PrivateMI Helps Woman Go from Browser to Buyer
Growing up in Northern Virginia, Lisa Stouffer and her family would go on an occasional special weekend excursion. “My parents used to stick us in the back of the car and drag us around to new developments and we’d look at houses,” Lisa recalls.
In 2001, with the help of private mortgage insurance (PrivateMI), she finally put an end to years of browsing and renting and began her new life in a garden-style condo in Arlington, Virginia.
Lisa, 36, is a graphic designer for ICF Consulting – a management, policy and consulting firm based in Fairfax, Virginia. Her thoughts on PrivateMI are quite simple.
“[Without PrivateMI] it’s really possible that I would not have a place right now,” she said, explaining that with the money she had saved she could not have bought anything in the area without a very low down payment.
“I probably would have given in and moved out to Loudoun County and that means that I would have either had to switch jobs or have a tougher commute,” Lisa added. “It allowed me to achieve what I wanted to achieve.”
Her two-bedroom, one bathroom condo in The Commons of Arlington, located just minutes outside of Washington D.C., has all the features Lisa categorized as “must-haves” including: the garden style as opposed to being a mid-or high-rise complex; a deck; two bedrooms (for improved re-sale value); proximity to the D.C. Metro system; and a colonial brick-style architecture that gives the place “a lot of charm.”
In addition to her list of must-haves, Lisa enjoys the pride that comes with owning a home – part of which is demonstrated by being able to decorate her own place. When she moved in, Lisa re-painted the walls, installed brand new carpeting and bought new furniture. Still, she admits that there are some decoratingideas that she has yet to implement, including installing crown molding.
Lisa points out, however, that perhaps the best part about buying the condo was the financial benefit of no longer paying rent as well as the appreciating value of the property. When she bought in 2001, the rental market was so tough and costs were so high that she could not have rented a place as nice as the one she was able to buy for the same price per month. “I would have had to pay more to rent a comparable living arrangement, so avoiding that was better than anything,” she said.
A major advantage for Lisa during the difficult process of searching for a home was her strong real estate background. In addition to the weekend trips through new neighborhoods as a child, Lisa’s understanding of the housing market was bolstered by the fact that her parents were both – for a period – part-time real estate agents.
Even with her strong base of knowledge, however, Lisa had to educate herself on ways to finance her mortgage. “I took a real estate course after college, but back then it was still ‘if you don’t have 20 percent down then forget it’,” Lisa said. By 1997, when she began shopping around for a house, Lisa had learned about FHA loans – offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – which could help her get a low down payment. The process to qualify, however, seemed complicated.
Instead, Lisa heeded the advice of her mortgage broker who recommended PrivateMI. In addition, she knew that her father and brother co-owned a property in Reston, Virginia that was financed by PrivateMI.
“I probably could have investigated FHA loans but PrivateMI seemed like an easy way to go,” Lisa said.“I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get 20 percent down, and I knew that [PrivateMI] would help me without having the cash up front,” she added. “PrivateMI gave me that extra credibility to creditors.” Lisa was also well aware of her limits on the type of place she could afford. “I didn’t want to overextend myself,” she said. “I wanted to make sure I still had some cash on hand.” This forced her to look almost exclusively at apartment-style condos in the area. As a result, Lisa admits that her current home will not be her final destination. “Eventually, I want to move into a single-family home, but I think the next step up would be a townhouse-like condo,” she said.
Currently, Lisa is grappling with whether she should start looking into that type of place now or stay in her current home a while longer and continue to build its value. Perhaps she’ll start taking the occasional weekend excursion again.