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CharlieChop t1_itamziu wrote

Reply to comment by SFXBTPD in Many countries have a "hidden welfare state" for incumbent homeowners, as governments subsidize homeowners through the tax system. The homeownership welfare state is strongest in the US and other Anglophone countries, but weakest in the Scandinavian countries. by smurfyjenkins

Also note that mortgage insurance is based on the assessed value of the home. If your home increases in value you can request your mortgager to reassess the value to leverage new equity against what you owe. For us we needed to have at least 20% of the assessed value covered before they’d remove the PMI. It was around $500 to have the property reassessed, but it cut off years of those payments.

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retaliashun t1_itb15k7 wrote

It depends on the terms of your mortgage. Terms in my mortgage was I had to reach 20% of the value I paid for the house, didn’t matter what it may appraise for. With an FHA loan you won’t ever get rid of pmi unless you refi into a conventional loan.

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Katomega t1_itbbmr2 wrote

Yep, my terms are similar, 20% of original assessed value, or prove that I did enough home improvement to justify the increase in valuation (ie, not just market fluctuations)

Sad news when I found that out last week.

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