How to buy a house with no money down?

[Skippy123]

Date: 5/9/2008 5:53:49 PM
Author: bee*

Date: 5/9/2008 5:41:17 PM
Author: neatfreak

Date: 5/9/2008 3:55:14 PM

Author: icekid

Many many of the problems we are having right now can be directly attributed to the fact that Americans feel they are entitled to live the high life. They DESERVE a big house, a huge SUV, plus an enormous TV. Moreover, they deserve it NOW. Who wants to wait? And screw everyone else, because they're not ME.



I wouldn't personally ever consider buying a house without a downpayment. given the current market? absolutely not! You're just setting yourself up for future problems.



neatfreak- I agreed with you

THANK YOU. I felt like an idiot because no one really backed me up, so I just let it drop. I appreciate the comment.

I agree with both of you also. Over in Ireland, most of the banks have started to stop doing the 100% mortgages and there has been talk of negative equity with quite a few properties.

Ditto, and what about PMI insurance; you don't want to pay that (it doesn't go toward principal)?!?!?! Save 20% for a down payment. I don't want to be nice and agree to say yes do a no money down payment because I don't want you in trouble later on; I have seen too many people lose their house because of this. Just looking out for you.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 5/9/2008 8:29:52 PM
Author: neatfreak


Look, all I knew is what you posted then, which was that you guys were walking on your mortgage because you wanted to be able to save more $. THAT is what you originally posted, and THAT is what I made the comment on. If you don't want people to comment on things like that, then you need to put it in more context. All you said originally was that you guys were walking because you decided your mortgage was too much. And I really think that is wrong on so many levels that I had to comment on it.

Based on that, I DO think it's irresponsible to walk away from a mortgage and THAT is what I was commenting on. In case you didn't notice I *also* did say in my original post about it that the circumstances were different if you lost a job, which you later said your husband did. So thus, my comment didn't even apply in your situation as I mentioned in the first post I made.

Okay, I just don't understand why you brought up my original post as an example KNOWING that circumstances didn't apply to this person's post, so I felt compelled to post my defense!

If my husband hadn't of lost his job, we had planned to sell anyhow, but would have been content to sit on it for a few years longer until the market improved so we wouldn't risk a short-sale. I'm just hoping our house sells at this point while we have savings left! (oh, at any rate, we got a townhome and will move there. . . live moves on either way!)

 

[robbie3982]

Date: 5/9/2008 8:34:33 PM
Author: Skippy123
Ditto, and what about PMI insurance; you don''t want to pay that (it doesn''t go toward principal)?!?!?! Save 20% for a down payment. I don''t want to be nice and agree to say yes do a no money down payment because I don''t want you in trouble later on; I have seen too many people lose their house because of this. Just looking out for you.

Skippy, the monthly payment on our loan with PMI works out to be the same as what we would''ve had we done an 80/20 , which we were told are very hard to come by now a days. Our PMI is 80/20.

Just because someone puts no money down does not mean that they''ll be in trouble later. There are ways to get 100% financing without being reckless. The important thing is to only buy what you can afford the monthly payment on and to have an emergency fund in case something should happen. If someone puts 10% down, but something comes up (job loss?) and they can no longer make their monthly mortgage payment and can''t sell how are they any better off than someone who put nothing down and finds themself in the same situation? Sure the person who made a down payment might owe a little less, but is it really going to be enough to stop them from going into foreclosure? Probably not.

The sad truth is that for many people 20% down on a first home isn''t a possibility. By the time we would''ve been able to save enough for 20% down AND a large enough emergency fund, what we''d saved would no longer have been enough for 20% down!

 

[neatfreak]

Robbie, you are right that not everyone will get in trouble. But it is a LOT easier to get into trouble with a house that is 100% financed because you have 0 dollars of equity in it when you start out and for the first number of years. I think that is all Skip is trying to say.

 

[TravelingGal]

MC sorry your family is going through a tough time. I never saw the thread in question.

Robbie, people are less likely to just pick up and walk away from a mortgage if they put something down. 0 down, nothing invested, and not as much to lose if you hand in the keys when you are upside down. That is what we are seeing now.

