Where do people keep these huge amounts for house down payments?

[Anonymous]

We put $1M down and had it spread out into 5 different savings accounts until we moved it all into checking just before doing the wire.

[Anonymous]

We put down 200k down for our TH then sold and now we have 350k after all the proceeds, living overseas for work. We have put the funds in US treasury accounts. My husband doesn't actually make that much for DC so we like to do a big down payment to bring down the monthly payment so we can still be well within our budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Opened a home equity line against current home for down payment on the next one.

For our first home, we scrimped and saved. And put down 3% and paid PMI for a couple of years until we could refinance out of it.

Same here, did 3% conventional though and am paying PMI now, however with the increase in prices we may be rid of it in a year.

Where you live and host parties and the zip code you use is a status signal, so it wouldn't surprise me for people to put down $400k on a $1M home. I don't think it's any different from having a luxury car or shopping at Wegman's and paying for overpriced groceries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I repeatedly see people on here say they have $150K, $300K, and upwards available for down payments on homes. Sorry for the stupid question but where is this money kept? Are people talking about equity in their current home? Cashing in options? 401K loans? Or is it all just liquid cash sitting in a savings account?

My DC lived at home for almost 3 years years and saved over $100k. His salary was $80-$90k and we did not charge him rent. His plan was to live at home a year, but Covid hit and it did not make sense for him to move out until this summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I repeatedly see people on here say they have $150K, $300K, and upwards available for down payments on homes. Sorry for the stupid question but where is this money kept? Are people talking about equity in their current home? Cashing in options? 401K loans? Or is it all just liquid cash sitting in a savings account?

My DC lived at home for almost 3 years years and saved over $100k. His salary was $80-$90k and we did not charge him rent. His plan was to live at home a year, but Covid hit and it did not make sense for him to move out until this summer.

oops, he keeps in his Fidelity acct.

[Anonymous]

For our first home, (pre marriage) my husband lived at home for the first year he worked and saved almost his entire take home pay while I was in grad school. We bought a town home the next year with his $50K down payment. We always took an approach to live on one salary and we put all of the money from my paycheck into a high-yield savings account. We saved some of his salary as well. We didn’t do expensive trips or spend lots of money. We paid off the loan at almost double the pace. We lived there for ten years, the home appreciated, and we used the equity from that home as the down payment for our single family home ($500K). We didn’t even need to touch our savings. At that point we had one young child and one on the way.

The keys for us were to live as if we had only one income, and make frugal choices. We now have a LOT of money in savings and investments. And, we can take more expensive vacations, afford sports and classes for our kids, etc. It was not hard for the two of us to live on the one income and as we expanded our family, our income rose, too. All we did was budget. We have lots of friends who are in similar job roles who spent lots of money on cars, clothes, Vegas trips and other things when we were young who I know haven’t saved nearly as well.

[Anonymous]

I’ve never seen a thread with so much useless info where no one answered the question. The Safest place to keep the money is in an FDIC insured account. I would not keep it in stocks. Maybe cds depending on when you need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never seen a thread with so much useless info where no one answered the question. The Safest place to keep the money is in an FDIC insured account. I would not keep it in stocks. Maybe cds depending on when you need it.

Finally!

[Anonymous]

Bank of mom & dad

[Anonymous]

We didn’t have kids yet (so easy to save!) and we kept it in a high interest savings account. We made 150k and saved 50k a year. Took us 3 years and then we bought our home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For our first home, (pre marriage) my husband lived at home for the first year he worked and saved almost his entire take home pay while I was in grad school. We bought a town home the next year with his $50K down payment. We always took an approach to live on one salary and we put all of the money from my paycheck into a high-yield savings account. We saved some of his salary as well. We didn’t do expensive trips or spend lots of money. We paid off the loan at almost double the pace. We lived there for ten years, the home appreciated, and we used the equity from that home as the down payment for our single family home ($500K). We didn’t even need to touch our savings. At that point we had one young child and one on the way.

The keys for us were to live as if we had only one income, and make frugal choices. We now have a LOT of money in savings and investments. And, we can take more expensive vacations, afford sports and classes for our kids, etc. It was not hard for the two of us to live on the one income and as we expanded our family, our income rose, too. All we did was budget. We have lots of friends who are in similar job roles who spent lots of money on cars, clothes, Vegas trips and other things when we were young who I know haven’t saved nearly as well.

Sounds like this was a while ago (1990a) and not everyone can live with their parents once they start working. Things have changed quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

i saved $350k for my nonpayment in the spring. early 30s.

This was outside the home equity that I had.. Diligent saving, high income (which is how we could do it) and a small liquidity event at work that jumpstarted. no family gifting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i saved $350k for my nonpayment in the spring. early 30s.

This was outside the home equity that I had.. Diligent saving, high income (which is how we could do it) and a small liquidity event at work that jumpstarted. no family gifting.

Also, I kept it in a high yield savings (Marcus). Didn't want the market risk on these assets. Happy I did that as we bought in June..

[Anonymous]

Kept it in a high yield savings, and also some CDs. We saved for about 10 years, and bought our first home in our early 30s with $100K down which was 20% of the mortgage. No help from parents, and modest incomes (ranging from $50K to $100K over the decade we were saving).

[Anonymous]

If not buying in next year, put some in ibonds for the 9% interest.