how do you come up with a down payment?

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  • Posts: 473
    We were able to save up a few thousand the year before we bought our house. My parents also gave us 8k for the down payment. Like someone else said, we did FHA which allows for a lower down payment. There are a few other advantages too.

    We are just outside of chicago so you get a little more for your money.

    Awhile back you could by a house with 0% down... I don't think banks allows that anymore since all the foreclosures.

    Also, it sounds like you are grad school. I would try real hard to get some sort of assistantship, T.A. position or a job that will pay for it. I got my masters a few years back and got the whole thing paid for because I got a job at the school newspaper. Although I still took out 3k for spending money... that was a mistake.
    "hear my name, take a good look, this could be the day."
  • Posts: 2,878
    Riot_Mac wrote:
    We were able to save up a few thousand the year before we bought our house. My parents also gave us 8k for the down payment. Like someone else said, we did FHA which allows for a lower down payment. There are a few other advantages too.

    We are just outside of chicago so you get a little more for your money.

    Awhile back you could by a house with 0% down... I don't think banks allows that anymore since all the foreclosures.

    Do you live in a Burb? Which one?
  • Posts: 473
    GraySaturday wrote:
    Do you live in a Burb? Which one?


    Lockport. Southwest suburb. Right off the new 355 extension. Lockport is still pretty reasonable and it is blowing up since the extension went through.
    "hear my name, take a good look, this could be the day."
  • Posts: 7,271
    We just saved everything...we came up with a savings plan and started putting away a small amount every month...then as we got raises, etc - just put that all into the savings as well. I had it automatically deducted from my paycheck and after a while I never noticed it. All our extra money went into the savings as well - gifts for Christmas, anniversaries, etc and any tax refunds. It grows much quicker than you think. I thought it would take us forever, but we had the down payment saved in less than 3 years.
    There's a light when my baby's in my arms :)
  • Posts: 1,010
    comebackgirl wrote:
    We just saved everything...we came up with a savings plan and started putting away a small amount every month...then as we got raises, etc - just put that all into the savings as well. I had it automatically deducted from my paycheck and after a while I never noticed it. All our extra money went into the savings as well - gifts for Christmas, anniversaries, etc and any tax refunds. It grows much quicker than you think. I thought it would take us forever, but we had the down payment saved in less than 3 years.

    3 years! holy cow!

    my LIFE savings only total $15,000 and I automatically deduct from my paycheck and all that. I even lived with my parents for over a year after college to save- I saved $40,000 but then had to spend almost all of it after a $20K pay cut and subsequently, graduate school.
  • Posts: 327
    Saving money is hard work. What I do is immediately upon getting my paycheck, I transfer $200 to savings. I do this twice a month. At first it hurt, but we made adjustments in our way of life....don't eat out often (take out your eating out budget in cash, and once cash is gone, no more eating out until next paycheck), look at problem spending areas (clothes, DVD's, music, Starbucks or the like?) cut out those expenses.

    Here is another tip...when tepmted to purchase a non necessity in a store, ask yourself, do I want this or a house more? If your answer is the house, then if the product you were going to buy costs $20, immediately go put $20 in your savings account.

    Look at other areas....what kind of cars do you drive? Is it more car than you can afford? If so, consider selling it and purchaing a cheaper car. Can you get by with one car? If so, and if it will not be a huge inconveneience, then consider getting rid of a car.

    You will be amazed at how quickly it can build up. It is not easy, but once you get started, you can save a good deal of money over a couple of years.
  • \m/deplorable af \m/ Posts: 2,431
    GraySaturday wrote:
    I'm interesting in knowing how you came up with a large sum of money for your home down payment. That is, if you own a home, and put down a down payment.. haha.

    My husband and I have been discussing how things have changed in society, and how people used to get a lot of help from their parents, and get big signing bonuses and such.

    We're at a loss as to how to come up with 40-50k. Its not like a year of saving would get us there, or even 10 years.. haha.

