Anyone bought a new house lately?

[Jumpem]

How much of a down payment are banks expecting since the crash?

 

[todpod]

we are putting down 20 but, i think you can probably do better exp if you credit is good

 

[CaptnKirk]

we are putting down 20 but, i think you can probably do better exp if you credit is good

Or if you are a Military Veteran and can use the VA's 'No Down Requirement',
or a Vetran living in California and can go with Cal-Vet.

 

[geno]

3.5% was the minimum with an FHA loan and we bought last spring...don't know if that "recent" enough for ya, but it was after the crash

 

[sjwaste]

We bought at the height of the crash with 5% down. August 2008. Conventional loan with PMI, although we've since reappraised and refinanced, and had the PMI removed.

 

[Jumpem]

3.5% was the minimum with an FHA loan and we bought last spring...don't know if that "recent" enough for ya, but it was after the crash

I'll be able to handle that plus closing costs. If it's 20% that will keep me stuck where I am for another year or two.

 

[esun]

For a regular conforming loan, 20 % is ideal since you won't need PMI. You can put less, but getting a loan will be harder and you'll need PMI.

 

[Triumph]

didn't buy a "new" house, but put down 20% because i could. didn't really entertain other types of mortgages, but it didn't seem to me that they were being overly strict. course i'm a pretty vanilla candidate, good credit, good secure job, good income, privileged single white male age 18 to 35, etc.

 

[SandEagle]

Dont ever put more than 0% down. Its a scam. The housing market, that is.

 

[Jumpem]

Dont ever put more than 0% down. Its a scam. The housing market, that is.

I'd prefer to put as little down as possible. I would rather keep it as part of my emergency fund. Every $10k you put down (assuming 30 years at 4.5%) only lowers your payment $50.

 

[edro]

5% was the minimum through Chase about 2 months ago.

 

[Eug]

If I could, I'd put 100% down. Don't go with a 0% down mortgage. It's a scam.

 

[TrueBlueLS]

Mine was 11 months ago, but Huntington still offers what is called the Good Start Program. It was supposed to be 3% down, but since our appraisal showed our house in a declining market... it got bumped up to 8% down. The part that I love is that there is no PMI with the loan.

 

[UglyCasanova]

You can get an FHA for a little over 3% down, and someone out there I'm sure is still selling products for a 100%+ LTV, so that might be a possibility although you will pay for it (over the long run). Anything over an 80% LTV conventional and you are going to pay a good bit for insurance, but if you don't have 30K to put down then obviously that's not an option (although after you pass the 20% equity threshold, at least with a conv., you get rid of your PMI).

 

[Slew Foot]

if youre buying a cheap house you can put as little as 3.5% down as banks know the government will pick up the slack is you stop paying. More expensive properties that dont get government backing youll need to fork over 20-30%.

 

[Bignate603]

Dont ever put more than 0% down. Its a scam. The housing market, that is.

Tinfoil hat much?

We got an FHA loan about a year ago and put 10% down.

 

[Ninjahedge]

FHA has a tendency to be a bit higher interest than a good standard loan.

I believe we are at 3.875% on a 30 year (yes, unbelievable). 2 weeks before closing the rate dropped to 3.75%, but they woud not lower it unless it went down a full 0.25%... (WTH?).

20% is a good safety number. Even when other loans allow much lower, it may make gettinga car loan and other stuff more difficult in the future if your finances are too leveraged....

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I'd prefer to put as little down as possible. I would rather keep it as part of my emergency fund. Every $10k you put down (assuming 30 years at 4.5%) only lowers your payment $50.

I put 20% down when I bought at the end of 2008. I didn't want to have to pay PMI, as it would've added a significant amount to the monthly payment.

With that being said, with interest rates so low, I'd probably advise putting down as little as possible assuming that PMI won't be too bad. Interest rates have dropped significantly since I bought my house and even since I refinanced in March. I will probably refi again if they drop a little more.

 

[ch33zw1z]

We bought our house in spring '09, with about 10% down. Unfortunately, if you put less than 20% down then you have to pay PMI, we tried to hit 20% but it wasn't possible.

 

[bignateyk]

We bought in Sept 09. We did 5% down, 80% on primary mortgage, and did the other 15% on a secondary mortgage to avoid PMI.

Secondary is at like 8.5% though, so we are going to pay that off within a year or two (only $30K)

 

[Modular]

Tinfoil hat much?

We got an FHA loan about a year ago and put 10% down.

I don't think he's being overly ridiculous in that statement.

My taxes just went up 35%. I did a little "calculation" and as a result of that, I live in a million dollar home. That's what it will cost me in principal, home insurance, taxes and interest over the next 30 years. Granted, I don't know that taking the difference between principal and all and investing it would be a better idea, but at least all that money wouldn't be tied up in one thing.

If I could do it all over again, I'd just save 20k a year and buy a house with straight cash. There's no reason not to IMO.

 

[bignateyk]

I don't think he's being overly ridiculous in that statement.

My taxes just went up 35%. I did a little "calculation" and as a result of that, I live in a million dollar home. That's what it will cost me in principal, home insurance, taxes and interest over the next 30 years. Granted, I don't know that taking the difference between principal and all and investing it would be a better idea, but at least all that money wouldn't be tied up in one thing.

If I could do it all over again, I'd just save 20k a year and buy a house with straight cash. There's no reason not to IMO.

Most people don't have $300K cash lying around. Especially those who are at the beginning of their career. If you're gonna be living in an apartment, you are gonna be paying most of what your mortgage payment would cost, so it's gonna be hard to save that much money anyway. I'd rather just pay interest on the mortgage while I made extra payments to pay it down quicker.

We plan on paying off our first house within 10 years though, and buying our next house with cash.

 

[SunnyD]

Bought a new house, closed about 3 weeks ago. $0 down.

No, I'm not joking. $0 down. Closing costs were < $1300.

Okay, I lied... it was like $100 down to reserve the lot, then $267 because we went over our roll-in budget. So $367 down.

4.25&#37; 30 year fixed rate mortgage. No PMI either...

(Awaiting all the rage posts now...)

 

[Gillbot]

Bought a new house, closed about 3 weeks ago. $0 down.

No, I'm not joking. $0 down. Closing costs were < $1300.

Okay, I lied... it was like $100 down to reserve the lot, then $267 because we went over our roll-in budget. So $367 down.

4.25% 30 year fixed rate mortgage. No PMI either...

(Awaiting all the rage posts now...)

Obama loan ftw?

 

[Josh123]

My wife and I just bought our house a couple weeks ago. We put 3&#37; down I believe and got locked in with a 4.25% rate.