8 - How to Save for a Down Payment on a House

Saving up for a down payment on a house can seem like an impossible task but there are ways to make it happen. I give 8 different tactics that can be used and combined together to help you get your down payment in 12-24 months.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the first time homebuyers podcast by lone pros.

(00:03):
I'm Phil.
Mastroianni a mortgageloan, originator and
licensed real estate agenthere to help you become a
more informed home buyer.
Thank you for listening andplease head over to loanpros.io
for more articles, information,and our contact information.
If you'd like tospeak directly to us.
Today, we're going to betalking about ways to save
for a down payment on a house.

(00:32):
Saving up for down paymenton a house can seem like an
impossible task, but thereare ways to make it happen.
By following a few simpletips tricks, you can reach
your savings goal in no time.
Most of these options will endup taking about a year or more
to save for a down payment, butit's a small price to pay for
the opportunity to buy a home.

(00:52):
But let's start by talking abouthow much you actually need to
save up for, for most people,a 20% down payment is ideal.
This gives you thebest chance of being
approved for a mortgage.
Avoiding paying privatemortgage insurance.
It guarantees a large amountof equity in your home that
you can leverage in the future.
If you ever need to.
If reaching that full20% is just not possible.

(01:16):
There are a lot ofoptions still for you.
You can put down typicallyas little as three and a half
percent with an FHA loan.
And that's what a lot offirst-time home buyers do.
However, you will be requiredto pay mortgage insurance
and you are going to havea lot less equity in your
home when you move in.
In addition to a down payment,you also need to have money

(01:37):
saved up for other costsassociated with buying a
house such as closing costs.
These can add up tothousands of dollars.
So it's important to factorthem into your savings plan,
expect to pay upwards of twoto 3% in closing costs on
top of your down payment.
So that usually meansyou're looking at anywhere
between five and a halfto six and upwards of 7%.

(02:00):
That you'll needto have available.
To purchase a home.
Now that we've talked abouthow much you need to save.
Let's talk about someways to make it happen.
I'm going to talk abouteight different tactics.
But you can combine someof them together to make
it happen even faster.
All right, let'sstart with number one.
Automate your savings.
One of the best ways tosave money is to have it

(02:22):
taken out of your paycheckautomatically and deposited
into a savings account.
This way you won't betempted to spend the money.
you can also set up automatictransfers from your checking
account to your savingscount so that you're
always putting away money.
It may not seem like much,but if you can save $150
from each paycheck, That'san extra $3,600 per year.

(02:46):
Talk to your HR department.
They can usually set up asecond account to deposit
into directly from your check.
Your bank can also setup a schedule to transfer
money on your payday.
So you don't haveto worry about it.
The second is making a budgetand this is something you
should be doing anyway.
But in order to save money, youneed to know where your money

(03:06):
is going, track your spendingfor at least a month or two,
and see where you can cut back.
Once you have a good idea ofwhere your money's going, you
can create a budget that willhelp you save, and you may be
surprised just how much you'respending on things like food,
clothing, and entertainment.
So look at areas thatare non-essential and try
reducing these by 50%.

(03:28):
Employ the automatedtransfers to a savings
account in the amount thatyou cut from your budget.
So you aren'ttempted to spend it.
Our third is to cutback on expenses.
Going along with theprevious strategy of
diving into your budget.
You can work onlowering your expenses.
And this is where it'sreally important to take

(03:48):
a hard look at what you'respending on essentials.
So I want to breakthis into three areas.
The first is housing,then transportation, and
then recurring bills.
So it start with housing reallyconsider where you're living.
Renting does allowfor flexibility and
finding another rental.
That's just a few hundreddollars less a month could give
you that extra savings you need.

(04:10):
Consider a lease in a differentarea or possibly smaller, older,
or maybe with less amenities.
You can also consider takingon a roommate splitting costs
with someone even for a shorttime period that can greatly
impact your savings ability.
The second is transportation.
A high car payment can oftenbe something that really

(04:30):
makes it hard to save.
There's a trade off betweena reliable car that doesn't
require a lot of maintenanceand an older used car.
If you have a high car payment,you do have a couple options.
If you've increased yourcredit, since you purchased.
You can look intorefinancing your car.
This is lowering your paymentsby a hundred or more dollars.
That can be thousandssaved per year.

(04:52):
You can consider trading inyour maybe larger vehicle.
If you've got a big truck or SUVand you don't really need it.
Look at maybe a compacthigh mile per gallon car.
Not only will this lower yourmonthly payments, but you should
see a decrease in your costfor gas and your car insurance.
Let's talk about somerecurring bills, some of the

(05:12):
recurring bills that you cannegotiate include your car
insurance, renter's insurance,your cell phone bill, and
your cable and internet.
These are all servicesthat you can call and
talk to customer serviceabout lowering your bill.
And there are likelycompetitors that you can use
that you can shop for costs.
Oftentimes, if you threatenedto leave for a competitor.