 

[cara]

Robbie, you are just much less likely to end up underwater on your loan if you put 10% down. "Can't sell" is almost always a function of price. If you as an owner have no flexibility on price because you have no equity in the home and the market is declining, this leads to the "cant sell" conundrum as you need to pay off the bank loan that exceeds current market value. If you can lower the price because you have equity in the home, even though it sucks to realize the loss you generally can sell the home under duress if you need to and avoid foreclosure (financial duress or job move or whatever.)

Not that you are being irresponsible, its just a risk to consider.

ETA: neatfreak beat me to it.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 5/9/2008 9:10:41 PM
Author: cara
Robbie, you are just much less likely to end up underwater on your loan if you put 10% down. 'Can't sell' is almost always a function of price. If you as an owner have no flexibility on price because you have no equity in the home and the market is declining, this leads to the 'cant sell' conundrum as you need to pay off the bank loan that exceeds current market value. If you can lower the price because you have equity in the home, even though it sucks to realize the loss you generally can sell the home under duress if you need to and avoid foreclosure (financial duress or job move or whatever.)

Not that you are being irresponsible, its just a risk to consider.

ETA: neatfreak beat me to it.

Sorry, I just saw your post Robbie, ditto the above. I just wanted to give my opinion doesn't mean I am saying I am right; "I" just rather be safe than sorry w/the above info as Cara noted. Thanks NF!!! I tend to be conservative in general w/finances.

 

[diamondsrock]

I have to admit buying a house with no money down right now is very risky. If the house goes down in value, you are immediately upside down in your mortgage. It''s always been a good idea to put down 20% although that is not always reasonable for everyone. Even 5% is better than nothing. I thought lenders were being much more picky now and either not offering or offering very few no money down offers.

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 5/9/2008 8:57:42 PM
Author: neatfreak
it is a LOT easier to get into trouble with a house that is 100% financed because you have 0 dollars of equity in it when you start out and for the first number of years.

Combined with a declining market ... it''s even EASIER to get underwater almost INSTANTLY! Like driving a car off the lot!

When you buy a house -- everything looks so hopeful etc ... people don''t always consider the possibility of job loss, becoming disabled, needing to move suddenly to be with family etc etc. Never fun to consider those things after all.

What''s the rush to buy? Sometimes renting is a better option. You can rent a place as large or larger than you can buy in most housing markets. Also: babies don''t take up that much room for quite a while. Sounds more like you *want* a bigger place ... not like you actually *need* one ... yet, at least.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 5/9/2008 9:41:47 PM
Author: decodelighted

Date: 5/9/2008 8:57:42 PM
Author: neatfreak
it is a LOT easier to get into trouble with a house that is 100% financed because you have 0 dollars of equity in it when you start out and for the first number of years.

Combined with a declining market ... it''s even EASIER to get underwater almost INSTANTLY! Like driving a car off the lot!

When you buy a house -- everything looks so hopeful etc ... people don''t always consider the possibility of job loss, becoming disabled, needing to move suddenly to be with family etc etc. Never fun to consider those things after all.

What''s the rush to buy? Sometimes renting is a better option. You can rent a place as large or larger than you can buy in most housing markets. Also: babies don''t take up that much room for quite a while. Sounds more like you *want* a bigger place ... not like you actually *need* one ... yet, at least.

Deco, I will say firsthand that yes, babies don''t take up much room...but holy moses...all their sh*t does!!!

But I totally agree on those factors that you mentioned. TGuy and I have calculated that we can pay the mortgage we want if we were BOTH to become unemployed for a few months with the emergency fund we''d have for that purpose.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I agree with the others that it''s worth it to wait until you have more saved to buy a house.

DH and I made the decision to live in a not-so-great neighborhood in a small,cheap apartment and live on about 40% of our combined income after taxes and investments so that we can save the remaining 60% our money for a house. We also drive a vehicle that is old and has a lot of miles on it. To save money is a conscious and not-always-easy decision. For us, with the end result being that we won''t have to take out any mortgage for a house, it''s worth it. My feeling is that if you have nothing in savings, not only is taking out such a significant loan a risky decision, but even being able to take care of the house (something like emergency repairs) is a big concern. I know that having a yard would be nice for the pooch, but I think it''s more important to work on saving some money first.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

