Looking for house info

[sbpebbles]

So I'm sorry if this is a little off topic but I'm trying to set a plan for the next few years so it is budget related....At what age did you buy your first house? And what kind of down payment is good to have saved up? Like I said I'm in the very beginning stages of this but with 2 kids it's something I really need to start considering..thanks for the info!

 

[minnie1928]

I would set a target of 20% down as your goal. This way you won't have to pay PMI and more lenders are requiring higher down payments anyway.

 

[lovepurple]

I bought my first house at 20 years old with 10% down. That being said, it only cost $47,000 because it was a little shack in the woods that was hard to get to. I did have to pay PMI because I didn't have 20% down.

 

[clh2]

I bought my first house before I met DH, when I was 26.
Refi'd about 1.5 years later, and was able to dump PMI, due to the house value increasing!!!

If I would have waited until I had 20%, I would still be chasing. The housing values where going up so fast, that I never would have got to 20% (not while rent was going up as well as house costs).

 

[mward73]

I was 24. No down payment because I was assuming an FHA loan. The people actually paid my first 3 months mortgage because the price of the house had gone down in value from when they bought it. The interest rate was a little high, but I re-financed later for a MUCH lower rate, then kept paying the payment I was used to, so I was paying extra principle. Ended up selling the house for 3x what I paid and owing very little at the time.

Now the house we're in now is a money pit. lol

 

[Swimalie]

My husband bought our first home before we met. He was 27 and paid for the house 100%, no mortgage. He was a Navy pilot and had been saving his hazard duty pay while in the Navy and used that to buy the house out right. Now it wasn't an expensive hour at $51,000 but it was nice to marry in to no mortgage a few years later.

I'd recommend getting 20% so you don't have to pay the PMI. A good way to start is with something like an ING savings account. Have them pull a set amount out of your account each month and you won't miss it. We're pulling $200 a month out now so that this time next year we can pay cash for a new car.

 

[briarrose]

I bought my first at 25 and put down 20%. It was a duplex and in a couple years my tenant was paying for house payment.

 

[Familyof4lovesDW]

We were 20 which I think is funny we could buy a house, but no alcohol for it . I would say have 10% down I do not remember what we had, but that is what I hear recomended around here. One thing I wish I would have known, when the levys pass your taxes on your house go up, which can make your house payment go up if it is figured into your morgage. So our house payment started at one amount and is now higher because of passing levys over the years. I do not know if it is that way everywhere, but here it is.

 

[puffkin]

I was 22 and we bought ours with 10% down. I don't think I would buy one with less than 10 % down. We got out of PMI by doing an 80-10-10 loan. We actually did the same thing with our current house. I like having the 10% loan because if I pay extra it goes to that one since it is a slightly higher interest rate. Since it is a much smaller balance, it seems like we are making much more progress in paying it off. Once I get the 10% paid (we only took it for 15 years as opposed to 30 for the regular mortgage) off I will take my whole payment for that loan and put it towards the 80% to start chippign away faster at that. Doing the 80-10-10 we are paying about the same monthly amount as doing 90-10 with PMI but we are building equity faster and can deduct the interest. PMI is just throwing money away.

 

[momz]

bought at 30 (husband was 28). we put 20% down, we will have it paid off by the time i am 45 (5 more years)...hopefully sooner. Imagine what a blessing it will be to no longer have that monthly mortagage payment!!!!

My advice. try to make a substantial down payment, and don't mortgage for more than 15 years. And don't finance as much as they say you are approved for.

We didn't follow this advice, as our first mortgage was for 30 years. But 2-3 years into it, we realized how crazy that was, and re-financed. This time we got a lower interest rate (it was during those years of easy credit) and cut the time down to a 20 year note. Since then, we are decreasing the time to pay off by paying more than the minimum.

In retrospect, we should have gone for the 15 year note for the get go. But we had a lot to learn.

Good luck on your journey.

 

[lspst8]

I was 26 when I bought my townhouse in 2006. I had about 10% saved up, but some of that got eaten up by closing costs. I have PMI, but it is only $17 a month for my house, so, at least for me, it isn't all that much money. I bought thru a special first-time homebuyers program in Pennsylvania.

 

[Shreggor]

I'm almost 40 and never have or will own a house. I'm getting to the point where I am too old and don't care anymore. I feel like a total loser but what can you do. Most of my friends bought their first house between 23-27. Must be nice having mommy and daddy give you a down payment. (for real, they all had houses just basically handed to them).

Unfortunately, I live and work in the Boston area and only have one income that is under 100K (and know my budget limits I've seen the repurcussions of people buying houses they can't afford...). I like my job so relocating to a cheaper area is not an option.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

It used to be fairly common to buy a home with as little as 5% down. However over the past few years lenders are requiring more. 20% is the standard, which has it's advatages. With less than 20% down you will have to pay PMI (private mortgage insurace) and than can add quite a bit to your monthly payment. Check out FHA and any other first time homebuyer options that might be available to you. Good luck! Home buying is an adventure.

 

[phred52]

Bought first house @ 22 with 50% down. I worked a ton of overtime with a diet of hot dogs and mac and cheese to do that.

 

[Planogirl]

We bought through the VA so had no down payment or PMI.

I agree, thoroughly look into different lending options.

 

[mjkacmom]

We bought our home when we were 29, and at the time, it was only $170, and we put down 20%. However, times have changed, our home is worth more, and property taxes alone are $1000 a month.

 

[Colleen27]

We bought our first home with a private loan from a relative when I was 21. The house was a mobile home not on a permanent foundation (kind of a wierd situation - it was part of a mobile home park that went belly-up in the 90s and sold residents their lots) so our financing options were really limited, and when my FIL saw the kind of trouble we were having getting such a small loan he loaned us the money himself. Our payment was less than the rent on our 1 bedroom apartment, and we went from a city with horrible public schools to a nice small town with excellent schools just in time for our son to start pre-school.

We bought our first "real" house in 2004. I was 24, and we had 10% down. Yes, we had to pay PMI but at that point housing values were still appreciating rapidly, we'd outgrown the two bedroom mobile home, and we feared that by the time we saved 20% we'd be priced out of the town/school system that we were in. The PMI is a very small amount, about $30/month on a 90K loan, so it wasn't a cost that made us think twice about waiting and saving more.

 

[FoundMyPrince]

So I'm sorry if this is a little off topic but I'm trying to set a plan for the next few years so it is budget related....At what age did you buy your first house? And what kind of down payment is good to have saved up? Like I said I'm in the very beginning stages of this but with 2 kids it's something I really need to start considering..thanks for the info!

DH was 28, I was 27. We had $0 down. Times have changed and I don't know that could be done right now! We moved from that house three years ago and paid 25% down on our current home.

 

[mom2val]

Bought our first home in 1997 at age 24- FHA loan and paid the min. 3% down plus we paid closing costs. We did have to pay PMI each month. We sold that home in 2002 moved and rented until 2009 ( age 36) when we bought our second home. We did a FHA loan again this time paid 6% down plus closing costs- we pay PMI each month.

 

[rszdtrvl]

We purchased our house 7 years ago, so I was......(lemmie think here) 27 years old. DH was 28.

We did the Nehemiah program, which no longer esists.

We qualified for a $150,000 mortgage, but were determined to keep it at $75,000 before Nehemiah. Our grand total was around $82,000 (you can google Nehemiah if you are curious as to what it is).

The house right next to us is identical in floor plan and everything, and it just sold for $121,000. So I would say that we have a great investment!

Our property taxes and escrow are included in our mortgage payment. I highly recommend that, as you don't need to worry about paying them separately.