How long did it take you to save a down payment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How long did it take you to save your down payment? What was your total net worth when you bought your house?

We out 7 percent down, on our $580k house now worth about 1.4 9 years later. It was a lot to us and was a sales commission check so didn’t really save per say. We got very very very lucky with a lot of risk on the table. We did have a decent salary to support that though.

[Anonymous]

My parents and in laws gifted us the down payment. Forever thankful for our strong family bond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too long. Should’ve just bought a 2BR condo when I had 3% for FHA loan and got a roommate when I was single.

Bought with my wife once we had cobbled together 12% down payment. We were stressed about not having 20%, but in hindsight it would have been SO DUMB to wait. We would have been priced out. We have friends who insisted on 20% and have never been able to catch up to annual price increases. And now with 7% rates, they are priced out.

Best advice I can give any people under the age of 35 is to not wait to hit 20% down payment. That’s advice from another bygone era when housing was much cheaper. Buy with 5% and get a roommate to offset the mortgage if you’re single. Time in the market will always benefit you.

That’s interesting you are saying that. My DH and I talked about that now, couples saving $275k+ to buy in our neighborhood which starts at about 1.3m for nothing special (nice close in neighborhood with great schools and pretty lots but modest 3/4 bedroom homes) … it just blows my mind how long it would take. We also only our down 7 percent bc we could but we really hit the timing perfectly.

[Anonymous]

2.5 years. We lived like paupers (lived in a room without a closet in a house with 3 others). We made 120k and saved 50k a year. Put down 120k on a 600k home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents and in laws gifted us the down payment. Forever thankful for our strong family bond.

Or their generosity/wealth. A bond is an odd thing to equate the gift to. A lot of people have a strong family bond but don’t get financial help for whatever reason- could be against the principles of the parents or they cannot afford it.

[Anonymous]

About 20 years. But my husband and I both have low paying non-profit jobs, so we had to save way more than 20% to offset the low monthly payments we could afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:6 years for 20% down payment. Definitely worth it for the long-term stability to have front-loaded savings like that. No regrets. Found cheap place to live, worked OT, second job, no lifestyle creep as income went up, lived a frugal life but found inexpensive ways to still have fun, etc.

Similar story here. Saved for a long time in my 20's, living in cheap, crappy rentals with room mates. Very frugal with spending but still had a blast with friends. Traveled on a shoestring budget and went out all the time but pre-gamed with friends at home first to save money. Bought a rowhouse and shortly after met my husband who had a condo.

[Anonymous]

We got lucky. My spouse received an inheritance that allowed us to put 15% down 15 years ago.

If we had to save ourselves, we would have put 5% down (maybe 1 year of saving) and just dealt with having PMI longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too long. Should’ve just bought a 2BR condo when I had 3% for FHA loan and got a roommate when I was single.

Bought with my wife once we had cobbled together 12% down payment. We were stressed about not having 20%, but in hindsight it would have been SO DUMB to wait. We would have been priced out. We have friends who insisted on 20% and have never been able to catch up to annual price increases. And now with 7% rates, they are priced out.

Best advice I can give any people under the age of 35 is to not wait to hit 20% down payment. That’s advice from another bygone era when housing was much cheaper. Buy with 5% and get a roommate to offset the mortgage if you’re single. Time in the market will always benefit you.

You can say that if it would have worked out for you in hindsight but the starter condo path is risky. I know as many people who were burned/delayed in ultimately buying a house by their starter condo purchase as who benefited from it.

This. I skipped the starter condo and bought a rowhouse. I would have been priced out of the rowhouse if I had bought the condo and waited another year for the rowhouse. Plus losing money on transaction fees.

Most people would be better off living with room mates in cheap rentals while they save for a TH or SFH. Investing the money would yield a better return than appreciation on a condo.

[Anonymous]

Should be one day for a lot of people.

I went to a big NY style Italian wedding with around 500-700 people. Every couple gave around $1,000. The Brides Dad pair so couple walked away with around $300,000.

I went to a very large Orthdox wedding once where young couple cleared at last two million

[Anonymous]

3 years. Invested in mutual funds and stocks, used the money for a down payment for our first house with an FHA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too long. Should’ve just bought a 2BR condo when I had 3% for FHA loan and got a roommate when I was single.

Bought with my wife once we had cobbled together 12% down payment. We were stressed about not having 20%, but in hindsight it would have been SO DUMB to wait. We would have been priced out. We have friends who insisted on 20% and have never been able to catch up to annual price increases. And now with 7% rates, they are priced out.

Best advice I can give any people under the age of 35 is to not wait to hit 20% down payment. That’s advice from another bygone era when housing was much cheaper. Buy with 5% and get a roommate to offset the mortgage if you’re single. Time in the market will always benefit you.

You can say that if it would have worked out for you in hindsight but the starter condo path is risky. I know as many people who were burned/delayed in ultimately buying a house by their starter condo purchase as who benefited from it.

This. I skipped the starter condo and bought a rowhouse. I would have been priced out of the rowhouse if I had bought the condo and waited another year for the rowhouse. Plus losing money on transaction fees.

Most people would be better off living with room mates in cheap rentals while they save for a TH or SFH. Investing the money would yield a better return than appreciation on a condo.

Same. Didn’t bother with a condo. They don’t appreciate as well as a TH or SFH at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought our first house in 2004, with 5% down and house cost $325,000. It took us about 6 months to save for that. We used the equity from that house to put 20% down on our current home.

Same but 2014 for our first house (and 2019 for the second).

[Anonymous]

I saved 60k doing 10% down, took me 2.5 years with my first job out of college, while having student loans and paying $1500 rent. Total net worth at the time was about 100k.

[Anonymous]

I babysat in and after college and saved the money when I was 18-25yo. I saved $45k and but that down on a $340k house in 2017.