S/O - Did you have help coming up with a downpayment? - Page 2

[velochic]

I guess I missed the other thread.

No, no help.  Not from my parents and not from a spouse, as I wasn't married at the time.  Just good old fashioned hard work for 7 years to save for it (and some investing) and waiting until I had the 20% to put down.  I was in my late 20's when I bought.  When dh and I got married, he moved in here.  We like "our" house a lot and it's almost comically inexpensive for us.  We choose to carry a mortgage on it, but have thought a few times over the years about just paying it off.  We have that capability.  We've just not been keen on keeping that much of our net worth in a home, but that is becoming a moot point as we have paid down on it so much.  We'll probably pay it off in the next year or two, depending on the market.  We're in our 40's and 50's now.  We've done it with hard work, not keeping up with the Joneses and frugally saving.  We plan to stay in this home for at least another 10 years, if not more.

[Birdie B.]

We bought ours 6 years ago, when I was 23 and my husband was 30, and I put down 20% using money I inherited when my grandparents passed away.   I am so thankful for the inheritance - I don't know when we would have been able to buy without it!  My husband was a full time student until he was 33, and then I became a SAHM, so we've been on one income most of our married life.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

we didn't have help with downpayment, but in my family it's become a tradition for parents to pay for closing costs on your first house (as a "housewarming gift" of sorts)  We didn't "need" my parents to do this, and actually were very reluctant to accept, but in the end we did because it would really have hurt my parent's feelings if we refused the gift.  We had the money aved for closing costs, but were instead able to use it for home improvements (painting, hardwood floor refinishing, etc) when we moved in.

[A&A]

We had a VA loan so we did not need a down payment. 

[GirlBoyGirl]

Wow that is a pretty generous gift! We bought our home when I was 23 and DH was 28 but we didn't have any help. We didn't have to come up with a down payment though and we had a housing grant for closing costs.

[bobandjess99]

no, we didn't have help, we got a 0% down loan. 

[chel]

No help. With the first time home buyer program we had few closing cost and 5%down.

[annethcz]

We bought our first house right right after we got married, we were 21 ad 24.  We used a low-down payment program (it's been so long that I don't remember what percentage we put down, probably no more than 5%).  The money came from saving and a few thousand from a college graduation gift from my grandparents.    In addition to that, my parents cosigned our mortgage.  Our mortgage company was reluctant to accept the income from DH's and my part-time jobs (which made up about 1/3 of our income at that time).  So although my parents didn't give us any money or make any of the payments, we wouldn't have been able to get the mortgage without them.