Post by thedutchgirl on May 31, 2015 10:18:46 GMT -5
We put down 10% on a jumbo last fall. We could have put down enough to get under jumbo limits, but 20% would have left us with slightly less cash than I like. Under jumbo would have been about 15%, and we would have had PMI. We have no PMI on the jumbo and the rate is identical to the conventional we could have received. PMI was several hundred a month, in comparison to someone above. The jumbo made way more sense.
We may be buying sometime next year. The plan is to have enough to cover a 30+% downpayment if we _want_ to put that much down. The condition of the place, the rates available, etc, are likely going to impact how much we put down at that point in time. We are likely going to focus on 15 year term mortgages, as we're a bit older than some when we'll finally be able to settle down and buy something.
That assumes DH leaves the military next year. If not next year, then we'll probably wait to buy for another 5-ish years, and we'll continue working toward having a larger DP available then. There are some nifty elements to moving around so much with the military, but the inability to build equity in a home while moving every couple years kinda sucks...
Post by crashgizmo on May 31, 2015 12:14:23 GMT -5
We did a 3.75% FHA this year (knowing the lifetime MIP as an issue) and put 3.5% down. It was our only real option for a lot of reasons, and while it's not ideal, it allowed us to buy in a VHCOL area where we know we will stay for 15+ years. We'll refi at some point in the future.
We started off with a conventional loan, but because we were buying new construction, and my credit score dropped slightly during the 7mo building period, we ended up having to do a FHA loan. Luckily we got our FHA loan number pulled just before the lifetime MIP went into effect.
For those that feel they must go with an FHA for pricing, rate, or qualifying purposes, the lifetime MIP is only for LtV's above 90%. It still drops off for LTV's at or below 90%.
Post by wanderlustmom on May 31, 2015 20:11:55 GMT -5
First house, 10 percent in 2004 Second house, 20 percent in 2007. Much easier with profits of selling a house. Best thing we did was refinance for free a few years ago to 2.875 interest and changed to 15 years.We aren't going anywhere!
We put enough to get it under jumbo amount, which came out to 11% or something. We bought in 2013.
Btw, our PMI is all of $115/mo. It's nothing in the grand scheme of a mortgage and we had no problems with keeping cash on hand for emergencies since putting down 20% would have meant an extra $41K. Plus, we got a 3.2% interest rate. I'm not paying this sucker off any sooner than scheduled. I don't understand people who freak out about PMI unless it's a significant amount of the mortgage payment.
I definitely agree. PMI is not necessarily the devil (although now that we are at 80 ltv I am eager to get rid of it$.
And we also put down just enough to get under the jumbo amount, so like 16%.
5% down, June 2011, 5/1 ARM at 3.25%. We're currently debating refinancing to drop the PMI since it looks like an appraisal would likely come in showing us at 78% LTV. We need to run the numbers though to see if that makes sense-I'm not sure that paying closing costs to drop the monthly payment will be beneficial for us over just waiting it out.
5% down, June 2011, 5/1 ARM at 3.25%. We're currently debating refinancing to drop the PMI since it looks like an appraisal would likely come in showing us at 78% LTV. We need to run the numbers though to see if that makes sense-I'm not sure that paying closing costs to drop the monthly payment will be beneficial for us over just waiting it out.
Usually, you don't need to refi to drop PMI, check your loan docs but for conventional loans a new appraisal showing 78% ltv or lower should suffice.
5% down, June 2011, 5/1 ARM at 3.25%. We're currently debating refinancing to drop the PMI since it looks like an appraisal would likely come in showing us at 78% LTV. We need to run the numbers though to see if that makes sense-I'm not sure that paying closing costs to drop the monthly payment will be beneficial for us over just waiting it out.
Usually, you don't need to refi to drop PMI, check your loan docs but for conventional loans a new appraisal showing 78% ltv or lower should suffice.
I do need to double check our docs. We're with WF, who is a notorious PITA about this, but we'll see!