New home, sold old one

It is never a good idea to use every penny of your liquid funds when buying a home. Unforeseen expenses can turn an otherwise happy time into a burden, if you don't have cash reserves set aside.I'd suggest negioating with the seller pay all of your closing cost. Put 15% Down, and take a small 2nd mortgage for $12k. You will aviod mortgage insurance, and still have funds on hand to deal with incidentials. While purchase 2nd mortgages are rare these days, we still offer this option under certain conditions.

If you comfortably have some cash reserves, by all means, go ahead and put all the money towards down payment, and use the extra $8k to reach 20% down payment. On the other hand, I am a giant fan of having a comfortable cash reserve for emergencies and unknown events. With that said, there are other ways to eliminate or reduce the costs of PMI. Click my name to the left, then read a recent blog post to learn more. Then ask your loan officer about single premium PMI. If they don't know what you are talking about, call a different lender.

Cash is King!!... My suggestion is to purchase using FHA... 3.5% down and you will pay mortgage insurance, however the rate will be lower than conventional as well off setting some of your costs.. there are also conventional programs out there where you can put less than 20% down and pay for the mortgage insurance upfront. To properly advise you, we would need to know a lot more regarding your particular situation like how long you anticipate staying in your home, what your reserves are, etc... my advise is to contact a local mortgage broker, not a bank and apply with them.. they can give you a bunch of options and loan scenarios for you to pick and choose from, but remember... CASH IS KING!! the more cash you can keep in your bank, the better you are... WilliamAcres.com

I would recommend a conventional loans with you puting down just a little over 10% as a Downpayment & request a 3.5% - 4% Seller credit to pay for ALL closing costs, from which you can also pay for an up-front MI policy & completely avoid having any monthly MI. That will give you an attractive rate & keep more cash in your bank account. Best of luck!

Jerred, Great you walked away with some cash and the answers above are all sound it may be that you may not need the cash (like the wall street guys that won the Lottery) and wish to always have equity in that sense make your down payment if you don't have the 8K don't worry appreciation may erode that over time.