We didn't. People on this board act like not putting 20% down equals irresponsible disaster. We put 7% down, most from a gift, and now have about $250 k in equity. Yes, we bought at a good time and we're lucky, but we also knew we had fairly stable jobs, were going to live here at least 3-5 yrs (it's been 7), and could comfortably handle the monthly payment. I think the last thing is the big part- make sure you can handle the payment.

If you waited until you had kids to start saving for a downpayment that’s the problem.

We're around 180k HHI.

We're going to make about 100k off this house we're in now (which is NOTHING compared to what others are making...we bought at totally the wrong time) and we are super fortunate that each of our parents is gifting us 40k each.

Without that 80k, we were just going to basically sit around and keep saving and paying down our current mortgage (townhouse) and hope for the best.

FTR - we bought 10 years ago with only 17k down. Only now that we're trying to move up to a SFH are we in a position where we really have to come up with 20% because, for the price range we're looking in, we can't afford a mortgage more than 80%.

Anonymous wrote:My parents gave me a 5 figure down payment. When I sold that apartment I had a 6 figure sum for the next one. By then my DH cashed out stock options and we had a 7 figure deposit.

Five figures can be anywhere from $10,000-$99,999. Big difference.

My parents gave me a 5 figure down payment. When I sold that apartment I had a 6 figure sum for the next one. By then my DH cashed out stock options and we had a 7 figure deposit.

Maybe some people are lying about having saved it all by themselves and don't want to acknowledge that they got help. Other people live very frugally when they are young and single, and end up with a good amount of savings before starting a family. A lot of other people simply earn much more money that you. Are you asking this because you know people like yourself (age/income/children) that saved 200K? Just curious.

Anonymous wrote:How do people save $200,000 for a home downpyament here?! How.

We make $165,000 and have two small kids. It took us all year to save $10,000. At this rate I won't have that kind of cash until I'm 60 (I'm 38 now).

Good grief. How?

Why on earth didn't save before?

Trust fund!

We bought a small place (800 sq ft) in our late 20s/early 30s and held off on having our first child for 5 years. When DC was one we sold and made a $200k profit that we used as a down payment to buy our "forever home".

Anonymous wrote:We started when we were in our early 20s and didn't have kids and lived in crappy apts. It took 10 years.

Same here. We stayed in a one-bedroom apartment with our 2 little ones before finding our house and putting 250K down. HHI was still around 85K at the time.

Pre-planning and luck. We started saving as soon as we had jobs after college and waaay before kids. I received an inheritance that helped a lot and went completely into savings. We jumped up to a combined salary of over 200k by the time we needed a six figure deposit.

Anonymous wrote:How do people save $200,000 for a home downpyament here?! How.

We make $165,000 and have two small kids. It took us all year to save $10,000. At this rate I won't have that kind of cash until I'm 60 (I'm 38 now).

Good grief. How?

If you have parents, move in with them.

We started when we were in our early 20s and didn't have kids and lived in crappy apts. It took 10 years.

You must be new.

How do people save $200,000 for a home downpyament here?! How.

We make $165,000 and have two small kids. It took us all year to save $10,000. At this rate I won't have that kind of cash until I'm 60 (I'm 38 now).

Good grief. How?