How much of a deposit does one typically put down on a house?

DH and I are doing house talk tonight and we haven't a clue! thanks!

10% or more, I think I heard that somewhere.....

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Posted by milana

well the more you put down the lower your morgtatge payments will be. Usually people put down atleast 20% and higher. If you cant put down atleast 20% usually lenders will require you to pay some sort of protection fee to protect them in case you cant make the payments, sorry im not too sure about the details of it though.

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That would be Personal Mortgage Insurance (PMI). We put down a lot less than 20% and did not have to pay this. I'm not sure how we avoided this. My brother and dad were pretty adament we avoid having a mortgage with this kind of payment.

Tara the best thing to do is meet with a mortgage broker and tell them what you think you can afford to spend on a home. They will do some paperwork for you and show you what your payments would be each month with different options. They will run a credit check and a pre approval for the mortgage will be issued. This worked well for us because beofre we even started looking we knew what we could and couldn't afford so we didn't waste our time. I hope all this makes sense because it is confusing me

Good luck on your search!!!!!

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Posted by MeNBobs

That would be Personal Mortgage Insurance (PMI). We put down a lot less than 20% and did not have to pay this. I'm not sure how we avoided this. My brother and dad were pretty adament we avoid having a mortgage with this kind of payment.

Tara the best thing to do is meet with a mortgage broker and tell them what you think you can afford to spend on a home. They will do some paperwork for you and show you what your payments would be each month with different options. They will run a credit check and a pre approval for the mortgage will be issued. This worked well for us because beofre we even started looking we knew what we could and couldn't afford so we didn't waste our time. I hope all this makes sense because it is confusing me

Good luck on your search!!!!!

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Thank you sooooo much!! We're both so clueless with this stuff! I knew there was no way we'd be ready to put 20%...I was hoping for 10% at least.

We have to get out of this apartment!! We can't take it anymore. Lease is up at the end of March- I PRAY we can find something we can afford!

Thanks again ladies!

ETA: Just one question if you don't mind - how soon should we meet with a broker if we plan to be out of here end of March? Is now too soon?

Tara i would guess the sooner the better, so you both can determine in advance how much you can afford and the mortgage amount you would be abl to pre-qualify for.

good luck in your search!

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Posted by GettinHutched

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Posted by MeNBobs

That would be Personal Mortgage Insurance (PMI). We put down a lot less than 20% and did not have to pay this. I'm not sure how we avoided this. My brother and dad were pretty adament we avoid having a mortgage with this kind of payment.

Tara the best thing to do is meet with a mortgage broker and tell them what you think you can afford to spend on a home. They will do some paperwork for you and show you what your payments would be each month with different options. They will run a credit check and a pre approval for the mortgage will be issued. This worked well for us because beofre we even started looking we knew what we could and couldn't afford so we didn't waste our time. I hope all this makes sense because it is confusing me

Good luck on your search!!!!!

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Thank you sooooo much!! We're both so clueless with this stuff! I knew there was no way we'd be ready to put 20%...I was hoping for 10% at least.

We have to get out of this apartment!! We can't take it anymore. Lease is up at the end of March- I PRAY we can find something we can afford!

Thanks again ladies!

ETA: Just one question if you don't mind - how soon should we meet with a broker if we plan to be out of here end of March? Is now too soon?

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If we had to put 20% down we would be living in a dog house. I liked not putting that much down and keeping the money we do have in the bank for security. The more you put down the smaller the monthly payments are but I sleep better knowing we have that security.
I don't claim to be an expert on this we just went through it a few months ago so don't take what I say to be written in stone. In my opinion you could start looking now because the buying process can take a while. You may not find something you love right away. Plus the whole buying process is about waiting. Them moving may depend on the sellers purchasing another home. They set the closing date as well so it's not a quick thing. It took us 5 months after putting in an offer to close. We met with a mortgage broker through our estste agent. We took us to see a few homes and suggested a broker so that we would know what we should be looking at.
I know what you mean about getting out of a apartment. We lived in a basement apartment that hardly had any heat. In the summer it waqs so gross and damp the sheets felt like they were soaking. I also forgot what sunlight looked like. Living above ground is the best thing ever.

we came close to buying a place... got pre-approved, and even had a bid accepted.... things fell through at inspection time.

In the end, it's probably for the best, it's not cost-effective to buy a place, pay 5% closing costs, and then likely have to move out about 2-4 years later, and pay another 5%

if you're a first time buyer, and meet the requirements, you could be able to get a SONYMA subsidized loan. great interest rates, closing cost assistance, fixed rate/ 30 year, and as little as 3% down. (NYS subsidized loan, with minimal strings attached...) Google it for more info.. it's something like nyhomes.org

hmmm so we have to figure deposit AND closing costs....

So we figure 40K deposit (10% on 400K)
and 15K for closing costs?

Yikes...I'm not sure we'll be ready. We barely saved up that much for the wedding! It would be so stupid to move to another apartment - we just can't stay here anymore! It's really not that bad but not big enough for us now...and the clientele has gone down the drain over the last couple of months. Never used to be this noisy.

Thanks ladies for all of your advice & help!

First of all...Tara! That's soooo exciting! I had no idea you were thinking of buying so soon!

I agree with the other gals. Hit the bank and talk to a mortgage broker.

In our case, Roy put down 20% but NYC co -ops have all sorts of crazy policy's about how much you have to put down. Depending on how much the house is 10% down could work.

Talk to the broker and let us know what happens

Ideally, 20%. But in today's day in age that is very difficult. Talk to the mortage broker....don't forget to ask about benefits for first time buyers......
THey will advise you and give you an idea of what you either need to put down, or a plan to reach your goal. Good luck!

You also have to remember the cost of living as well. All of your bills, food, gas etc.It's expensive I'd wait, so you don't put yourself in a hole.