Private mortgage insurance protects your lender, not you. It shows up as a line on the statement every month, it does nothing for your balance, and plenty of Monroe County owners keep paying it for a year or more after they no longer have to. This post covers when you can cancel it, exactly what to send your servicer, how the valuation works, what to do inside the house before an appraiser walks through, and when refinancing to shed PMI costs more than it saves.

When can I cancel PMI in New York?

The rules are federal, not state specific, so the answer to how to remove PMI in New York is the same in Pittsford as it is anywhere else. The Homeowners Protection Act sets three separate points, and they are easy to mix up.

• Borrower requested cancellation at 80 percent. Once your principal balance reaches 80 percent of the home's original value, meaning the lower of the purchase price or the original appraised value, you can ask in writing. You must be current on payments, have a decent payment history, and the servicer can require evidence that the value has not dropped and that there is no second lien.
• Automatic termination at 78 percent. When the balance is scheduled to hit 78 percent of original value, the servicer must drop PMI on its own, as long as you are current. No request, no appraisal, no fee. If you are not current on that date, it terminates on the first day of the first month after you are.
• Midpoint termination. If you are still paying PMI at the halfway point of the loan term, the servicer must cancel it then, again assuming you are current.

Two details trip people up. First, all three of those thresholds run off original value, not today's value. Paying the loan down is what gets you there. Second, none of this applies to FHA loans. More on that below.

What if my equity came from appreciation, not payments?

Then you are asking for a current value cancellation, and the rules come from whoever owns your loan rather than from the federal statute. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both publish guidelines that allow cancellation based on a new appraised value, usually with a seasoning requirement: a longer holding period at 80 percent of current value, or a shorter one at a stricter loan to value ratio if the equity came from documented improvements. The thresholds differ by investor and they change. Call the servicer, ask who owns the loan, and ask for their written current value cancellation requirements before you spend a dollar on an appraisal.

This matters here because Monroe County values have been moving. Zillow's home value index put the county average at $285,439, up 4.1 percent year over year, in data stamped April 30, 2026, and the city of Rochester at $252,192, up 4.3 percent, updated June 30, 2026. An owner who bought with 5 or 10 percent down a few years ago may be at the threshold on value even if the amortization schedule says otherwise.

The four routes, side by side

What the servicer actually wants

Keep it boring and paper based. Phone calls disappear. Letters do not.

1. Pull your numbers. Current principal balance from the statement. Original purchase price or original appraised value from your closing package. Divide one by the other.
2. Call and ask three questions. Who owns the loan, what is the written PMI cancellation policy, and what form of valuation do you accept: a full appraisal, a drive by, or a broker price opinion.
3. Send a written request. Loan number, property address, current balance, the threshold you believe you have met, and a request for their requirements in writing. Send it the way they specify and keep a copy.
4. Confirm there is no second lien. A home equity line, even a zero balance one you forgot about, can block cancellation. Some servicers will want it subordinated or closed.
5. Order the valuation only after they tell you what counts. Servicers often insist on selecting the appraiser themselves. An appraisal you commissioned independently is frequently rejected.
6. Check the next two statements. Cancellation is supposed to be effective from a stated date, and any PMI collected after that should be refunded. Chase it if it does not appear.

FHA and VA loans are a different animal

VA loans have no monthly mortgage insurance at all, only the upfront funding fee, so there is nothing to cancel. FHA is the one that stings. For most FHA loans originated after June 2013 with a low down payment, the mortgage insurance premium stays for the life of the loan no matter how much equity you build. The only exit is refinancing into a conventional loan. If you have an FHA loan on a Henrietta or Rush ranch and you have been waiting patiently to hit 78 percent, check your closing documents now rather than later.

Does refinancing just to drop PMI make sense right now?

