My parents gave us $500k. I always knew they'd help out bc they always told me they would. FWIW, my grandfather bought my parents their first house outright so my parents actually felt somewhat guilty they weren't able to do the same for us.

Anonymous wrote:No.

We bought all 4 of our homes on our own.

In a position now where we could pay off the kid's homes but both DILs don't deserve it.

Lol. What don't you like about them?

Parents on both sides each gave $20,000 toward the 20% down payment. My parents had helped my older sibling with the down payment on a first house a few years before so I expected it and got it too. Spouse's parents contributing too was a nice surprise.

Not really. DH and I bought our first home - $180K in Falls Church in 1996 when we were 24.
I think my parents gave us $5000 in savings bonds when we got married but they weren't worth all that as we got married sooner than my mother thought (22).

DH was a GS-7 and worked 20 hours of overtime each week. I was a public school teacher. We saved, saved, and saved. We had a one bedroom apartment and DH drove a car he bought for $1000. My parents gave me a CHevy senior year in college. Neither of us had students loans. DH went to college on a government science scholarship. My parents saved for my tuition and paid it in full.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hah! No.

I'm a Republican, which means I paid for it by myself.

Well, I'm a Democrat, and I paid for it by myself, too. So there you go.

... but you didn't EARN that money.

Anonymous wrote:No.

We bought all 4 of our homes on our own.

In a position now where we could pay off the kid's homes but both DILs don't deserve it.

Lol
Love this

No I didn't know in advance. I was given $100,000 outright. My sibling probably expected it after that.

No.

We bought all 4 of our homes on our own.

In a position now where we could pay off the kid's homes but both DILs don't deserve it.

My parents surprised me with $100k when I graduated from college. Prior to that I knew that we were just fine, but wasn't expecting a gift aside from them paying for college. When we found a house they gave me another $50k.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH knew his bar mitzvah money would be his future nest egg for a down payment on a house, but he didn't know how much to expect---and certainly didn't expect his parents to match it. Enabled us to put down more than 20%, which was a nice surprise.

Fwiw, I wouldn't promise anything to my kids. We are hoping to be able to pay for college, help with grad school, help with a wedding and down payment...but, no promises.

How much did he get for his bar mitzvah?

Not sure, and he's not sure either. His parents added to it over the years, and gave us additional money after they heard how much our first home cost. It was more than 20% for the down payment on our starter home (which was $300ish 15+ years ago).

Wow, that's great. My kids got about $3500 for their confirmations, so I was curious.

Really? I come from a religious UMC family and received zero money for baptism, first communion or confirmation.

Ok. Was there a question in there?
Did you have a meal/ celebration after?

Anonymous wrote:Did you know well ahead of time they would do that? Like, had you been told since childhood that when you got married, graduated college, reached a certain age, etc. they would give you X amount for the down payment?

Or was it something very unexpected?

Neither. My parents helped out with our first home purchase by gifting us $10k. That definitely made it easier for us to make our down payment, but it also wasn't make or break in terms of our home purchase. I didn't know about the gift "well ahead of time" and yet I wouldn't describe it as "very unexpected" either. It was a nice boost, that I wasn't counting on, but wasn't shocking either considering my folks have always helped out throughout my life.

Anonymous wrote:Hah! No.

I'm a Republican, which means I paid for it by myself.

I'm a liberal and we paid for ours ourselves. Hah!

I've known since high school how much money my parents put into my trust fund, my wedding fund, my down payment fund, etc. And even in adulthood, they've continued to add to it, so there's more than enough to cover everything. The properties I own now, I purchased on my own, so there's still a ton of money sitting in each of my funds that I haven't touched. I could quit everything tomorrow and never have to worry about finances, but I rather work for a few more years, then retire in my late 30's and just travel all the time.

My dad gave me $30k after I moved to DC for my first condo. It was way before I got married. Wasn't expecting it at all.

DH's parents offered him money as a loan so he wouldn't have to borrow from the bank. He said no as he knew their loan wouldn't be without strings.

My parents gave me $10,000. When we started talking seriously about buying a house and saving for a downpayment (a year or so after we got married), they told us they would give us that money.