    How did you do it?
    i have not read the entire topic......we simply purchased an inexpensive home, invested some money into the house (home improvements), then resold it. took the profit and repeated the process two more times. we are now in a home we think is our dream home, in kansas.

    now if i lived in southern utah, it would be a different plan.
    live and let live...unless it violates the pearligious doctrine.
  • Posts: 10,822
    hve you thought of renting a cheaper place until you are ready to buy?
  • Posts: 2,878
    nick1977 wrote:
    Saving money is hard work. What I do is immediately upon getting my paycheck, I transfer $200 to savings. I do this twice a month. At first it hurt, but we made adjustments in our way of life....don't eat out often (take out your eating out budget in cash, and once cash is gone, no more eating out until next paycheck), look at problem spending areas (clothes, DVD's, music, Starbucks or the like?) cut out those expenses.

    Here is another tip...when tepmted to purchase a non necessity in a store, ask yourself, do I want this or a house more? If your answer is the house, then if the product you were going to buy costs $20, immediately go put $20 in your savings account.

    Look at other areas....what kind of cars do you drive? Is it more car than you can afford? If so, consider selling it and purchaing a cheaper car. Can you get by with one car? If so, and if it will not be a huge inconveneience, then consider getting rid of a car.

    You will be amazed at how quickly it can build up. It is not easy, but once you get started, you can save a good deal of money over a couple of years.

    We don't really eat out anymore, we have one car now, we don't vacation (with the exception of going camping on a lake, which is free aside from gas to drive there) I don't get my hair done at salons, I don't buy lots of clothes.. I'd be hard pressed to cut out much. I understand what you're saying though.. every little bit does help. We have a lot of bills, and god, if I could cut out old credit card debt we'd have a down payment in a heart beat.

    I am proud to say its been over a year since we've used a credit card. Now living full off of debit/cash. It's good living in the present tense ;)
  • Posts: 2,878
    JOEJOEJOE wrote:
    hve you thought of renting a cheaper place until you are ready to buy?


    We'd have to move to a shady neighborhood for a cheaper rent. We live in a great area, with one of the lowest rents heard of for this area. I can't complain about the price of our rent. Its very realistic.

    We don't live in an extravagant place. Sure we could go somethere with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, etc, but we live in the place we do with no dish washer, shared laundry, and no a/c to be able to live in a great area and keep it cheap. Sadly we don't seem to pocket enough each month to make a decent dent in the savings.
  • Posts: 3,259
    One of the ways we stick to our budget is by taking out cash for the week (for groceries/gas and whatever else comes up) and then *only* spending that much. There are weeks that we go over our cash allotment...sometimes on "fun" expenses, and sometimes on annoying ones, like a $100 ER copay (grrr). It's hard at first, but spending only a certain amount of cash each week really helps you learn how to evaluate your wants/needs and forces you to stick to your budget.
  • Posts: 1,010
    GraySaturday wrote:
    We don't really eat out anymore, we have one car now, we don't vacation (with the exception of going camping on a lake, which is free aside from gas to drive there) I don't get my hair done at salons, I don't buy lots of clothes.. I'd be hard pressed to cut out much. I understand what you're saying though.. every little bit does help. We have a lot of bills, and god, if I could cut out old credit card debt we'd have a down payment in a heart beat.

    I am proud to say its been over a year since we've used a credit card. Now living full off of debit/cash. It's good living in the present tense ;)

    I feel the same way-I don't know whatelse to cut. the only thing I could possibly do is move in with roommate off craigslist, and I'm at the point in my life where, well, that just aint gonna happen.
  • Posts: 327
    GraySaturday wrote:
    We don't really eat out anymore, we have one car now, we don't vacation (with the exception of going camping on a lake, which is free aside from gas to drive there) I don't get my hair done at salons, I don't buy lots of clothes.. I'd be hard pressed to cut out much. I understand what you're saying though.. every little bit does help. We have a lot of bills, and god, if I could cut out old credit card debt we'd have a down payment in a heart beat.

    I am proud to say its been over a year since we've used a credit card. Now living full off of debit/cash. It's good living in the present tense ;)

    That is a wonderful start!!!!! You are on the right track. It sounds to me like it may not quite be the time for you to buy. Work on paying off that debt. Once you are close to doing so, or have it paid off, then you can focus on buying a place.

    Stay far away from credit cards! You are doing a great job, and keep it up. :)

    Once you have those paid off, you might not even need as large of a down payment to get a loan.

    Best of luck. It is hard work getting out of debt, but it is one of the most freeing feelings in the world. Buying a home is expensive (insurance, upkeep, maintenance, appliances, etc.) Think about all of these costs before buying. Once you have your debt paid off, you should be able to save for all of these things.
  • Posts: 1,978
    When I was 16, my Father told me that he had purchased a stock for $5000 in my name.

