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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Buying a house?
DH and I have been discussing starting to look at houses since we are currently renting and the market is favoring buyers right now. Neither of us have bought a home before and we were kinda shocked at the "standard" 20% down payment on most mortgages. We have been putting money aside for when we started looking for houses, but we don't have the full amount that we need for the down payment at this point. My question is: Do most people looking to buy a house have this amount saved to just pay it up front, or is this something that you would get an additional loan for?
I was considering asking this on the house buying board, but I know that you girls will be nice to me if this is a truly stupid question 
Thanks!
Re: Buying a house?
Not a stupid question, but yes we would have been nice if it was J
You do not need a full 20% down, but with the mortgage industry in its current condition you would need a good income with proof of job stability, great credit scores and at least 5-10% down plus closing costs.
DH and I just closed on a house and have both been employed for years and our mortgage lender called our companies to verify employment and questioned stability of our jobs. They told us they are just being very thorough at this point.
My first house I purchased with 0% down and then we took the equity from the sale of that house and what we saved to use towards our down payment on our second home. I am pretty sure you cannot get a 0% down loan anymore.
We bought our home in the spring of 07 with 0% down. I know now lenders are looking to have some money to put down.
Do you have a real estate agent yet? Make sure you get someone that you trust. They should be able to help you out with all of these questions and guide you into a home that you will love and can afford.
I have known our agent for a few years personally and I wouldn't go with anyone else. If you would like her info let me know!
DH and I are doing a VA loan (since he's in the Marine Corps Reserve and has done 4 years active). That means we have no down payment, but the down side is a slightly higher interest rate and higher mortgage payments. Also, with a VA loan, we don't have to have PMI, which is nice.
I know we'd be 100 before we could save 20% down payment -- especially pouring money out in rent every month.
Good luck!
You can do an FHA loan with 3% - 3.5% after the 1st of the year or a convential loan if you have great credit with 3 or 5% down. The PMI is a lot lower with the 5% vs the 3%. We are currently looking - I want to find something soon - interest rates are REALLY low at the moment if we find something soon we can lock at 4.875% and there is talk of them going as low as 4.5%
Cancer sucks.
Honestly, The avarage first time buyer does not have the 20% down which is to get rid of PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance). Priorto the economic decline, a lot ofhome buyers would take out a second loan (80/20 or 90/10) so they had 100% financing.many lending institutions are no longer offering that option and are requiring more down in order to show that you are worthy. Your credit score is not the whole picture anymore. They want to see that youare able to save money for the deposit as well as still have some left over. While much of the problems financiers are experiencing is becuase of the "products" they offered making it hard to pay back, they are now tightening their belts and making getting any type of loan more difficult.
Those who have that money for a down payment are mostly people that have sold a house and that down payment is from their sale that they are roling overing in to the new home.