Real Talk
Can your mortgage insurance ever come off? People are talking about mortgage insurance this week.
Most people think it just goes away someday.
One kind does. The other kind never does. Here's how to tell them apart.
WHAT'S GOING ON On many regular (conventional) loans, the lender wants mortgage insurance. It protects the lender, not you.
Borrower-paid: you see it as its own line on your bill. A federal law gives you a way out. You can ask for it to come off once you've paid the loan down enough. And it has to end on its own when your balance is scheduled to hit 78% of what the home was worth when you got the loan, as long as you're current (CFPB, 2012).
Lender-paid: there's no separate line. The cost is built into your rate. Those rules don't cover it. It only ends when you refinance, sell or pay off the loan.
FHA loans are a third story. They have their own mortgage insurance rules.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU If you call your servicer to drop it, first find out which kind you have. Otherwise you could spend an hour on hold for something that can't come off.
One thing you can do this week: pull up your monthly statement. Look for a line that says mortgage insurance, MI or PMI. No line, but you know your loan has it? It may be lender-paid. Your closing papers will say for sure.
Shopping for a loan someday? Ask which kind you're being quoted. Neither one is always better. It depends on how long you plan to keep the loan.
Personally, I think every homeowner with mortgage insurance should know which kind they have. It takes a few minutes, and nobody else is going to check it for you.
GUESS THIS Halloween quiz! How much were Americans expected to spend on Halloween this year? A) $5.5 billion B) $13.5 billion C) $25 billion
Take your pick. The answer is at the very bottom.
THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD Home builders are feeling the slowdown. 43% of builders cut prices in October, the most since at least 2020 (NAHB, 2026).
What it means for you: a builder with finished homes sitting empty may have more room to bend on price, closing costs or upgrades. It never hurts to ask what's negotiable.
Quick Break Spooky Street Showdown In Arlington, Virginia, 21 houses in one neighborhood are battling to see who has the spookiest Halloween decorations.
Good cause: Houses paid to enter, the money helps a new neighborhood Mom Club, and the street has a wall of dozens of carved pumpkins.
Talk about curb appeal with a little bite.
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There are 844 homes for sale across Navajo County — 12.5% more than this time last year.
The typical home is taking 88 days to go under contract, about nine days longer than last September.
The median asking price is $482,425, down 7.3% year over year — and that is an ASKING price, not what homes actually sold for.
About one in four listings has already taken a price cut.
Pending sales are up 11.5% from last September, so buyers are still actively transacting.
Across Arizona, the median asking price is $459,900, down 3.5% from a year ago.
See the full monthly market report →
Navajo County, September 2026 · Realtor.com® Economic Research · asking prices, not sale prices
PS · 💡 Did You Know I Can Do This? A DSCR loan is for buying a rental property. It's a program some lenders offer. Instead of digging through your tax returns and pay stubs, it looks mostly at whether the rent can cover the home's costs.
Curious if a rental could pencil out for you? Reply and ask.
Meme of the Week Me at an open house, pretending I'm not already picking where the couch goes.
THE ANSWER Did you get it? It's B, a record $13.5 billion (NRF, 2026). That works out to about $115 per person, and costumes are the biggest slice.
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