If I had a 100% loan for $100,000 and made $20,000 worth of home improvements within the first year, can I get my lender to cancel PMI?

It's possible, just depends on your lender. Talk to your broker or AE, they can answer this better than anyone here will be able to.

Your loan papers should spell out when you can cancel PMI.You may be asked to obtain an appraisal to support value.

LOL Funny question just think about it. PMI ..definition extra insurance that mortgage companies REQUIRE from home buyers who purchase their homes with 100% ffinancing. Now if you would have gotten 2 loans 80/20 then initially you would not be required to have pmi. Only way to get rid of pmi is if you had put that 20k towards your mortgage instead of doing repairs. So no I don't believe that would be possible sorry

Here in SC you can cancel your pmi if you owe 80% or less than the value of the property.

It depends. PMI stays on your mortgage until you have 20% equity in your home. At the 20% mark you have to call and request that it be taken off and if you don't it will automatically be taken off when you have 22% equity. It also depends on the loan program for example FHA loans have a minimum of 5 years of MI insurance premiums. If your loan is not FHA what type of improvements did you make? If they are cosmetic improvements this will not improve the value but if you increased the size of the home or something like that it might be possible. I just recently refinanced a customer that did a 100% loan last year and their property value in their neighborhood had went up tremendously which allowed us to remove the PMI so it can happen but this is unusual. You can always get an appraisal done at your own expense and if your value has went up 20% you can contact your lender to remove the PMI but there is not a guarantee. Good luck.