People are "upside down" in their homes right now where they owe more than their home is worth. THAT creates bad situations. Many people are fine and can afford the payments but the majority can''t. That is why we are in a mortgage crisis right now and it will be years before we see relief. Banks are losing money and laying people off. Mortgage companies are closing up shop. Things are *really* bad. It is not worth the risk (for these companies) to trust people will be able to afford their mortgages. In the county I live in around 6,000 people got foreclosed on in 2007. That is just in ONE county! That doesn''t include people who went to investors, did short sales, etc...You really can''t blame banks for being very conservative right now. I think *that* is what Skippy was trying to say. The best way to go is with a good down payment AND a low FIXED rate. I was lucky to buy my home with an 80/20 at 22. Obviously I wouldn''t have been able to buy a home so young w/o that kind of financing. We have since sold it and I never had a problem paying but these are different times in the world of real estate. It is sad b/c I love being a homeowner. Bad timing for you I guess. My best advice would be to buy small and trade up slowly or wait until the market changes.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 5/9/2008 2:41:10 PM
Author: TravelingGal
No offense to the OP but...

Am I old fashioned? Am I the only one who believes these days that buying a home should require SOME form of discipline when it comes to saving for some kind of a downpayment? Almost 2.5 years ago TGuy and I said we wanted a house. We set a goal to save 100K in 4 years and are over halfway to our goal. Was it easy? No. It took a lifestyle change and while it hurt at first, we are used it to now and feel comfortable that we can actually AFFORD a mortgage, even if one of us were to lose our jobs.

So many of these crazy loans is what got this market in trouble in the first place...and what ran up housing here in California so that the responsible ones can't even afford a home now.

Rant over and apologies to the OP as I know I really didn't answer your question.

TG
agree !!! 101%

2 yrs ago....i told everybody we have a housing bubble that's getting ready to burst, at the time everybody was laughing at me.

 

[icekid]

Date: 5/10/2008 6:52:19 AM
Author: Dancing Fire
TG
agree !!! 101%

2 yrs ago....i told everybody we have a housing bubble that''s getting ready to burst, at the time everybody was laughing at me.

Whoa... leave it to this thread to bring Dancing Fire back (out of lurking?!?!). Seriously DF, I have often thought about how you warned everyone that the 100% financing was going to ruin people. Where have you been? Welcome back!!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 5/9/2008 3:37:29 PM
Author: DivaDiamond007

Date: 5/9/2008 2:01:36 PM
Author: Independent Gal
Call your bank and a few other mortgage companies and ask them. They are the ones who will be loaning you the money.

My guess is that you also need fabulous credit at this point, not just full-time jobs. Banks would be CRAZY at this point to finance a mortgage 100%, given the volatility of house prices. The thing is, if you default, and the price of the house has gone down, the bank loses their money. Given the teetering-on-the-brink-of-collapse condition of the mortgage industry at the moment, I think this would otherwise count as ''irresponsible lending.''

When the banks keep losing money from mortgage defaulters, the economy as a whole - and hence everyone suffers!

The mortgage crisis definately goes both ways - buyers should NOT purchase homes they can''t afford to begin with and should not be approaching a mortgage with an inflated appraisal, BUT the mortgage companies have a responsibility to give loans only to those who can afford to repay - and THAT is what got the U.S. into this big mess. Doesn''t take a rocket scientist to figure out that someone making 50K a year can''t afford a 300K or even 200K mortgage. DUH! In the forever downhill job market if you can''t afford the max. rate on your ARM now then what makes you think you will be able to afford it later? ARG! The whole situation makes me sooo angry

yep!! both buyers and mortgage co. created this mess.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 5/10/2008 7:18:09 AM
Author: icekid

Date: 5/10/2008 6:52:19 AM
Author: Dancing Fire
TG
agree !!! 101%

2 yrs ago....i told everybody we have a housing bubble that''s getting ready to burst, at the time everybody was laughing at me.

Whoa... leave it to this thread to bring Dancing Fire back (out of lurking?!?!). Seriously DF, I have often thought about how you warned everyone that the 100% financing was going to ruin people. Where have you been? Welcome back!!

teaching class on economics .

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 5/10/2008 6:52:19 AM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 5/9/2008 2:41:10 PM
Author: TravelingGal
No offense to the OP but...

Am I old fashioned? Am I the only one who believes these days that buying a home should require SOME form of discipline when it comes to saving for some kind of a downpayment? Almost 2.5 years ago TGuy and I said we wanted a house. We set a goal to save 100K in 4 years and are over halfway to our goal. Was it easy? No. It took a lifestyle change and while it hurt at first, we are used it to now and feel comfortable that we can actually AFFORD a mortgage, even if one of us were to lose our jobs.

