You do not select the home mortgage insurer and also you can't bargain the costs. To put it simply, when purchasing or re-financing a residence with a traditional home mortgage, if the loan-to-value (LTV) is greater than 80% (or equivalently, the equity position is much less than 20%), the consumer will likely be called for to carry personal home mortgage insurance. It seems unAmerican, yet that's what takes place when you get a mortgage that exceeds 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV).