 TITLE: Do I Need Mortgage Insurance? CONTENT: How to Avoid Paying for Mortgage Insurance\n------------------------------------------\nIf you qualify, a VA loan could allow you to buy a home with no down payment and no mortgage insurance. Otherwise, the most straightforward way to avoid paying for mortgage insurance is to get a conventional loan and make a down payment of at least 20%. If you can't afford 20% down, you can look for a lender that offers lender-paid PMI, but the loan may have a higher interest rate.\nYou may also be able to find a piggyback, or 80-10-10, loan to avoid PMI. With this arrangement, you put 10% down, get a loan to cover the other 10% of your down payment and take out the mortgage for 80% of the purchase. These types of arrangements aren't as common as they used to be, however, and the cost for the 10% loan might be more than you'd wind up paying for PMI. END