It depends on what you intend to use the home for. For example if you intend to use the second home as a rental then I believe the downpayment is somewhere between 20 - 30%. However, if you intend to use the second home as your principle residence then you can pay a downpayment of 5% (depending on CMHC or similar approval).

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I am 23 years old, just graduated nursing school and will be starting my job as a registered nurse in 2 months. i have about $3000-$4000 to put down towards a house and i am looking to spend $75000 at the most on a house. i have people telling me you only need 3% but my dad says he is sure its 20% because of all the banks getting into financial trouble.

As a general rule, try to put 20% down...Banks require you to have PMI (payment mortgage insurance) if you put down less than 20%. That may add $75 to $150 a month (sometimes more) to your mortgage basically for nothing -- it only protects the lender. Also you may get a better rate and it will definitely be easier to get the mortgage in the first place if you put more down (less risk so it is easier to underwrite the loan). That said, if you can afford the monthly payments you may be able to get a mortgage with only 3-5% down. It will make the mortgage harder to qualify for so the more down the better. Also, be sure to factor in closing costs into how much you need to put down. Depending upon when you buy, and where (e.g. when taxes become due), you may need to place several thousand dollars in escrow with your mortgage company so they can pay property taxes and property insurance when these come due. Plus you will have to pay mortgage closing costs, title insurance for the mortgage, appraisal costs and some other miscellaneous costs. Some of these might be able to be rolled into the mortgage but they reduce the 80% of equity you have so.. You should also have the house professionally inspected ($250-$450) so you do not have any unexpected maintenance surprises during the first few years (such as needing a new roof, major structural or electrical problems, etc.)

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My husband and i have been renting a place for about 2 years now with some roommates. we are paying for about $700 a month and we are planning to move out to the other place for our own in this summer. since housing cost has dropped tremendously, we are thinking about buying small house in san diego,ca. since we are first-time-homebuyer, we should be eligible for $8000 tax credit and whatever we pay for the house will be applied towards our place, not to someone-else's mortgage. also, paying a deposit when you rent a place is not 100% refundable and we were looking to pay $2000 for renting deposit, we would pretty much loose $2000. so we rather pay $2000 towards mortgage. in san diego, you can buy a place (2br/2ba) around $1300 a month that includes property tax,insurance and hoa, which would be cheaper or almost the same as "rent". altough, i've seen lots of articles that's written by an economist on the internet where it says "do not to buy a house in 2009", because house-price will still drop and some other reasons. we do not want to pay a "rent" and "deposit" anymore but i am not sure if we should rent another place by paying $2000 for a deposit and $1000-$1300 a month for a year or two and then buy a house in 2010 or 11?? it depends on a house-price but we have a few for the down-payment to get a house. what would you do???

I would investigate buying something that may need minor repairs (bank owned/ short sale or foreclosed). Things you could do. Get it at a price much lower than the current market in that area, and you should be fine in 2 years. There is always a risk, but in the meantime you would have the benefit of tax breaks and such.

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Should i really go through the first-time homebuyers program in my city (bay area, california) or just buy a house the old fashioned (regular) way? i recently attended an orientation for first-time homebuyers in my city & these are the facts: - property must be a single-family, detached, condo, or townhouse - property must have been previously occupied/sold - loan is provided as a silent second and/or down payment assistance - buyer must provide 3% buyer contrib as down pmt or closing costs - maxumum assistance loan amt if 20% of purchase price up to $75k - interest rate is 3% simple - loan is deferred for 10 years (120) months - no repayment required during deferral period (first 10 years) - no interest accumulation during deferral period (first 10 years) - refinanced is allowed now. . . a friend was telling me that i won't be able to draw the equity out (i want to buy a car) since the purpose is not to make any money off the house. also, since the loan is deferred for 10 yrs, i'll be paying interest on 2 separate loans after the 10 yrs which may be more than i barganed for (since interest on the first loan is an unknown amt & the silent loan is definitely 3%, my guess is that the total loan interest amts combined will be 7% or higher). does this sound like a good program for a first-time homebuyer or should i just buy a house the regular way since i have a little money saved.

