Contact: MICA (202) 682 2683
Email: pat@micadc.org
Your Own Home May Be Within Reach This Spring
PrivateMI Puts First-Time Buyers in Homes Today, Not Someday
Washington, DC - May 02, 2001 -- In the spring, flowers and "For Sale" signs seem to pop up everywhere. So if consumers have been putting off looking for a home because they fear they don't have enough saved up, they should think again. Low downpayment financing mechanisms such as private mortgage insurance (PrivateMI) allow qualified buyers to move into homes for as little as 3 percent down, sometimes even less."PrivateMI has given hope to families who never thought they would be able to own their own home," stated Suzanne C. Hutchinson, Executive Vice President of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA). "PrivateMI will enable more people to purchase a new home this spring in time to plant flowers in their new backyards. And, thanks to the lower downpayment required with PrivateMI, many of these future homeowners will have money left over to buy furniture for their new house."
In 2000, using PrivateMI could have lowered the average consumer's downpayment on a median-priced home by as much as $23,630. With the median price of a new home nationally calculated at $139,000, a 20 percent downpayment on such a home would be $27,800. Using PrivateMI a qualified buyer could put down 3 percent, or only $4,170 to buy that same home. That could mean the difference between buying a home this spring, or having to wait a lot longer.
Julio Muñoz and his fiancée Jeanine used PrivateMI when they bought their first home in suburban Washington D.C. earlier this year. Worried about how they could save enough to buy their own home and pay for a wedding in the same year, Julio and Jeanine were thrilled when their real estate agent suggested using PrivateMI to lower their down payment to only 5 percent.
Julio now enjoys sitting on his new deck overlooking the pond and reading the paper. "It's different when you own your own place. All of a sudden you want to take care of it," Julio said. "Now I have a little yard where I weed and plant flowers on Sundays."
Muñoz credits PrivateMI with helping the couple 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.
MICA is the trade association representing the private mortgage insurance industry. Its members help loan originators and investors make funds available to home buyers with as little as 3-to-5 percent down - and even less for qualified borrowers - by protecting these institutions from a major portion of the financial risk of default.