re: First time homebuyer

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My post specifically refers to paying PMI.

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This is his specific post that you responded to:

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As the title says, I am looking to buy my own house and would love some insight.... google really hasn't been my friend on this one as there is lots of conflicting stuff.

We are in our 20's and each have about $10,000 in savings. My main concern is with the downpayment/closing costs, as the note would likely be less than we pay in rent.

I have heard I should expect to pay 20-30% down, but have also seen I could pay as little as 3%. What is the norm? Are there pitfalls to a low down payment other than a higher note? What the hell am I doing?

TIA

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This was your reply. I copied and pasted.

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You usually need 20% down for a conventional home loan. Less than that, you will probably have to get an FHA loan which carries PMI. The PMI premiums are tax deductible though, and if you get the loan, you can get it removed by paying more each month towards the principal. Once the loan is at 80% of appraised value, you can request it be removed, at 78% it is automatically taken off.

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That's just patently not true. He can still get conventional financing with less than 20% down, and can pay PMI on the conventional loan. If you believe, reading back your post, that you were simply telling the guy to keep PMI insurance in mind, I'll just say that it was confusing and misleading in the way you did it.

It's not about verbiage. It's about this guy getting accurate information. Had you simply told him to be aware of added PMI cost on any loan he chose if putting less than 20% down, I wouldn't have responded.

But I apologize for the way I came off.