My friend bought a house recently on the East Coast — his first one — and he was catching me up on how his first year of living there has gone.
One of the things he mentioned was that he had made a larger than planned down payment on the house of 20% in order to not have to purchase PMI (private mortgage insurance.) Everyone had advised him to do this if he could swing the extra down payment, and he felt as though he had made a savvy move in following their advice.
After we got off the phone, I thought more about what he had told me.