No go with the old fashioned way-a conventional loan but dont get an arm loan ! Adjustable Rate Mortgage- never ! Only because you wont have any stabilty when the rates rise.Lock in on a loan % is the best way so there wont be any surprises down the road.

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After an unexpected tax bill this past april our accountant said we need to buy a house (we live in san francisco) for the mortgage intrest write off. we do not have an acceptable down payment for our desired location but were wondering if it would be prudent or even possible for us to first purchase a positive cash flow vacation rental condo and the take out an equity loan for a down payment on property #2. we have good credit (720/750) and verifiable income around $200k/yr. any suggestions on what we should do/who we should contact for help? thanks.

You would need to buy the condo outright in order to have equity in the condo, on rental property you pay much higher taxes, are you certain the vacation property would earn money for you? Contact a good Real Estate Agent and let them know what you would like to do, they can point you in the right direction. Best Wishes!

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I'm 24, have a 2 year old daughter & have been renting for awhile now & am really interested in buying a home. i am clueless as to how the process works. when appyling for a mortgage loan, how do they determine if you qualify, your interest rate, and how much you are approved for? what other factors do they look at? i know that i would have to be able to afford to make the house payment, insurance (if not included in mortgage payment), & pay for any other expenses. right now where i live, all the half-decent homes that i am looking at are in the $150,000-$200,000 range & i have a feeling that is way too much for me? right now, between me and my fiance, we bring home around $31,000 a year, which i know isnt much. however, i am determined to buy my own home and the sooner the better. should i wait until i earn more? i am looking at going to college to earn a degree in a higher-paying profession. is there anyway to know how much i might be approved for with my current income?

Right now you really don't earn enough to purchase a home over $150,000. One of the key factors in getting approved for a mortgage is debt to income ratio or what percentage of yourincome your liabilities take up. This can be up to about 45% or in your case $1162 of you monthly income and needs to include all liabilities including mortgage, taxes, insurance, (mortgage insurance if less than 20% down payment) and other credit debt, such as loans or credit cards. With a $150,000 house you'd pay about $1000 a month in principle and interest only allowing $162 for your other liaibilities this probably wouldn't even cover the insurance and taxes. Wait until you earn more and are able to save some for a down payment. Besides the debt to income ratio your credit scores and history, as well as assets, and down payment will play a role in what interest rate you can receive.

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My husband and i are working with a mortgage company to buy our own first home. at the beginning we told the mortgage company that our credit was not real good, they said this should't be a problem. i have to say, that we have been overseas for at least 6 years since my husband joined the army. we provided them our ssc's, rental payments, income, etc. we got pre-approved. they told us to pick a house (loan amount $ 130.000) and give them the address and details. we done so. now they are asking for all kinds of verifications of rent, car insurance, etc. of the last 2-3 years for the underwriter. in according to get the final approval for the loan, we have paid of debts. and also paid the appraisel for the property. so you can imagine how outragous our phonebill and other expenses is/was. anyway, we got all the information they asked for and provided the last papers today. my question: what else can they possible ask for? how long will it take until we finally find out what's going on?

A good mortgage professional should be able to tell you up front what is required and what kind of documentation you need, not take information piece by piece and keep coming back to you when underwriting says they need something more. Some underwriters tend to be excessive and ask more documents that are unnecessary for things that have been documented elsewhere. Explain the situation to your loan officer, by email if you don't want any more phone bills and ask him to give you a status update. Don't be afraid to take your business elsewhere if you are not happy.