Often no, and the reason is the rate you would be trading away. Freddie Mac's survey had the 30 year fixed averaging 6.76 percent in the week of September 10, 2026, up from 6.71 percent the prior week and 6.66 percent the week of August 27, 2026. The 15 year averaged 6.09 percent that same week of September 10, 2026, against 5.50 percent in September 2025. If you are carrying a note well below those levels, refinancing to escape a PMI payment usually means a larger interest bill for the life of the loan plus closing costs on top. Run the total, not the monthly.

Refinancing earns its keep when your existing rate is at or above current pricing, when you are consolidating a second lien, or when you need to restructure the loan anyway. Otherwise, exhaust the free and cheap routes first.

Why a Zestimate will not win this argument

Automated values are indexes. They are useful for direction and useless for a threshold decision. Look at how far apart the public sources sit for this market: index based sources put Rochester and Monroe County values up roughly 4.1 to 4.3 percent year over year in their spring and summer 2026 updates, while Houzeo reported a median sale price of $230,000 for Rochester, up 17.95 percent year over year, on a page carrying July 2026 data. Same market, wildly different stories.

Smaller geographies are thinner still. West Henrietta showed roughly 19 to 20 active listings across two aggregators in mid 2026. A median built on 19 homes swings hard month to month. When the question is whether your house supports a specific value, closed comparable sales on your street and in your subdivision beat any town level headline. That is the work I do for owners before they pay for an appraisal, so they know whether the number is there.

Before the appraiser walks through

A PMI removal appraisal is a shorter visit than a sale appraisal, but the same things move the number.

• Write down every improvement since you bought, with dates and costs. Roof, furnace, electrical panel, windows, kitchen, bath, finished basement space with permits.
• Give the appraiser access to everything, including the crawl space and the attic hatch. Space that cannot be inspected tends not to be counted.
• Fix the small visible defects: a failed seal on a slider, a loose handrail, water staining on basement block that is actually old and dry.
• Have the comps ready. Not a printout of Zillow, but recent closed sales of similar square footage, style and lot in your immediate area.
• Know your square footage and how it was measured. Above grade finished space and basement space are valued differently, and older Monroe County housing stock is often listed inconsistently.

Common questions

How much does a PMI removal appraisal cost in Monroe County?

Fees vary by servicer, by the type of valuation ordered and by the appraiser, so ask your servicer for the current amount in writing before you authorize it. Some servicers accept a broker price opinion or a drive by valuation, which costs less than a full interior appraisal. The expense is yours, and it is not refunded if the value comes in short.

Can I pay the mortgage down to hit 80 percent faster?

Yes. A lump sum applied to principal moves you along the schedule and can get you to the 80 percent request point sooner, and it also pulls the 78 percent automatic date forward. Tell the servicer in writing to apply the payment to principal only. Then compare that lump sum against the total PMI you would otherwise pay before the threshold arrives.

How long does the servicer take to remove PMI?

Timelines differ by servicer and by whether a valuation is required, so ask for their stated turnaround when you make the request. Build in time for the valuation to be ordered, completed and reviewed. Watch the following statements and follow up in writing if the charge is still there after the effective date you were given.

Does PMI removal change my escrow or property taxes?

No. PMI, property taxes and homeowners insurance are separate items that may all sit inside one escrow account. Dropping PMI reduces your total monthly payment but has no effect on your assessment or tax bill. Your servicer should re-analyze the escrow account and adjust the payment accordingly.

Should I cancel PMI or just sell?

That depends on whether the equity is better used in this house or in the next one. Cancelling PMI is cheap and quick when you are near the threshold. If you are weighing a move anyway, get a real opinion of value on the current house first, because the same comparable sales analysis answers both questions.

If you want a straight read on what your house would appraise for today, based on closed sales rather than an online index, I will put the comps together and tell you whether the number supports cancellation. Book a time with me here, and bring your loan balance and your original purchase price.

Khem Kadariya

About this data

The figures in this post were compiled from publicly available sources including Zillow, FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), the Rochester Business Journal, Houzeo and Redfin, along with other public market data. Real estate numbers change quickly, and these were accurate as of September 2026. For current figures on a specific home, street, or town, ask me directly rather than relying on a published average.