What is the standard amount for a down payment on a home?

Hi Awolelot2247,In the District there is a program that would require as little as $0 (Zero, Zip, Nada...) depending on your unique financial qualifications. I'm speaking specifically of the DC Open Doors Program. Credit, income and a few other items are stated in the program guidelines but this extremely progressive loan program is an excellent choice. As for PMI and Non PMI the DC Open Doors program usually requires Mortgage insurance. The program is NOT exclusive for 1st time buyers and the qualifying income applies only to the qualifying borrower...NOT the household like in other similar down payment assistance programs.I'd be happy to work with you or any of our readers interested in more information about the DC Open Doors Program.RE: Mortgage Insurance: I do have many other alternatives for which your loan can be structured without a monthly mortgage insurance expense. This conventional fixed-rate loan is available with as little as 3% down for first time home buyers and 5% down for all others.Looking forward to hearing from you: Ron Schwartz - Embrace Home Loans, Inc. 800-333-3004 Ext. 3817 or Rschwartz@EmbraceHomeLoans.com

Apparently, you are referring to a typical first time buyer purchase, conventional or FHA which normally requires at least a 3% down payment and 3.5% down payment, respectively. DPA (down payment assistance) is usually available in every State, but be sure use someone who knows what they are doing! You can often look up these programs nearby with a local agency or in California one can look up CalHFA which provides a lot of information and funding for down payment assistance and more. Local area agencies as well as a State agency can recommend lenders that do them regularly without a hitch. Finally, though you do not say you are a Veteran, VA guaranteed insured loans are fantastic. Yea sometimes seller's realtors worry that the house has problems that might show up on a V A appraisal and thus be required to be fixed by the sellers. But if the house is in good shape that is not going to be an issue. Finally, in rural designated areas you might be eligible for a USDA loan which requires no down payment. It could look like a suburb but be classified rural. PMI or non PMI loans typically have the same down payment requirement though non or preferably :lender" paid PMI typically will be much better pricing with 5% down as opposed to 3%. Ask your Lending Broker to do a comparison side by side of the two options. Though the rate is always higher on the lender paid PMI loan, you may get a better overall monthly payment.

More info needed, but in general, VA requires Zero down, assuming you have VA eligibility, and there is no mortgage insurance required, only an "Upfront" fee which varies depending on your service type and previous use of VA financing.. USDA requires Zero down, and has MI regardless of what you put down.. This is assuming the home you're buying is in a defined USDA area.. Conventional requires 3% for first time home buyers, otherwise it's 5%, and unless you put 20% or more down, you will pay MI regardless of what other loan officers say.. (MI can be paid for in various forms, inclinding upfront, lender paid monthly, borrower paid monthly, split premium etc..but regardless of how it's pitched, it's YOU paying it.. ) FHA requires 3.5% down, all FHA loans have upfront and monthly MI which cannot be waived, regardless of how much you put down. I hope this helps.. WilliamAcres.com Arizona/California 480-287-5714

I have lenders that will allow you to put down 1% and they will give you the other 2% towards your down payment, but of course there will be pmi insurance. Most loan programs these days still pmi insurance on any program that you don't put at least 20% down. However there do happen to be programs out there that if you only put 5% down you wouldn't have to pay pmi, but you would have a higher interest rate for the life of the loan to compensate for the low downpayment. I would call a local mortgage broker in your area, they will be able to give you some options.