Is PMI/MIP the ultimate deal killer?

[Matthew Pettit]

Hello all, and thanks in advance for any help.

Been analyzing many properties lately and seem to have found some good deals, but the rental property calculators never include PMI/MIP (Private Mortgage Insurance) when buying a property at 3%/3.5%/5% down. Is there something I am missing or how do you guys go about it when analyzing? I tried to put in a rough estimate of PMI into the Custom Expenses and it destroyed the deal into negative cashflow and ROI.

I've also never seen Brandon Turner really talk about PMI when analyzing deals live on webinars at 3% or 5% down which confused me.

Are there any tricks to avoiding PMI/MIP or am I missing something? Perhaps targeting multifamily homes to start to offset that or aiming for 20% down?

Thanks for any suggestions or info!

- Matthew Pettit (newbie REI)