[quote=moneymaker]I will put it out there that I think paying for mortgage insurance is the biggest rip off going. If the risk was put on the banks then they may not have been such extravagant lenders during the bubble days.
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MM, PMI has always been a FNMA requirement for mortgages of more than 80% LTV (not sure about Freddie Mac, since most of those mtgs pre-bubble were “in-house” Prime and Alt-A ARMs).
The only mortgage option today out of PMI is to put 20% down or get an FHA loan (w/now exorbitant MIP) or get a VA loan with 0 down and pay the funding fee and up-front points (if any) as sellers in this region typically no longer will.
