A Wedding, A Townhouse, and PrivateMI

Buying your first home and financing a wedding in the same year is no easy feat. But with the help of private mortgage insurance (PrivateMI), 32-year-old Julio Muñoz and his fiancée, Jeanine, were able to do it without breaking a sweat.

Julio, a video producer for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, first began thinking of buying a house when he and Jeanine decided to get married. "When we got engaged, we had two options: rent and then buy, or buy right away," he explained. "We decided very quickly that it would be in our best interest to buy and start putting some equity into a place. The other option we had was to wait a little longer and save up some more money; but we realized we would just be throwing the money out in rent."

Jeanine, a junior high school teacher in California, was convinced that putting 20 percent down was the only sensible way to buy a house, and she had already started to save up a downpayment. But once the couple began to look at homes they could afford with a 20 percent cash downpayment, they started to have second thoughts. The houses in their price range were far from Julio's workplace, surrounded by traffic, and in less than desirable neighborhoods.

In addition, as their July wedding approached, Julio and Jeanine both realized how expensive it would be to pay for the wedding while also paying a new mortgage. They began to get discouraged.

That's when their real estate agent, George Corbin, and their financial services consultant, Jeff Reilly, both of Weichert Realtors, explained that they could use PrivateMI to lower their downpayment. With the help of PrivateMI, they could put down 5 percent of the purchase price instead of 20 percent, buy the house they wanted, and free up their cash to pay for their wedding.

"In the end, PrivateMI was the best option, because the money we would save with only a 5 percent downpayment would help alleviate a lot of the stress we were feeling because of the wedding," Julio said. "It was just really reassuring because of the wedding and expenses," he observed.

Julio also credits PrivateMI from GE Mortgage Insurance with helping them get a better house in a better neighborhood. "PrivateMI enabled us to buy up. It gave us more space, a better location and more security. It just made more sense to buy now," he said. He's also cut his commuting time to his job in half.

Although Jeanine did not move to Maryland until after the wedding, Julio moved into their new 3-bedroom townhouse last January. He likes to read the paper on his new back deck, which overlooks a pond and a forest.

He has also discovered a newfound interest in gardening. "It's different when you own your own place. All of a sudden you want to take care of it," Julio, a long time apartment dweller, observes. "Now I have a little yard where I weed and plant flowers on Sundays."

Another selling point was that the townhouse has enough space to accommodate visiting relatives. "We wanted three bedrooms, because our family comes to visit us a lot," explains Julio.

The financial advantages of owning a home were very much on their minds when they made the decision to buy. "We're only paying about $350 more a month than we were paying to rent. That's not a whole lot to own a house, compared to throwing money away on an apartment that you have nothing to show for at the end of the day," Julio said.

Although Julio is quick to point out all the wonderful features of his new home, he readily acknowledges that his favorite part is the sense of privacy and freedom it affords. "On a weekend, to be able to wake up, it's your own place, it's quiet, you can go downstairs and watch TV. It's your own space, your own food in the kitchen, the freedom to decorate the way you want. That's the best part."