions and Mortgage Answers dedicated to help home buyers. Learn more about Home Mortgage Insurance

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Private Mortgage Investors - Who Are They?

To understand who private mortgage investors are, it is first necessary to understand what a private mortgage is. A private mortgage is a legal agreement, secured by real property, between a borrower and a private lender that obligates the borrower to pay money to the holder of the mortgage note. A private mortgage therefore produces a regular stream of income to the private mortgage investor with all the advantages and protections that a mortgage lien can provide.

Typically, private mortgage investors can charge more interest and points (fees) on a private mortgage than a bank could because the risk of lending to people who aren't eligible for normal mortgages is far greater. Quite often private mortgage investors lend to people with less than perfect credit, but they may also lend to real estate investors irrespective of credit.

Traditionally, private mortgage investors were individuals who had sold their property and agreed to take back a promissory note and a mortgage from the buyer. The advantages to the seller were threefold. Firstly, by offering such terms, the homeowner was more likely to sell their property in a slow market and obtain the full asking price. Secondly, the seller would be a guaranteed a regular fixed income at a better rate than could be obtained from investing in a CD. Thirdly, if the buyer defaulted, then the owner would be entitled to foreclose on the property, just as if he or she were a bank. The benefit to the buyer of private mortgage finance is that they don't have to worry about an extensive check on their credit or financial situation.

More recently, private mortgage investors have branched out into other areas of real estate financing. Some private mortgage investors specialize in lending money to professional real estate investors for the purchase and rehab of residential and commercial property. Others specialize in the making private mortgage loans to small real estate developers for the purchase of raw land and the initial construction finance. There are even some private mortgage investors who will lend to homeowners facing foreclosure or provide second mortgage financing, similar to a Home Equity Line of Credit.

Such has been the growth in private mortgage lending that there are now companies offering private mortgage investment services in the USA. Typically, these companies will either advertise individual mortgages for "purchase" by an investor, or syndicate a hard money loan amongst a group of private mortgage investors on their mailing list, or offer shares in a private mortgage investment fund.

Lastly, but by no means least, there are private mortgage investors who specialize in buying private mortgages at a discount, i.e. less than the principal amount outstanding. These investors provide an important role in creating liquidity in what would otherwise be an illiquid market. The main disadvantage of being a private mortgage holder is that you must wait for the loan to be repaid before you can access your capital. If an investor can't wait that long, then they will need to find a way of selling the mortgage to a third party and this is where this last type of private mortgage investor come into their own.

Peter Haynes is a General Partner of Premiafund LLC, a private mortgage investment fund and a part-time real estate investor living in Florida. Find out more about private mortgage investors at premiafundDOTcom

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Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) - the Mortgage Industry's Dirty Little Secret

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) has long been touted as a benefit that allows borrowers to purchase property with less than a 20% down. But who is the real beneficiary of PMI? We are told that PMI insurance pays the lender if we default on our mortgage. While true, it doesn't tell the whole story. There's a lot more you should know.

This is all the lender must disclose:

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  As part of a "good faith" estimate of closing costs, the lender must provide an estimate of the PMI premium.
  
  
  
  
  


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  At closing and annually thereafter, the lender must notify the borrower of available cancellation options. In most cases, PMI may be cancelled when the mortgage is paid down to 80% of the lower of the selling price or the original appraised value. It will usually be cancelled automatically when the amortization of the loan takes the mortgage balance down to 78%.
  
  
  
  

What you don't know and they don't tell you: 

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  The borrower is not a party to the mortgage insurance policy. The lender does not have to disclose either the name of the insurer or the amount of the insurance purchased. Yet the buyer typically is responsible for the premiums.
  
  
  
  
  


• 
  
  Lenders can purchase protection for up to 40% or more of the mortgage amount without disclosing to the buyer any more than the premium amount. For example, you buy a $200,000 home with a 10% down payment of $20,000, financing the balance with an $180,000 mortgage. The lender might protect 40%, or a total of $72,000, with mortgage insurance with you paying the premium.
  
  
  
  
  


• 
  
  Proceeds received by the lender from a PMI policy do not offset any deficiency judgment against you, the borrower. They can collect on the policy and still come after you.
  
  
  
  
  


• The PMI insurer can pay anyone along the transaction line for services rendered that either reduce the risk of the loan or reduce the insurance company's expenses. This implies that they can pay commissions to the lender. Understand that it comes out of your pocket.
  
  
  
  


• 
  
  The monthly premium for most PMI is fixed. In other words, as the balance of the mortgage declines, presumably along with the risk to the lender, the borrower continues to pay the same premium based on the risk assessment at the time the loan was originated.
  
  
  
  
  


• 
  
  While many lenders will consider allowing the buyer to cancel PMI when the value of the property rises so that the 80% loan to value ratio is achieved, they are under no obligation to do so. In my experience, the lender required that I pay for an appraisal done by an appraisal company selected by the them. Also, the borrower must usually provide proof there is no second mortgage on the property.
  
  
  
  
  


• 
  
  The lender can purchase PMI, for which they pay the premiums, without notifying the borrower. Funds for these premiums may come indirectly from the borrower through points paid at closing or from higher interest rates.
  
  
  
  

PMI premiums are not insignificant. I looked at a loan statement for one of my recent investment properties. On a loan of approximately $200,000, the monthly principal and interest payment was $1,124.93. The monthly PMI was $163.53, or 15% of the P&I. Yet I never knew how much insurance was purchased or from whom. Had I carried this property the 10 or so years requried to reduce the mortgage balance to 78% of the purchase price, I would have paid over $19,000 in PMI premiums (nearly 10% of the original loan amount).

In the many recent articles on foreclosures, borrowers are urged to contact their lenders immediately when they run into financial trouble or feel they will be unable to keep their mortgage payments current. They stress that working out an arrangement with your lender is far better than going through foreclosure. Even if foreclosure is inevitable, industry sages recommend working with the lender to facilitate a "short sale," where the selling price is less than the mortgage amount, thus avoiding the stigma of a foreclosure.

Wake up!!  If the lender is protected with a PMI policy, will they be more or less willing to work with the you? Why would they offer you extended or more favorable terms or allow a short sale when they need only to foreclose to collect their insurance? Isn't it ironic? You could pay thousands for coverage that helps pit your lender against your best interests. "A banker is someone who will loan you an umbrella, but who wants it back when it rains," said my father.

Toby Tobin is a real estate commentator and the Publisher of GoToby.com LLC, an on-line news source for the fast growing Palm Coast, FL residential and commercial real estate markets. GoToby.com http://www.GoToby.com is packed with news, incisive commentary, newsletters, articles, interesting rumors and property listings.

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