January 30, 2009, Newsletter Issue #153: How to Terminate PMI Quicker

Tip of the Week

If you are in a situation where you were forced to take on PMI with your home mortgage, there are ways to build your equity faster and terminate your PMI early. Here are a few tips on how you can take action to terminate your PMI as soon as possible. Keep in mind that PMI is based on home value as compared to your loan amount. Therefore, the two best ways to quickly terminate your PMI is through paying down your principal and making home improvements.

Calculators are out there that can show you how much quicker your principal will shrink with only a single extra payment a year. The facts are amazing regarding this and you can sometimes find that building your necessary equity is as easy as making a few extra payments periodically. Home improvements are a different matter. If you want to build equity in your home, you can try to maximize its market value through improvements. Things such as adding square footage, roofing, flooring, and landscaping are projects that can greatly increase your home's value.

Once you have made these improvements, get a new appraisal on your property to see the difference. These can cost a few hundred bucks to get done, but sometimes that is only about one or two months of PMI payments, so it is clearly worth it. If you have PMI, have the goal of terminating it as soon as you can. Look at home improvements and extra principal payments as two of the fastest ways to help.

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