Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
bluegreen08
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Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
I know housing prices vary considerably, but appx how much $$ do you think you should have saved for a down payment on a house when you are getting ready to buy?
We wouldn't be looking to buy a house for at least another year and I have absolutely no idea about this stuff -- I'm looking for ballpark so we know how much to have saved.
MKEA98
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
I think the avg is 20%
alissa5517
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
It depends on the price of the house. It could be any where between 5% - 20% down. You need to figure how much you wantto put and work that into your negotiations. HTH
madseason
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
I would aim for 20%, and then if u have $$ left over, thats great!!
FM Lucky0510...she just bought a home
bluegreen08
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
LOL -- wow, every possible poll choice has been picked so far!
Lucky0510
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
Everyones situation is different so no one can really give you an accurate answer on this. The cost of the house, your credit and job have a huge impact on what banks will say. If you have great credit and a good paying stable job... your down payment prob wont have to be as much.
My credit isn't bad but not great. I am also self employed which they consider a huge risk. So my down payment had to be 20% and I had to pay the closing costs out of pocket. A friend of mine just bought a house in coram... their down payment was only 10% and they financed the closing costs with the mortgage.
hayleyandsteve
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
I'd say you're pretty set with 20% of whatever your approximate house price would be.
It might be helpful to look at some mortgage calculators online and see how much the monthly payments would be for different priced houses, this way you can get an idea of what you can afford.
trojo1521
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
20% is common.
The more you put down, the less your monthly payments will be. FH and I but down 35% and it made a HUGE difference.
KSquared
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
I haven't bought a house yet, but from talking to tons of people about it, I've heard everywhere between $5,000 and $40,000. The downpayment won't really effect your monthly payments, just how long it will take to pay off, so it will end up costing more in interest if you put less down.
Munchkn16
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
Posted by alissa5517
It depends on the price of the house. It could be any where between 5% - 20% down. You need to figure how much you wantto put and work that into your negotiations. HTH
Totally agree with Alissa.
Your credit also plays a role in how much you can put down. Good credit helps. Also remember that getting into a house involves more than just the downpayment... there are closing costs, engineer's inspection, moving trucks...
mRm2008
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
I found this website it has a calculator for figuring costs. HTH
Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
If you put at least 20% down, you don't have to pay mortgage insurance.
MyLobster
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
Definitely shoot for 20%. This way, you have really good terms and a better chance at a good mortgage rate as well as being more attractive to the seller...that helps a lot!
bluekat16
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
Definitely save at least 20% of the price range you are looking in. If you can saave more do more.
MrsD71208
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
I voted more than 85K.....since you can't find a house under 500k these days, if you don't leave a good amount your mortgage will be insanely high and you'll be paying it off forever! JMO HTH
snwb08
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
if you're planning to buy a house in NY, I would have at least $75k saved. Our plan is to save at least $1k per month for the next three years to come up with $72k. That plus my bonus money will hopefully give us 20% down for a $600k house.
I can't imagine saving only $20k unless you have other stores of money elsewhere
jessicaNmike2008
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
Posted by snwb08
if you're planning to buy a house in NY, I would have at least $75k saved. Our plan is to save at least $1k per month for the next three years to come up with $72k. That plus my bonus money will hopefully give us 20% down for a $600k house.
I can't imagine saving only $20k unless you have other stores of money elsewhere
i agree 100000%
Toucan311
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
Wow I'm surprised that ppl picked such low numbers! FH and I are striving to put down $100k, b/c we'd rather suck it up and really save for a few years than have a HUGE monthly mortgage payment.
chrissybean77
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
Posted by ttw910
If you put at least 20% down, you don't have to pay mortgage insurance.
Totally agree. If you don't have at least 20% you will have to pay this and your monthly payments will be higher. We put down 66K on our house and had we not been planning the wedding would have put down closer to 80K. And the amount does have an impact on your monthly payment as does your credit and whether you reach the 20% or not. Your monthly payment is also going to depend on the type of mortgage you get and what the going rates are as well.
TheFutureMrsM
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Re: Totally Clueless! Appx how much $$ should you have saved for a down payment? (POLL)
I put down over 85k as well.
You really need to put down alot in order to have affordable mortgage payments.
We put down alot, for our downpayment, and our house was not expensive. Our payments are not bad at all...still not cheap, i cant imagine what our payments would be if we put 20k downpayment.
Also remember those mortgage calculators dont count taxes....most houses on LI have taxes of at least 8k a year minimum, So that is 660 dollars a month additional That can make a mortgage payment skyrocket.
I agree with the other posters who are saving up for a few years, so they have a really nice down payment.
Also putting money down on a home gives you instant equity...and with the housing market the way it is, if you put a small amount or nothing down, and the values go down, you may owe more on your house than it is worth.