    He said "if you want it now - you can have the $5,000, or if you want, keep the stock for a while and see what the money turns into".

    I kept it (hard to do at 16) and that company was purchased outright. The Stock turned out to be $55,000 and I took that money and bought a house.
  • Posts: 327
    MrMerkinball wrote:
    When I was 16, my Father told me that he had purchased a stock for $5000 in my name.

    He said "if you want it now - you can have the $5,000, or if you want, keep the stock for a while and see what the money turns into".

    I kept it (hard to do at 16) and that company was purchased outright. The Stock turned out to be $55,000 and I took that money and bought a house.

    Lucky bastard.
  • Posts: 1,010
    MrMerkinball wrote:
    When I was 16, my Father told me that he had purchased a stock for $5000 in my name.

    He said "if you want it now - you can have the $5,000, or if you want, keep the stock for a while and see what the money turns into".

    I kept it (hard to do at 16) and that company was purchased outright. The Stock turned out to be $55,000 and I took that money and bought a house.

    my parents bought me stock when I was baby too...

    they sold it all to pay THEIR mortgage :(.
  • Posts: 7,271
    CityMouse wrote:
    3 years! holy cow!

    my LIFE savings only total $15,000 and I automatically deduct from my paycheck and all that. I even lived with my parents for over a year after college to save- I saved $40,000 but then had to spend almost all of it after a $20K pay cut and subsequently, graduate school.
    We just saved EVERYTHING. I mean every raise - no matter how small - automatically got deducted and put into savings - I didn't even acknowledge that I got a raise to myself, so I wouldn't notice it was missing. We started saving when we were in grad school and were used to not living on much - so once we both graduated and got better jobs it was like a windfall. We just continued living the way we had been living and ALL of the extra went into savings. It's pretty much like Poncier said - it doesn't take that much - even $100/week adds up to a lot of money over the course of a few years.
    There's a light when my baby's in my arms :)
  • Posts: 3,259
    Oh, another thing we've started doing is once a month, we have freezer/pantry week. I'm pretty good about buying only what we are going to eat each week at the grocery store, but inevitably we end up with leftovers that can go in the freezer or with leftover ingredients from meals that don't get eaten. So, one week every month, I don't buy anything to make dinner....just breakfast and lunch stuff, plus fresh fruits and veggies. It usually cuts down our grocery bill by at least 1/3.

    I also am careful not to stop at CVS or Walgreen's for things throughout the week. Whenever I walk into one of those places, I end up buying 2 or 3 times as much as I need...not to mention spending more on every day items that would be cheaper at Target or the grocery store.
  • Posts: 2,878
    Brain of J.Lo wrote:
    Oh, another thing we've started doing is once a month, we have freezer/pantry week. I'm pretty good about buying only what we are going to eat each week at the grocery store, but inevitably we end up with leftovers that can go in the freezer or with leftover ingredients from meals that don't get eaten. So, one week every month, I don't buy anything to make dinner....just breakfast and lunch stuff, plus fresh fruits and veggies. It usually cuts down our grocery bill by at least 1/3.

    I also am careful not to stop at CVS or Walgreen's for things throughout the week. Whenever I walk into one of those places, I end up buying 2 or 3 times as much as I need...not to mention spending more on every day items that would be cheaper at Target or the grocery store.


    Thats a great plan.. It saves us a ton of money that I work 3 or 4 nights a week and eat dinner at work. My dinner is paid for, from my boss every night, so we totally cut dinners down MAJOR! My husband eats cheapo food too like mac and cheese and hot dogs, so thats a big help.

    When I do cook I plan meals for 4 and save the other 2 helpings for his lunches.
  • Posts: 1,010
    comebackgirl wrote:
    even $100/week adds up to a lot of money over the course of a few years.

    I don't know how I could possibly save $100/week. I save that per month. I pay rent, heat, electricity, gym membership, cable (not parting with it, I'd go nuts without a TV, and it's just basic cable), old credit card bills (don't use them anymore, don't have to, but it's from grad school and times when I was so struggling I had to buy food with them), and student loan payments. that's it. I almost never buy food even, and I don't drive a car.

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