Yes, and NO.  Yes if you are going with the FHA 203k program, and NO if you are going with the Fannie Mae HomeStyle Renovation program. If your client it purchasing a home or refinancing a home and wanting money to make improvements and has that little extra down payment and good credit the HomeStyle Renovation program is by far a better program for your client.  PMI can be a major monthly expense but if your client has poor credit or just doesn't have the larger down payment it may be a necessary evil. I hear the PMI can be $400-600 more per month.  In any case if you should have to use the FHA program you will likely refinance your client out of that PMI as soon as possible after the loan has seasoned a bit. In any case these programs are both excellent to provide money for renovation... 07/06/2014

I received tis question this morning  I have a project with a roof that needs to be replaced.  There are two layers of shingles and the roofer wants to put one more layer on rather than strip the roof.  Is that acceptable? I know that many don't even know how to count the layers of composistion shingle roofing but to stay focused on the question I'll tell you a story. I was doing an appraisal years ago when, as I pulled up to the house, I could see a very scolloped roof line. It dipped about six inchues between the four foot spaced trusses. It actually looked like it may have been built that way.  I did my inspection and when I counted the layers of roofing it appeared to have six layers of roofing. As a 203K consultant I would automatically remove that roof and replace. But on that day... 04/28/2014