Parents gave me $24K (not expected I just came up shy on my 20% down payment) - I paid them back in a 2 year installment plan.

Zero form anyone. Bought a $120 house with 5% down in 1986. Sold it in 1992 for $170. Bought a $450k house in 1992 sold it in 1998 for $700k. Bought a $740 k house in 1998 now worth 1.5 m.

We made some smart decisions and had some lucky timing.

We get a large cash gift from family every February. We do not budget with the assumption we will get it the following year. We appreciate it, but known it could go away at any time. I expect it will go away if the inheritance tax law changes. I do not expect a gift this year since my SIL is planning an expensive wedding. If we get a gift anyway, it will be nice.

We bought a $200k house in Chevy Chase in 2000 and DH's family gifted us the 20% down payment so we could avoid PMI. When we moved into a larger home about 6 years later, they gave us about $30k to remodel it.

We knew about the down payment money and were encouraged to look for a home to buy a couple of years after our marriage. The $30k was a very nice surprise.

I had not been expecting any help when my husband and I bought our first house (last year!). A few months before we started looking, my mother said she and my dad were going to give us $20k. Then my husband's parents offered to give us $25k - which apparently my husband had been expecting, but I had not. It covered our down payment, and I am really, really grateful.

When we bought our first home my parents gave us a set of dishes from JC Penney and a $100 gift card to Home Depot.