Removing PMI with an appraisal

Private mortgage insurance protects your lender, not you. Once your equity has grown past the threshold in your loan, you may be able to have it removed, and a current appraisal is usually what the servicer wants as proof.

How equity grows past the line

Two ways, usually at the same time: you pay the balance down, and the property appreciates. Homeowners often cross the threshold on appreciation alone, years before the amortization schedule would have gotten them there, and nobody sends a letter to tell them.

Call your servicer first

Requirements vary by loan type and by servicer. Before ordering anything, ask them three things: what loan-to-value ratio they require, whether they will accept an appraisal you order or insist on ordering it themselves, and whether there is a seasoning period you have not met yet. Ordering the wrong product is the most common way this goes wrong.

FHA loans are different

On most FHA loans written after June 2013, the mortgage insurance premium runs for the life of the loan and an appraisal will not remove it. Refinancing out of FHA is the usual route. Check which rules apply to your loan before spending money.

What the appraisal does

Establishes current market value with inspected condition and analyzed comparable sales, in a written report the servicer can rely on. If your value has genuinely moved, the report shows it and shows why.

Order one

Call 984-360-8050 or email claude@globalappraisal.net with the property address and what your servicer told you they require.