re: 20% down on a house…is it dumb?

quote:

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You don’t need 20% to avoid pmi if you have excellent credit and a good broker.

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I am assuming you mean your broker somehow negotiates such a good price that you already have 20% equity at closing. If an idiot sells a home for 20% under value, good for you. It happened to me on my current home, which had no true comps and it is a VA loan, so I don't pay PMI regardless.

Otherwise, the only way you COULD pull this off was if you somehow got an appraiser to give you an appraisal with LTV of less than 80%. But appraisers are scrutinized on all sides and have the world to lose if they run afoul.