When buying a home, one of the biggest expenses that you’ll have to come up with right away is the down payment. Banks and mortgage lenders will need the down payment before they’ll lend you the rest of the purchase price for any house you choose. One of the biggest home buying mistakes that people make is not saving early enough for their down payment. This causes unnecessary delays in buying the house of your dreams. The second biggest mistake is not checking your credit score before applying for a mortgage. Lenders require a solid credit score to buy a house. But once your credit score is high enough you’re ready to make the down payment on your home.
What Is A Down Payment?
A down payment is the money that a home buyer needs to pay towards the purchase price of a home. The down payment is always made with cash funds. You can’t charge a down payment on a credit card. The down payment represents a certain percentage the the entire amount Of the purchase. Depending on where you get for mortgage, you’ll need to make a down payment of a certain percentage of the property that you’re intending to buy. Since the down payment represents part of the purchase price, the more you put down as a down payment, the less you’ll have to finance.
Minimum Down Payments
When you buy a home, your mortgage lender will require a specific minimum down payment. This is the very least they’ll be able to accept in order to offer you the mortgage loan. Typical minimum down payments can range from between 3% and 25%. The minimum amount that you’re required to put down on a home purchase we’ll be dictated by your lender. It’s important that you save enough for your down payment so that you can meet the qualifications of as many lenders as possible. For that reason and others you should strive for a minimum down payment of 20%.
Benefits Of 20% Down Payment
As mentioned, most lenders require a minimum down payment of 20%. There are additional benefits to making a 20% down payment. The major benefit is not having to pay private mortgage insurance, or PMI. Private mortgage insurance is a type of guarantee insurance in case you can’t make the payments on your mortgage each month. Private mortgage insurance premiums are added to your monthly payments each month. If you put at least 20% down on your home, you are considered invested enough in the purchase so that you don’t also have to pay private mortgage insurance. This can significantly reduce your monthly mortgage payments.
How Much Should Your Home Down Payment Be?
You should strive to put at least 20% down on the purchase of your new home. This will save you from having to pay for private mortgage insurance. If you fail to make that 20% minimum, you will have to wait until the loan to value ratio on your home is 80/20. This can take several years to achieve. In the meantime, you would have paid thousands of dollars just for private mortgage insurance, which doesn’t give you any benefits. Your home down payment should be at least 20% so that you can have your monthly payments going towards paying off the principal balance instead of toward PMI.
Now that you understand how much down payment you need to purchase a home, it maybe time to talk to potential mortgage lenders to see if you can qualify for the home of your dreams.