So many of these crazy loans is what got this market in trouble in the first place...and what ran up housing here in California so that the responsible ones can''t even afford a home now.

Rant over and apologies to the OP as I know I really didn''t answer your question.

TG
agree !!! 101%

2 yrs ago....i told everybody we have a housing bubble that''s getting ready to burst, at the time everybody was laughing at me.

WOW, there IS a name I haven''t seen in awhile. Nice to see you!

I have been reading blogs and watching our local market since July 2006. Back then it was the same as the reaction you got...people saying it couldn''t burst, but I knew it would. Now people are saying the affluent areas won''t go down. We''ll see...............

 

[monarch64]

No kidding....Dancing Fire I thought you were gone forever! Thought I saw you posting over in another forum but shook my head and thought I must have been dreaming. Good to see you again!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 5/11/2008 1:11:10 AM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 5/10/2008 6:52:19 AM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 5/9/2008 2:41:10 PM
Author: TravelingGal
No offense to the OP but...

Am I old fashioned? Am I the only one who believes these days that buying a home should require SOME form of discipline when it comes to saving for some kind of a downpayment? Almost 2.5 years ago TGuy and I said we wanted a house. We set a goal to save 100K in 4 years and are over halfway to our goal. Was it easy? No. It took a lifestyle change and while it hurt at first, we are used it to now and feel comfortable that we can actually AFFORD a mortgage, even if one of us were to lose our jobs.

So many of these crazy loans is what got this market in trouble in the first place...and what ran up housing here in California so that the responsible ones can''t even afford a home now.

Rant over and apologies to the OP as I know I really didn''t answer your question.

TG
agree !!! 101%

2 yrs ago....i told everybody we have a housing bubble that''s getting ready to burst, at the time everybody was laughing at me.

WOW, there IS a name I haven''t seen in awhile. Nice to see you!

I have been reading blogs and watching our local market since July 2006. Back then it was the same as the reaction you got...people saying it couldn''t burst, but I knew it would. Now people are saying the affluent areas won''t go down. We''ll see...............

TG...depends on the cities
about 8 miles south of us in Elk Grove,CA. homes that were selling for $650K 3 yrs ago,today they couldn''t give it away for $425K. our house probably loss about $130K in value.

 

[Dancing Fire]

hi M64

yes, i''m still alive.

 

[fisherofmengirly]

I would be wary of the 100% financing option, as well, for the same reasons listed above.

One thing you may want to look into, though, is foreclosures. With those, you can have instant equity at the start. That coupled with some sort of a down payment will add up quicker to not have to pay the PMI for so long. Paul and I have not put a full 20% down on our home we are closing on, but we will make a down payment of a substantial sum of money. It is a foreclosure, and we are getting the home at about $20,000 in instant equity, based on appraisal completed in April. We also worked with our realtor to find homes in OUR price range, not in the range the mortgage company said we qualified for. It still surprises me just how much they pre-qualified us for. Seems to me like they are still setting some people up for failure. Anyway, we got our payments to an amount where if one of us wasn''t working (say to have a baby, or due to lay-off), we''d be able to pay the bill on one income alone (although it would be a strenuous time). We also worked our budget so that we will be able to pay additional money each month, toward our principal, to get that PMI outta here sooner.

The market is sad right now, but there are ways to make it a benefit to you. I''d really look into foreclosures and try to find one under your price range, without a lot of need for repairs. Homes are often thrashed by the previous owners, but if you can find one move-in ready, it could really help with building the equity you''ll need down the road...

 

[iheartscience]

To the OP, if you are interested in purchasing a home, I recommend looking into taking a first time homebuyer''s class. In my state, if you take this class, you get a certificate that qualifies you for a special first time homebuyer''s mortgage rate, provided you qualify, of course. (I believe it was half a point less than the going interest rate.) I took this class a few years ago but put the house idea on hold for the time being. However, it was very informative and now that I''m thinking about buying again, what I learned comes in handy.

I personally think there is nothing wrong with getting a home 100% financed, provided you will be able to make the payments. Even if the house does drop in value, if you can afford the payments, it''s not as if you''ll be out on the street. It''s not a great situation to be in, but the world isn''t going to end. Now is a great time to buy, at least in my area, because home prices have dropped quite a bit in the last year, but because of where I live, the market isn''t likely to completely bottom out.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[monarch64]

Date: 5/11/2008 1:35:48 AM
Author: Dancing Fire
hi M64

yes, i''m still alive.

