how much should i save before even THINKING about homes?

[thapeopleschamp]

house is appraised for $346k...
im new to homes,have no idea about anythingggg at all...
i juss wanna have a rough estimate to think about...
when i plan a GOAL for saving money...

10% ($34600) good?

 

[yo getoffmykickz]

The hgher your Down Payment.. the less your monthly mortgage payment will be.. if your a first time home buyer.. you qualify for an $8,000 goverment rebate aswell..

 

[starkyl0ve]

Sounds like you're past thinking about home(s)

I'm curious to know as well though.

 

[twinsnyc]

20% no PMI.

 

[mytmouse76]

PMI?

 

[freshsince1982]

Aim for 20%

 

[wj4]

Homes in my area average at around $500,000. I'm not even going to consider buying unless I have at least $100,000 for a down. Of course I will need extramoney to buy furniture and appliances. And extra money stash away in case I get fired or an emergency arises where I need to tap into that fund.

 

[doublejs07]

Remember even w. the money you are putting down, owning a home is EXPENSIVE. All things that go wrong with the house, YOU are going to be the one who needs tocome out of pocket to fix. Make sure you are making enough to not only cover your monthly mortgage, but also have enough that if something comes up, you havethe means financially to fix it. You never know if there will be a problem w. the HVAC, a leak in the roof, plumbing, etc etc...there is much more to owning ahouse than putting a down payment. Take your time, and don't rush it....

 

[dirtylicious]

Originally Posted by mytmouse76

PMI?

...

Private Mortgage Insurance. Mortgage insurance provided by nongovernment insurers that protects a lender against loss if the borrower defaults.
Translation.
If you can't pay your mortgage, the insurance is there for the lender to recoup their losses.


edit. OP.
you should save 20%
but also...be sure you're buying a house within your means

look at
1. monthly mortgage
2. taxes
3. maintenance
4. HOA(if buying a townhouse/condo or property with a Homeowners Association)
5. all your other monthly bills, eg. avg gas bill for car, avg credit card payment[if you have one], commuting costs, etc

now compare with your monthly take home pay...
if you're just breaking even without being able to squirrel away some money... you may want to look for a cheaper home.

Remember even w. the money you are putting down, owning a home is EXPENSIVE. All things that go wrong with the house, YOU are going to be the one who needs to come out of pocket to fix. Make sure you are making enough to not only cover your monthly mortgage, but also have enough that if something comes up, you have the means financially to fix it. You never know if there will be a problem w. the HVAC, a leak in the roof, plumbing, etc etc...there is much more to owning a house than putting a down payment. Take your time, and don't rush it....

in addition to this.. it's almost a sure thing that you're going to want to do something to change the house when you buy it(unless it's newconstruction)...so you may also want to save up 10K for remodelling...not necessary, but nice to have.

 

[size tens]

Wife and I put down 20%....nearly 100k

Putting down 10% would have made mortgage payment higher, would have to pay PMI, etc...

It was a chunk of cash but we did really well in timing the previous purchase and sale of a Co-Op in Queens. Made an unheard of amount in a few short years.Rented for a year and a half and when the market and interest rates dropped we bought a house. Impossible to do in the current market.

 

[memphisboi55]

damn nt'ers be balling, having 100k cash to drop..

ill be there one day.

 

[snaggykicks]

Originally Posted by memphisboi55

damn nt'ers be balling, having 100k cash to drop..

ill be there one day.

 

[size tens]

Originally Posted by memphisboi55

damn nt'ers be balling, having 100k cash to drop..

ill be there one day.

Far from ballin'

I push a 96 Altima with 120k+ miles....our only car.

We put more priority into purchasing a home in a stable neighborhood within a good town with good schools.

We also bought the worst house on the best block and are renovating it ourselves. It is going to take a while but in the end not only will it be a great homebut also worth considerably more than what we paid.

 

[marath0n]

Originally Posted by SIZE TENS

Originally Posted by memphisboi55

damn nt'ers be balling, having 100k cash to drop..

ill be there one day.

Far from ballin'

I push a 96 Altima with 120k+ miles....our only car.

We put more priority into purchasing a home in a stable neighborhood within a good town with good schools.

We also bought the worst house on the best block and are renovating it ourselves. It is going to take a while but in the end not only will it be a great home but also worth considerably more than what we paid.

Smart man. You see the big picture. Kudos

 

[dirtylicious]

Far from ballin'
same here.
I live frugal.


ps. how sad that my car is a 2003 and I have more miles than SIZE TENS's car.

 

[size tens]

Originally Posted by Dirtylicious

Far from ballin'

same here.
I live frugal.


ps. how sad that my car is a 2003 and I have more miles than SIZE TENS's car.
Don't feel bad Dirty...

I work from home and my wife commute to the city via LIRR. We don't use the car much. Queens street parking beat it up bad though.

We also live frugal. Gonna start selling the closet full of sneakers I never wear and put the money towards a new (used) car fund.

 

[Betonblck]

It's hard for most people to put down 20% for their first home. For the OP to put down 20%, they would need to have nearly $100K in cash.
346,000 x 20% = $69,200
+ Closing costs = $10,000-15,000
+ Some emergency cash for a safety net = $15,000 (at least)

= $94,200-$99,200

 

[dunknforce]

$50K will get you started

 

[j671]

bookmarked

 

[dirtylicious]

Originally Posted by cguy610

It's hard for most people to put down 20% for their first home. For the OP to put down 20%, they would need to have nearly $100K in cash.
346,000 x 20% = $69,200
+ Closing costs = $10,000-15,000
+ Some emergency cash for a safety net = $15,000 (at least)

= $94,200-$99,200

back when my parent's bought their house...they had to have 45% of the purchase price.

 

[size tens]

Originally Posted by memphisboi55

damn nt'ers be balling, having 100k cash to drop..

ill be there one day.

The 100k came from selling an apt. that we lived in for a few years. We could have never saved that much in the same amount of time. We only putdown 10% on that apt., about 12k.

 

[Betonblck]

It depends. The best way for me to explain is to give you my personal example.

I bought my place a couple years ago at pretty much the top of the housing market. I had 2 main options:

a: Put 10% down, have PMI, and also have a nice safety net of cash in the bank.
b. Put 20% down, and not have hardly any cash in the bank.

I chose the first option, the last thing you want to do is lose your house to default. I'll be out of PMI by next summer because of home price appreciationand my principal payments. So I'll have had PMI for about 4 years.

I really didn't want to use my example but I just thought it was the best way to explain that having PMI isn't the end of the world.

Right now PMI is tax deductible so it isn't as bad.

 

[davidisgodly]

Originally Posted by DunkNForce

$50K will get you started

No. Never listen to this child.

 

[memphisboi55]

too much, imma stick to apartments and renting houses for now...

especially while im in beginning of my military career, dont want to move and not sell and be stuck with multiple mortgages


ive seen it too many times..

 

[selrahc123]

how old are you size tens