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5 Steps To Safeguard Yourself From A Real Estate Bubble
As any internet stock investor can tell you, it is no fun to be in a bubble when it bursts. While there is still considerable debate about whether or not the recent run up in home prices represents a true bubble, it is certainly prudent for those in...
Flipping Houses for Profit: Start with the Right House
Many real estate investors enjoy "flipping houses," or buying and selling houses quickly for profit. Not all flips are fixers; however rehabbers make millions turning ugly houses into dollhouses. On the other hand, some inexperienced investors...
Tennessee Real Estate – Music To The Ears
Tennessee is the state of prairies, towering mountains and country music. Inexpensive Tennessee real estate will also put a jump in your step.
Tennessee
Tennessee is a state with a little bit of everything. Parts of the states are comprised of...
Thinking Vertically
I’ve often wondered why we describe houses and other buildings in terms of square footage. Though we live in a three-dimensional world, when it comes to real estate, only length and width seem relevant. What happened to height, the 3rd dimension?...
What Good Is A Real Estate Investing Course If It Doesn't Contain A Marketing Plan?
You’re a Real Estate Entrepreneur or Investor, and you’re out there in the market place looking for deals. I have a question. for you.
Are you doing a bit of advertising and just hoping that a deal will fall in your lap, or are you operating in a...
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Home Equity – Let The Market Eliminate Your Private Mortgage Insurance
In decades past, most people who were interested in obtaining a home loan were required to put down at least 20% of the purchase price. Those days are gone, and as home prices have risen faster than incomes, the average down payment required by lenders has dropped. In fact, it is often possible to buy a home with no down payment at all. Nationally, the average down payment is a 3%. It’s nice to be able to buy a home with such a small amount of ready cash, but there is a downside – if the down payment is less than 20%, the lender requires that private mortgage insurance (PMI) be added to the house note.
No one likes to pay PMI; the payment doesn’t go towards paying off the house and the payments aren’t tax deductible. And the PMI payments aren’t trivial; the monthly PMI payment on a home priced at the U.S. median price of $206,000 with a 3% down payment is $129. Lenders require that borrowers pay PMI until the borrowed amount becomes less than 80% of the value of the home. In years past, this has meant that homeowners had to pay PMI until they had paid enough of the loan balance to reduce the debt to less than 80%. Times have changed, however, and many homeowners may be eligible for a faster way to avoid the monthly PMI payments.
The exploding real estate market has driven home prices higher than ever. Not only are the prices high, but the rate at which they are increasing is astonishing. In some parts of the country, home prices have doubled or even tripled in the last five years alone. The
savvy homeowner should keep an eye on the price of housing in their local market, as the equity in his or her home may rise above 20% through market appreciation alone. In most markets, this is often happening quickly enough that homeowners may be able to eliminate PMI less than two years after purchase, even if they put a minimum amount of money down on the home.
A home appraisal is required to establish the equity to debt ratio of the loan, and this typically costs several hundred dollars. As that figure represents only a few months’ PMI payments, most everyone would be glad to pay for an appraisal. Before doing so, contact your lender, as some lenders require PMI for a specific length of time before it can be dropped. No one likes to pay for private mortgage insurance, and thanks to an unusually aggressive real estate market, few homebuyers today should have to pay it for very long.
About the Author: ©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including http://www.End-Your-Debt.com, a Website devoted to debt consolidation information and http://www.HomeEquityHelp.net, a site devoted to information on home equity loans.
Source: www.isnare.com
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