Good! I must say I was not laughing at you a couple years ago! We bought our house (fortunately) 4 years ago last month, put 20% down using DH''s bonus check and got a really good interest rate based on both our credit ratings. La la la, four years go by, everythings fine, then BOOM! we both lost our jobs. If we had done an ARM or whatever, we would have been completely screwed! We didn''t save as much as we should''ve, but what we had saved coupled with DH''s 401K, kept us afloat the past four months we''ve been unemployed. Our house hasn''t necessarily lost value...we bought the house when it was listed for $235 for $223, and at this point it''s probably only worth what we paid, so no big deal, but there was a time a couple years ago when we strongly considered selling for $260 and could have, but we would have moved into something that was $300 plus and bit off more than we could chew, which would''ve been a huge mistake. Thank god we stayed put, looking back!

DF, you''ve always given pretty sage and sound advice. I, for one, am glad people like you are around to ground the rest of us.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 5/11/2008 3:12:05 AM
Author: monarch64

Date: 5/11/2008 1:35:48 AM
Author: Dancing Fire
hi M64

yes, i'm still alive.

Good! I must say I was not laughing at you a couple years ago! We bought our house (fortunately) 4 years ago last month, put 20% down using DH's bonus check and got a really good interest rate based on both our credit ratings. La la la, four years go by, everythings fine, then BOOM! we both lost our jobs. If we had done an ARM or whatever, we would have been completely screwed! We didn't save as much as we should've, but what we had saved coupled with DH's 401K, kept us afloat the past four months we've been unemployed. Our house hasn't necessarily lost value...we bought the house when it was listed for $235 for $223, and at this point it's probably only worth what we paid, so no big deal, but there was a time a couple years ago when we strongly considered selling for $260 and could have, but we would have moved into something that was $300 plus and bit off more than we could chew, which would've been a huge mistake. Thank god we stayed put, looking back!

DF, you've always given pretty sage and sound advice. I, for one, am glad people like you are around to ground the rest of us.

with fixed loan interest rate near historic low,why would buyers even think about going with those exotic ARM?

btw; are you still running the marathon?

 

[monarch64]

Date: 5/11/2008 3:40:33 AM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 5/11/2008 3:12:05 AM
Author: monarch64

Date: 5/11/2008 1:35:48 AM
Author: Dancing Fire
hi M64

yes, i'm still alive.

Good! I must say I was not laughing at you a couple years ago! We bought our house (fortunately) 4 years ago last month, put 20% down using DH's bonus check and got a really good interest rate based on both our credit ratings. La la la, four years go by, everythings fine, then BOOM! we both lost our jobs. If we had done an ARM or whatever, we would have been completely screwed! We didn't save as much as we should've, but what we had saved coupled with DH's 401K, kept us afloat the past four months we've been unemployed. Our house hasn't necessarily lost value...we bought the house when it was listed for $235 for $223, and at this point it's probably only worth what we paid, so no big deal, but there was a time a couple years ago when we strongly considered selling for $260 and could have, but we would have moved into something that was $300 plus and bit off more than we could chew, which would've been a huge mistake. Thank god we stayed put, looking back!

DF, you've always given pretty sage and sound advice. I, for one, am glad people like you are around to ground the rest of us.

with fixed loan interest rate near historic low,why would buyers even think about going with those exotic ARM?

btw; are you still running the marathon?

LOL, I didn't run a marathon, I did the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer which was the two day, 40 mile walk! Good memory, though! I was doing some training for it back in 2006 which you probably remember me talking about. I WISH I was running a marathon! I would be in much better shape, ha! Check out the new Healthy subforum if you're interested, DF, we have lots of health-minded people over there now.

Are you still into Jaeger Le Coultre? I am poised to take a job with part of the Richemont group!

ETA: we had a few friends at the time we bought our house who didn't have 20% down, and they opted to do the ARM thing...none of them has lost their home now but they are seriously hurting since they all had kids since then and their payments went up dramatically. If any of them lost their jobs now they would probably lose their house. Thank god that hasn't happened but if I were them I wouldn't want to be sweating it.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 5/11/2008 4:14:52 AM
Author: monarch64

LOL, I didn''t run a marathon, I did the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer which was the two day, 40 mile walk! Good memory, though! I was doing some training for it back in 2006 which you probably remember me talking about. I WISH I was running a marathon! I would be in much better shape, ha! Check out the new Healthy subforum if you''re interested, DF, we have lots of health-minded people over there now.

