What percent did you put down when you bought...

beautyq115 Posted: May 07, 2005 09:39 AM

What percent did you put down when you bought...

My FI are just starting to look now hopefully we will be able to buy by next May or June.

We spoke to several agents who said if you put less than 10% you don't appear (to the seller) to be serious. Just wondering what all of your experiences were

sophie78 Posted: May 07, 2005 09:55 AM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

we put 10% down at contract.

christy Posted: May 07, 2005 10:39 AM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

In this market I believe putting 10% down is good, less is probably more expected than you realize.

Jenny5150 Posted: May 07, 2005 10:45 AM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

We put 10% down.

Other things in our favor for them accepting our offer:
-They knew we were serious...our offer was made immediately upon seeing the home...in their driveway.
-We offered their asking price and accepted the house 'as is'. (We knew we needed a new roof and a new septic going in.) We didn't nitpick at everything.
-We were flexible when it came to closing. (we rented and didn't have to worry about selling a home or a lease.)
-We dealt with the seller's agent before on another house (we lost it in a bidding war), so I think she kind of pushed for us.

LisaT Posted: May 07, 2005 10:51 AM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

20%

agv Posted: May 07, 2005 10:54 AM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

FTRBRIDE Posted: May 07, 2005 01:48 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

Your down payment isn't the only indicator that you're a serious buyer. Sellers will be more interested in whether you have a preapproval.

SeptWed Posted: May 07, 2005 01:50 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

25%

skew Posted: May 07, 2005 03:14 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

we put 10% at contract and we are putting 20% at closing.

although we were never asked for the pre-approval, i thnk we appeared more attractive due to our flexible terms.

as i mentioned in a previous thread, we took a MAJOR risk and offered a no mortgage contingency. we KNEW for certain that we were approved for the loan and decided to use this to our advantage when presenting our offer. i wouldn't advise this tactic to everyone as it is not only dishonest but could easily backfire if your loan is denied.

heidla Posted: May 07, 2005 03:19 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

Posted by skew

we put 10% at contract and we are putting 20% at closing.

This is what we did.

aimerliny Posted: May 09, 2005 11:23 AM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

We put down 10% at contract and the second 10% at closing for a total 20% all together. We wanted to avoid PMI. We were preapproved and prequalified. We also bid at only $5k less than asking. We did bring in an engineer though.

nov04LIbride Posted: May 09, 2005 11:28 AM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

20% and were preapproved when looking.

littlewilson Posted: May 09, 2005 01:15 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

20%. We also needed to be pre-approved and actually removed our mortgage contingency (that's the part of our offer which states that the contract is contingent upon your securing a mortgage) to enable us to get the house we wante.

charon54 Posted: May 09, 2005 01:42 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

We put down 5% and didn't run across any problems. The seller gets their money no matter how much you put down, so they shouldn't care.

kel2004 Posted: May 09, 2005 01:59 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

10% at contract, and about another 13% at close.

Blu-ize Posted: May 09, 2005 02:24 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

10% at contract but structured the mortgage as an 80/10/10 to get rid of PMI.

Niecey Posted: May 09, 2005 04:38 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

A little over 20% . It actually helped our bid. Since we had to sell quick knowing we could put down that much - they figured we would have no mortgage issues.

Valentinegirl Posted: May 09, 2005 05:30 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

beautyq115 Posted: May 09, 2005 08:46 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

Posted by charon54

We put down 5% and didn't run across any problems. The seller gets their money no matter how much you put down, so they shouldn't care.

I know...this is why my FI and I are puzzled about why it matters sooo much. As long as you are pre-approved.

Its such a game

DjPiLL Posted: May 09, 2005 09:10 PM

Re: What percent did you put down when you bought...

Posted by skew

as i mentioned in a previous thread, we took a MAJOR risk and offered a no mortgage contingency. we KNEW for certain that we were approved for the loan and decided to use this to our advantage when presenting our offer. i wouldn't advise this tactic to everyone as it is not only dishonest but could easily backfire if your loan is denied.

Yeah it can come back to bite you if the loan is denied.

But I don't see this as being 'dishonest' if you offer a no-mortgage contingency. Its not their business that you already know you are guaranteed the mortgage. Just guarantee them you are buying the house or lose your deposit and thats fine.