Saving for a downpayment

For those of you that saved up for a downpayment:

1. how long were you saving

2. where was the money - savings account, cds, stocks, bonds, etc.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We were not technically saving for a downpayment - we were just saving (if that makes sense). I will say we started saving in September 2007 after we got married and started looking for a house in May 2009. By this time, we had more than 20% for a downpayment saved plus 12 months of emergency savings.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We saved first before we paid any bills. We opened an ING account which at the time offered higher interest than CDs and also was liquid money we could access in case of car repairs, vacations or anything.

We figured a monthly payment we would be comfortable with and subtracted our rent. The difference went into savings. This way you get acclomated to the monthly payment and the lifestyle you'll need once you move into the house.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

wedding gifts...

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We started with gifts from the wedding and saved for 2 years. It all went into a savings account that was not attached to my checking account so I wouldn't be tempted to touch it.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We lived in a small apartment with really cheap rent for five years before buying a house. We had a large portion of our salary direct deposited into a savings account that's not linked to a debit or ATM account, so we wouldn't be tempted to access it.

We bought a house that would enable us to have a small mortgage so we could continue this trend, but expenses keep popping up so we're not saving nearly as much as in our pre-house days!

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We saved for 8 months so far. We don't touch my paycheck (direct deposit to savings) and have both been living off bf's salary. It has worked really well and we are putting 10% down on our first home right now.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We bought more than 10 years ago, but DH had saved for the down payment since he started working... And he put a lot in stocks which he took out for big profits (although taxes were not fun).

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We got married in July last year and put all the gifts into a our savings account (which had previously been depleted to pay for the wedding). We've been saving since then with an elite savings account at our bank (TD) and earn pretty good interest (sorry dont know the % offhand).

We started looking for houses this month...hoping to save up more for a downpayment by spring time.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

A lot of people don't agree with this, but we took money out of our 401K. It was the only way we were able to do it.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

Wedding $
Putting a good chunk into an online savings acct (not touched) from every pay check, tax returns, bonus' etc...
Been saving for over 2 years now. Hoping to house hunt again in the Spring!

Re: Saving for a downpayment

Thanks all - we are doing what seems like most of you did - just a regular savings account.

problem is, i think it's going to be another 2-4 years before we get a house and it feels like the interest rates are SOOOO low - but we don't want the risk of stocks since its not that long of a time period. Wanted to see if anyone else did anything differently.

To answer my own question, we own our apt and saved up for 4 years before we were married in a savings account. Since we aren't expecting to turn a profit in this real estate market, we need to save a lot more to upgrade to a house. My goal is to have 20% down for the house - which is why it will take 2-4 yrs

Edited to add - used to put in the tax return only this year we owe over 4K!!!!

Message edited 2/5/2011 5:56:10 PM.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We both had money in savings before we got engaged. Living at home helped us as well. We both had minimal rent to our parents so saving for both our wedding and a house wasn't so bad. We got engaged in May 2007, went into contract for our house March 2008, closed in June the we got married that October.

Message edited 2/5/2011 6:40:37 PM.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

Five years. Money was in CDs

Re: Saving for a downpayment

1.5 years


Wedding Money
Bonds
Savings from bonuses

Re: Saving for a downpayment

took us 2 years. we already owned our coop and were paying the mortgage on that. we realized we woudn't make any $ on the sale of it, so we started saving, in a regular account. tax returns bonus, money out of paychecks were saved to come up w/ 20%, closing costs, reno $ etc

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We both were excellent savers when we lived at home with our parents. We put our money together and we bought our first home before we got married so there was no wedding funds to add!

Re: Saving for a downpayment

I lived at home after college, saved tons of money that way while working three jobs and going to grad school. DH rented an affordable apt and worked two jobs. When we got married we rented a cheap apartment and lived off of my salary for a year. We saved enough for a 20% downpayment plus 6 months in savings. This money we saved mostly in a regular savings although there was some in a CD.

We are now working on saving another 20% for our next home; we bought our home in 2006 and if we sold now we would barely get what we paid for it. Considering realtor and closing costs, we can't entirely depend on the sale of this house to use as a downpayment for our next home. So, we are trying to aggressively save, although other factors have complicated this (extended maternity leave - unpaid, home repairs, etc). It will probably take us 2 years. We are saving the bulk of this money in an ING account.

Message edited 2/6/2011 7:33:50 AM.

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We always saved, we just got serious about it about a year before we bought.
It seemed like it would be so hard, but once we got over the inital hump of cutting back, it was fine...and so worth it!

Good luck!

Re: Saving for a downpayment

My whole life lol and it was a variety of places
I wanted a house more than a wedding, however once DH proposed and I got him on board with saving we were able to have both
I def took advatage of CDs when the rates were good and never touched them when they came due, I just let them keep rolling over
We also had a lot of $$ that we threw into a joint savings account (DH worked a lot of OT and was paid very nicely for it)
Def shop around for savings accounts with high interest - if you can I think ING has pretty good rates, but you can't really touch the $$ easily I believe (not too sure how it works)

Re: Saving for a downpayment

bonus
tax return on current home

Re: Saving for a downpayment

We mainly used our wedding money. We bought a home on the lower end of our price range which allowed us to have a small mortgage and continue to live comfortably.

The one thing you mentioned about not being able to get a profit on your apartment - it's all relative, rates are low right now, as are home prices - when you are able to get a profit on your apartment, home prices will probably be up as well!

Re: Saving for a downpayment