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My husband and i purchased our home almost 3 years ago with the intent to hold onto it for a year then sell it to move to a different city after 2 years. since we weren't going to keep it for an extended period of time, our loan officer suggested keeping our down payment money since it was less that 10% (we bought the house for $232,500 and had $10,000 that we were planning to put down) that we just hold onto the money and finance 100% since it wouldn't change our payment more than a few dollars/month. he also suggested that we do a 1st & 2nd and do an interest only on both (again, since we weren't going to keep it for an extended period of time) well, now the market has obviously taken a nose dive - last check, our market value is at $220,500 ($12,000 less than what we bought it for) and we are now getting extremely nervous. we've checked into refinancing trying to turn our loan into a conventional loan, but haven't had much luck. the house is in my name since we weren't married at the time and my credit score was better. (my husband hasn't had a house in his name at all, so i don't know if the whole first time homebuyer thing would help us at all) should we just sit tight and ride it out, or what?? (oh, and just a side note, our loan officer has since gotten out of the business so he's no help)

First, your nosedive is only 5%...while I know it isn;t much relief, many folks have seen their house's market value drop 30 to 40 percent. Since you really can't sell, your best bet would be to hold and try to pay extra on the house in addition to the interest to get some equity into the house. unluckily, to refinance, you almost need to have 10% equity in the house or be behind in payments. And the 1sttime home buyers won't help because you don't qualify and if your husband bought it from you, you would be considered an immediate family relative and disqualify him.

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My husband and i purchased our home almost 3 years ago with the intent to hold onto it for a year then sell it to move to a different city after 2 years. since we weren't going to keep it for an extended period of time, our loan officer suggested keeping our down payment money since it was less that 10% (we bought the house for $232,500 and had $10,000 that we were planning to put down) that we just hold onto the money and finance 100% since it wouldn't change our payment more than a few dollars/month. he also suggested that we do a 1st & 2nd and do an interest only on both (again, since we weren't going to keep it for an extended period of time) well, now the market has obviously taken a nose dive - last check, our market value is at $220,500 ($12,000 less than what we bought it for) and we are now getting extremely nervous. we've checked into refinancing trying to turn our loan into a conventional loan, but haven't had much luck. the house is in my name since we weren't married at the time and my credit score was better. (my husband hasn't had a house in his name at all, so i don't know if the whole first time homebuyer thing would help us at all) should we just sit tight and ride it out, or what?? (oh, and just a side note, our loan officer has since gotten out of the business so he's no help)

Ride it out. It will be back in about three to five years (if Obama stops doing stuff now - if he keeps up his pace, you might have to ride it out for ten years) Your husband does not qualify for the $8k stimulus - his wife has owned a house sometime in the past 36 months.

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I read this online... ========================== "first-home exemption then there's your home. uncle sam offers various tax breaks for homeowners. he'll even bend the ira rules a bit to help you get into your house in the first place. you can use up to $10,000 in ira funds toward the purchase of your first home. if you're married, and you and your spouse are both first-time buyers, you each can pull from retirement accounts, giving you $20,000 in residential cash. even better is the irs definition of first-time homebuyer. technically, you don't have to be purchasing your very first abode. you qualify under the tax rules as long as you, or your spouse, didn't own a principal residence at any time during the previous two years. in fact, you can even share your ira wealth. the irs says the first-time homebuyer using your ira funds for a down payment can be you, your spouse, one of your children, a grandchild or a parent. be careful not to take out your money too soon. you must use the ira funds within 120 days of withdrawal to pay qualified acquisition costs. this includes the costs of buying, building or rebuilding a home, along with any usual settlement, financing or closing costs." ========================== can i split my ira into 2 (with my wife) or 4 (wife and kids) and use $10, 000 from each ira (whatever number of iras i end up with) for a down payment on a home as "first time home buyer"? needless to say, i don't want to get divorced or die to be able to split it. and it is obvious that i don't want to pay penalties to the irs and/or taxes on those transactions.

The first thing that I read into that is that the children must be on the mortgage and be over 18. Check that to be sure. I've also read that both spouses can contribute 10 grand each if they are both first time home buyers . No 10% penalty - just taxes if its a tax-deductible account. /