"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey

[Ecky]

I got into my $200,000 house with effectively zero down. I could have put some money down, but I didn't. There are a lot of different programs and options. I can't remember them all right now, but broadly speaking you can either get a government backed loan or a private one. The government loans have some specific requirements but often have lower interest rates because they're government backed. Private can be whatever a lender is willing to give a mortgage for.

I believe our lender required 3% down on a private mortgage we qualified for. Vermont has a first time home buyer program which will give you a $5000 interest free loan that only needs to be repaid when you sell your house. We took that out and used it to cover the 3%. We also stipulated that the seller give cash back on closing. There were limits to how much we could ask, but when we added it all up, it covered all of our closing costs as well.

There is also a housing trust in Vermont which assists lower income people with owning a home. They provide a large chunk of the mortgage, maybe as much as 30-40%, so the buyer has no PMI (private mortgage insurance) and the monthly payment is really low. In return, the buyer forfeits any value increase in the house at the time of selling that is due to market increases. However, the seller can still get back any value added from home repairs or improvements. In my opinion, this is a really good deal, especially considering it gets people into houses who otherwise couldn't.

[JSH]

A FHA (Federal Housing Authority) loan requires 3.5% down. That is what my wife and I used for our first home.

From what I've read USDA and VA loans require 0% down

Some private loans will also do 0% down depending on credit rating other financial considerations.

Then there is the old trick of borrowing the down payment using a personal loan.

[Fat Charlie]

Mine was zero down. Regular bank, no VA. Just closing costs.

[Xist]

My sister has borrowed money from Mom twice to buy a house. Mom needed to write a letter saying that it was a one-time gift.

The first time she borrowed from several people. I mentioned before that she and her husband [partially] cashed in their retirement to buy a house.

Hey! Someone asked about me cashing in mine. At least she actually got a house when she performed that maneuver! I paid for a valuation and something else and then slowly spent the rest.

I couldn't put it back!

[Xist]

Fat Charlie, when was this? Was it a smaller bank? It seems like they have a reputation for giving better deals than behemoths.

Someone from Church teaches at the high school. He was a neighbor for a while. I asked him some questions and committed him to writing me a letter affirming that I am a decent human.

Progress is good.

I need to take Mom's old bed to storage. It should be fine. I thought that my old bed was fine, but it was ten or twenty years old. This one is five at most. If I rearrange things in my office I should be able to push back my chair. Right now I need to squeeze into it.

Good times.

I guess that it may be too early to expect to hear back from that third agency. I am not eager to replace both of my jobs. In fact, if I work full-time, six clients might be the right number, but I am not going to stop pursuing anything until I have a contract.

Stay safe and have a great day!

[Fat Charlie]

It's a credit union, and not all that small of one. My banker was also my platoon sergeant, a really solid guy- when the VA loan wasn't going to work, he got to work and found this one.

[redpoint5]

The point is, when you shop for something, you don't settle on the first offer you find. You make others compete for your business. If you enlist the services of a broker, you'll pay for the convinience.

[oil pan 4]

I would say look for a year.
But you better not dilly dally too long. I was reading a report about how a countries economy mainly the United States, changes as your demographics shift over time.
My big takeaway was these 20 to 50 year low interest rates we have been seeing for the last 5 years or so are about to go away as the boomers are shifting their account balance away from stocks while also changing contributions to money markets, credit and mortgage backed securities some times gold too.
So in 3 to 5 years we're back to "a 7% mortgage is good deal". So right now the credit market is flooded with money and very soon that money is going to be drained out at an incredible rate.
So if you have some capital heavy endeavor to embark on you better do it in the next 3 years. Probably the sooner the better.

For example a just shy of $200,000 mortgage like what we have will end up costing around an additional $40,000 for every 1% higher the interest is. So with historically normal interest rates my $300,000 total loan payoff now goes up to over $400,000.
That's been the norm, by the time you pay off your house you pay 2x the sale price.

[JSH]

Mortgage rates are based the 10 year treasury rate



The cheaper it is for Uncle Sam to borrow the cheaper mortgage rates are.

We pay more for mortgages because treasuries are guaranteed. Mortgages are pretty safe but not that safe so investors expect more reward for the extra risk.

[oil pan 4]

Yeah and a cap load of T bills have been bought by private equities.
I remember mortgage rates were really low in the late 1990s and early 2000s.