How did you come up with your down payment?

**Ima saver** · 08-05-2006, 12:40 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

I saved for my down payment, but that was a long time ago before houses cost very much. I think I only had to put down about 10% at most. Now, if you don't have 20% down, I think they make you pay PMI, private mortgage insurance in addition to your payment.
I started saving the minute i got married so I did not have to pay rent for very long.

**DivaJen** · 08-05-2006, 03:49 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

Originally posted by wouql

I'm 22, and I have no plans to buy a place of my own any time soon (matter of fact, I just re-upped for another year at my apartment).

But I'm realizing how long it's going to take to get a down payment for even a small house. I'm wondering if it's something to do before I'm even aware I'm buying a house. So I wanted to ask how people got the money they used.

When did you start saving for a down payment? How long did it take you to save it all? Did you borrow any from relatives? Finally, what %age did you put down?

Thanks in advance,
wouql

My husband and I (fiancee at the time) sat down and figured out the maximum we could each save each month, and then we did it. We were both teachers at the time, and we saved a 5% down payment. I think we saved for a year and a half - hard to remember now. When we bought in 1997 we had an 80% 30-year first and a 15% 15-year second, avoiding PMI in the process. Since then we have refinanced to a 20-year fixed loan with about 17 years left to go.

**jodi** · 08-05-2006, 05:26 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

I have to admit, we used the money we got as wedding gifts, plus a little my parents gave us for our downpayment. We were fresh out of college with jobs paying $15,500 and $19,000. We got approved for a $50k loan and found a house for $46,900. Our total payment was less than we had been paying in rent by almost $100. Anyway, we started saving after that towards our next home and had about $25k saved at one point, although we now live with relatives and never bought that next home, so the money went toward cars, braces, college tuition, and helping relatives. We have about $10k now, but I would want to be able to put at least 20% down if we do buy another house at some point.

**jeffrey** · 08-05-2006, 08:00 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

Well, it appears that everyone has forgotten how to play nice here for a few seconds. Now I know you're all old enough that it doesn't make sense to send you to your rooms and think about what you've done

Inappropriate posts and responses to them have been removed.

Please remember that if there is an inappropriate post, the triangle at the top right can be used to contact us - no need to respond. Then there is a lot less of a mess for us to clean up and it saves everyone time and energy that could be spent more productively talking about our favorite subject, finances.

I expect from this point everyone is going to be able to play together nicely, right?

**funnyvalentine** · 08-05-2006, 10:38 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

I just won't post anymore. problem solved

**Bluezy** · 08-06-2006, 02:28 AM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

Back to the subject....

I've set up a second online savings account that is strictly for downpayment on a home. I don't mind waiting and saving. I also don't mind paying rent and not having to worry about property taxes, finding homeowner's insurnace, replacing roofs, etc.

**Ima saver** · 08-06-2006, 05:25 AM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

Funny valentine, please continue posting. I enjoy your posts and thank you. I don't think you are the one that Jeffrey is referring to. Diva, that was a smart way to avoid PMI.

**PrincessPerky** · 08-06-2006, 02:16 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

Just do it...
might be corny, and might not seem that easy, but truth is we tend to spend what we earn, so start small, make it automatic, and just do it.

even if the math says it is a waste of time...10$ a month seems like a waste, but get used to not spending it, then add on either a nice big chunk per month (cutr out a bill, like cable, or reduce a bill, like insurance) or just another 10. get used to that...then add more, you get the idea I hope.

**Ima saver** · 08-06-2006, 02:43 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

If I were a young couple in this day and age, I would have a small wedding and request cash gifts to be used for a house down payment. Then save, save, save! Take the loan for the shortest period of time. Also, start small. Buy a little house and trade up later.

**disneysteve** · 08-06-2006, 05:44 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

We put down 20% on a $142,000 purchase price. Part of that was a gift from family. The rest (about 2/3 of the amount) we saved between the time we got married in 7/92 and the time of purchase in 4/94. How did we do it? By living frugally and saving as much as we could.

What should you do now? The same. Live frugally and well below your means. Set aside as much of your income as you can spare after meeting your basic needs. When it is time to buy a house, you'll be all set.

**cschin4** · 08-07-2006, 05:34 AM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

We saved money. We did buy a house until age 30+. So, we had 20% to put down. Prior to that we lived in apts. until we decided it was time to buy a home. Since you are 22, the time to start saving is now. If you put some money aside, you will put yourself in a much better position in the long run.

**Saving in So Cal** · 08-07-2006, 11:48 AM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

It took us about 4 years to save 20% down on a small $300,000 home (I live in California). We had a regular amount going into savings plus we added any unexpected money (bonuses, tax refunds, birthday gifts, rebates, etc.). We actually thought it would take us a lot longer, but it went fast once we got started.

**DayByDay** · 08-07-2006, 12:57 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

We had actually given up hope of ever being able to save enough for a down payment, but then DH happened to be at the right place at the right time and landed two very large construction projects that lasted two years and which paid very well. We were then able to make a down payment that was a little over 20%.

**parafly** · 08-07-2006, 01:20 PM

Re: How did you come up with your down payment?

My girlfriend and I are both 24 and renting together. We both graduated college last year and each make a decent entry level engineering salary. We recently decided to start saving for a home together. We get paid biweekly and are currently saving $1000 each paycheck, which would amount to $26K in savings for one year.

Our goal is to buy a home for around $300K, so a 20% down payment would amount to about $60K. Since we do not want to spend three years saving for a 20% downpayment + closing costs while wasting our hard earned money on rent, we are probably going to save for 1.5 years (due to our renting lease cycle), which should amount to about $40K in savings. We are counting $10K for closing costs, so we should have about $30K for the downpayment, which would be about 10%.

Our plan for avoiding PMI costs will be to take a piggy back loan for the other 10% on top of the 80% regular mortgage.

How did you come up with your down payment?