Comments on: The Dream Home: PMI = a Starbucks a Day

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:53:34 +0000

I love living in a low cost of living area. I bought (for 80k, the minimum for the credit) a three bed, 2 bath home in a really cute area of town with a busline straight into work. At 3.5% down, my PMI is $1/day. The way things work in this town, my entire mortgage+PMI+home insurance+taxes+lawn/cleaning service is still $100 less than a nice 2 bedroom apartment, so it’s worth it to take out PMI.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:58:17 +0000

^All that, assuming FHA mortgage (3.5% downpayment)

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:57:30 +0000

I personally would rather invest the other 16.5% and make some interest on it rather than let it sit as equity doing nothing for your wealth. That 16.5% in 8 years will more than make up for the PMI you payed.

By: Thomas McMillan

Thomas McMillan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:33:23 +0000

One option is to just get another mortgage to cover the additional cost. I did this by putting 10% down and getting a loan for the additional 10%. I avoided PMI and was able to put that money towards my home. The payment was close to the same but it wasn’t “insurance”.