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Showerthought: I thought a 20% down payment was a hard rule you couldn't skip.
When my partner and I started looking in Austin, our agent kept pushing us to look at loans with only 3% down. I was sure it was a bad idea that would cost us more later. We ran the numbers and for our $300k budget, the PMI added about $120 a month, but getting in two years earlier saved us from rising prices. Has anyone else gone with a low down payment and been glad they did?
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elliotjenkins1h agoMost Upvoted
Hah, I feel like a total clown for following the "rules" so hard. I waited forever to save up 20% on my first place, and the market just ran away from me. That PMI would have been way cheaper than watching prices go up.
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averywright12d ago
Oh man, we did the SAME thing. Put down 5% on our place in Denver. That PMI felt like throwing money away, maybe $90 a month. But prices here jumped like 15% the next year. If we had waited to save 20%, we would have been totally priced out of our neighborhood. Sometimes the math works out weird in your favor.
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