Are you still into Jaeger Le Coultre? I am poised to take a job with part of the Richemont group!

wow!! 40 miles in 2 days

today,wife and daughter did a 3 mile walk for Breast Cancer.

yes, i still love JLC watches.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 5/11/2008 4:41:57 AM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 5/11/2008 4:14:52 AM
Author: monarch64



LOL, I didn't run a marathon, I did the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer which was the two day, 40 mile walk! Good memory, though! I was doing some training for it back in 2006 which you probably remember me talking about. I WISH I was running a marathon! I would be in much better shape, ha! Check out the new Healthy subforum if you're interested, DF, we have lots of health-minded people over there now.

Are you still into Jaeger Le Coultre? I am poised to take a job with part of the Richemont group!

wow!! 40 miles in 2 days

today,wife and daughter did a 3 mile walk for Breast Cancer.

yes, i still love JLC watches.

Good for your wife and daughter!

 

[violet02]

My FI and I recently found a house that we wanted to buy (we weren't actually looking). We have maybe a 5% down (anymore and we'd have to borrow from parents and payback with interest, ie not a good idea). We decided to hire a financial planner to go over our credit, bills and how much it would hurt us to do things like take a 401k loan. We're also working with a mortgage broker to find the best deals that we can.

Really it boils down to how much you want to borrow (and maybe where you live). So if you live in a declining market area lenders are less likely to give you money. I'm no loan expert I can just tell you what our experience has been. The best we've been able to come up with through the broker is a 80/15/5 loan, so 80% is the primary mortgage, 15% an equity loan and 5% is our downpayment. We don't have 10% and don't want to borrow it. If we had 20% we'd get a lower interest loan much more easily. We're not going to do an ARM loan or an interest only loan this is purely a 30yr fixed loan. Only one lender will do this 80/15/5, most want 90/10 or 80/10/10. In order to qualify for this our credit scores have to be over 720. If we wanted a better deal we'd have to have credit over 780. We live in California in the bay area so the cost of housing here is astronomical so we're talking about borrowing a LARGE sum of money which makes a big difference. Even with our income levels we still aren't sure if it's doable because on top of the money you put down you have to be able to pay mortgage, tax, insurance and have extra money for household expenses that come up all the time, (my friend said add another 500 a month just in case). That's more than double our rent!

Anyways due to the mortgage crisis no lender here will do a 0% down loan. On the other hand my co-worker in washington state got a zero down loan a few months ago on a much cheaper house. He just barely got that though. He said they're not offering them anymore where he got his loan. He lives in a much cheaper area though so it's different. My FI feels strongly about the fact that if we can't have positive cash flow (ie not owe money on our credit cards) and we can't come up with a down (at a min. 5% on our own) then we shouldn't be buying a house. Being house poor is no way to live. I think doing a 0 down may be okay for some folks but there's a lot of things to consider, that's if you can even get that.

I think consulting a financial planner was the best decision we made honestly. It put things into perspective for us.

That's my two cents. Hope that was somewhat useful.

 

[UCLABelle]

I think in Orange County (where I live) they stopped doing 100% financing due to the crisis right now...In fact, I think you need at least 20% down....

We bought a small condo last August that we knew we could afford with 15%.

I would personally probably not consider buying a house with no money down, because I believe typically the loans are more risky..However, I am not an expert, and this is clearly your choice, if you can find someone willing to lend you money for it.

 

[robbie3982]

Date: 5/11/2008 1:14:13 PM
Author: UCLABelle
I think in Orange County (where I live) they stopped doing 100% financing due to the crisis right now...In fact, I think you need at least 20% down....

We bought a small condo last August that we knew we could afford with 15%.

I would personally probably not consider buying a house with no money down, because I believe typically the loans are more risky..However, I am not an expert, and this is clearly your choice, if you can find someone willing to lend you money for it.

I think people are starting to confuse the issue. 100% financing doesn''t necessarily mean it''s an ARM or some other crazy kind of loan. Ours is a 30-year fixed.