smol late capitalism vent: mortgages
Mortgage insurance is an extra monthly fee you have to pay if you can't put at least 20% down on the purchase of a house.
A cheap house in the outskirts of a trans friendly metropolitan area will run you at least $500k (20% = $100k).
So if you manage to scrape together just enough to buy a "cheap" house in a place that won't kill you for existing, you will be forced to pay an extra $400 a month just because you're not rich.
(destroy capitalism)
smol late capitalism vent: mortgages
@mawr do you have to keep paying it once you've paid off your down payment?????
smol late capitalism vent: mortgages
@vahnj They stop charging you once your equity (amount of loan paid off + property value increase) is greater than 20%.
We could afford to put down about 9% on this place, and after doing the math decided to put down 6% and spend the rest of it paying down other debts 'cause that saved us more money in the long run.
Thankfully, with the rate of property value increase, we should be able to apply to have the mortgage insurance removed next year.
smol late capitalism vent: mortgages
@mawr that's a relief
at least it's not gonna put you through the wringer forever
smol late capitalism vent: mortgages
@vahnj If it did, I'd refinance to get out of it-- which would cost more money up front but would at least keep things more sane long term