I have PMI on my mortgage and my current LTV on my mortgage amount is about 86%. However, my home value has appreciated considerably over the past couple years and I really want to drop my PMI. My mortgage admin (PNC) tells me they require a 75% LTV based on a new appraisal to eliminate my PMI. I've contacted them about it and they tell me they'll only accept an appraisal from one "approved' appraiser, who PNC happens to own - a total conflict of interest. I've received my 2016 City of Dallas tax appraisal and its value puts my LTV at 75%. So, I sent them a copy of it along with my request to drop PMI, and they rejected it. If I use their appraiser, its a $500 fee and no guarantee my appraisal value from them will yield a 75% LTV (because its close in value already, and I'm suspicious of them because of this conflict of interest). Does anyone have any advice?

I think the fact they won't accept my City of Dallas appraisal for PMI calculations is ridiculous and unfair. Am I wrong? My PMI amount is large each month and a total waste of money, so I'm really trying to get rid of it. Thanks!

Tax appraisals typically lag behind real market appraisals (Texas is a non-disclosure state so the tax districts have less accurate data to work with). That's a good sign, that means a real appraisal should come in higher, but you should get a realtor to run a market analysis to confirm the numbers.

I think you will be fine.

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I think the fact they won't accept my City of Dallas appraisal for PMI calculations is ridiculous and unfair. Am I wrong? My PMI amount is large each month and a total waste of money, so I'm really trying to get rid of it. Thanks!

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Yes, you are wrong. It's not unfair. This is not the same kind of an appraisal that an appraiser does. Nobody even walks inside of your house to see the condition. Would you loan someone 200K or more on a property that you (or your appraiser) didn't put your eyeballs on? FWIW, even you have an certified appraiser come out and do an appraisal, your lender couldn't accept it. It has to be an appraiser on their panel. This is to prevent fraud.



Good luck.

Thanks. The cynical side of my brain thinks PNC's in-house appraiser has an inherent bias to under-appraise my house so that the PMI can be preserved. That would be equally as fraudulent.

i did it with Wells Fargo back in November. pretty painless process. if you have a friend in real estate, have them pull comps for you. you'll know pretty quickly if your house will appraise to the number you need.

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Thanks. The cynical side of my brain thinks PNC's in-house appraiser has an inherent bias to under-appraise my house so that the PMI can be preserved. That would be equally as fraudulent.

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It would be, but it's highly doubtful. The appraiser doesn't have any real contact with the lender. We get an assignment over the computer and we go do it. Nobody calls on the phone and says go low-ball this appraisal. That's been my experience.

Because of high taxes and low interest rates, I decided 2 years ago that I didn't want to own my home. I called the mortgage company and told them I wanted to cash out at 20% equity. They sent their appraiser to establish the value, and it came in for about 90% of what I just sold the home for. If that's any indicator, maybe you should expect the appraisal to be about 90% of FMV.

Understand your cynicism but the bank would MUCH prefer your house appraise higher for a couple of really good reasons - one being they can loan you more money.

And you'd have a pretty gutsy appraiser and huge exposure for the lender to rig appraisals

That would make sense if the insurance was actually collected, earned, and kept by PNC. The truth of the matter is that there is no incentive there for them to screw you around.

Deats makes a good point. Your PMI money does not go to the lender but to an outside company

If you want to PM me your address I can run some comps and give you a range of potential "sales" prices. Have to say "sales" because value has been taken out of Realtors' lexicon. So it will be a potential sales price . And FWIW refi/PMI drop appraisals do typically come in under what we would perceive as a true market sales price.

Nobody has mentioned the most obvious way to get rid of PMI if you hate it so much......write a check to get below 75%.

We had to pay $500 through our bank. The appraiser was an Aggie, super nice, and the house appraised for what we thought it would. Got rid of our PMI free and clear. It wasn't as a painful as I thought it would be.

First of all 75 is bull sheet from the lender. It should be at worst 78%. Really 80 but FHA its 78.

Second if you have the cash fine but most don't. So you need value.

Just get a refi quote and look at a shorter term possibly. If the payment isn't the issue, you could knock some years off and have the same or better payment. Depending on your current rate. And yes 75% is BS...