(05:33):
They'll work with you tokeep your business and they
will lower their costs.
As far as recurringentertainment costs really
decide how many streamingservices you need.
Do you pay for a monthlygym membership that
you just don't use?
The best thing to do ispull your credit card
and bank statements forthe last month or two.
Look at those recurring charges.

(05:54):
And just choose someto try to get rid of
For the fourth item here.
It's increasing your income.
Now this may soundlike a no-brainer, but
making more money allowsfor you to save more.
Of course.
There's a few differentoptions on this.
You can try for a betterpaying job or work towards
a raise at your current job.
That's an entire processon its own, but if you

(06:15):
haven't had a pay increasein some time, several years,
It may be an easy opportunityfor you to ask for Also, if
they've hired new people ata higher rate than you're
currently getting paidfor, you may have an easy
argument for an increase.
Oftentimes people take on asecond job, whether that's
part-time or full-time, if it'ssomething that you can do, do it

(06:38):
just for saving up for your downpayment, working a part-time
job of 20 hours a week at $12an hour is almost $10,000 in
extra income a year, couplethat with some of the cost
savings, and you can have yourdown payment saved in a year.
The key here is not to spendthat extra income, But work to
put it away in savings and stayliving within your same means.

(07:03):
Fifth option here is takeadvantage of company offered
incentives like a 401k.
If your company matchesyour 401k contributions.
It may be a way toaccelerate your savings.
Many companies will matchupwards of four or five,
6% of your paycheck.
This means that forevery dollar you put in,
they'll also put one in.
Often there's a vesting period,meaning they're matched amount.

(07:26):
Isn't yours forspecified period of time.
It can be as little as the sameday, as much as several years
since your 401k contributionsare pre-tax they often don't
impact your paycheck asmuch as simply moving money
into a savings account.
Combine that with companymatch and the managed nature
of the accounts you'll oftensee your account grow much

(07:48):
more quickly than just astandard savings account.
This isn't a quick plan.
Often people save for years intheir 401k to get at the point
where there's enough balanceto use for a home down payment.
Start early, even contributingjust 1% of your paycheck
will have a bigger impactthan you might think.
Some companies also offerdown payment assistance

(08:09):
to their employees.
If your company doesn'ttalk to your HR team or your
boss about it, it may be anincentive they're willing to
consider to help keep morepeople on in their company.
Increase employeeretention rates.
Number six, consider a sidehustle to make extra money.
So similar to taking on thatsecond job, these are a little
bit more of contract type roles.

(08:31):
A quick note about this.
You may not always be ableto use this as part of your
income calculations whenapplying for a loan, consider
this only as a great way toget those extra savings you
need, But there are a lot ofextra restrictions about how
contract or inconsistent workcan be calculated as income
With many loan programs.
So let's talk about someof the more popular side

(08:53):
gigs side hustles that youFirst is delivery or a driver,
like Uber, Lyft, lets youwork really whenever you want.
Add an hour or two before afterwork to earn a few hundred
dollars every week, you canalso consider doing Uber eats
door dash grub hub Instacartas a shopper food delivery.
Many of these jobs end up payinganywhere around $15 an hour,

(09:15):
but depend highly on tips andconsider your cost of doing
business with the wear and tearon your vehicle and gas costs.
The next is freelance writing.
There are many sites thatallow you to get connected with
companies who need writers,some pay per word, others,
pay a flat rate per article,depending on how good and
fast of a writer you are.

(09:35):
Some people make sixfigure living, just
doing contract writing.
Social media consultanthave graphic design skills,
or really just know yourway around social media.
Many companies are payingpeople to handle their
social media for them.
Consider talking to a localbusiness, which maybe don't
have a good presence and pitchthem, paying you monthly to
take care of it everywhere.

(09:55):
From restaurants to smallbusinesses, they all need
someone to make sure theirsocial media is taken care of.
The next is event planner,everything from doing wedding
coordination to even travelagency, most work, can be
done on a phone or tablet.
Does require a lot of attentionto detail, but can be rewarding
and make a good amount of money.

(10:17):
dog-walking or pet sittinglong-term pet sitting or regular
dog-walking can be a great extrasource of income, especially
if you're a pet lover or youalready have pets and it makes
it really easy because youalready have all the supplies.
There are sites thatwill help connect dog
walkers with pet owners.
Do some Google searching.
You'll find a few of those.
Car or home cleaning.
You can start a businessoffering to clean other

(10:38):
people's homes or cars.
This can be done on your ownschedule and doesn't require any
really specialized equipment.
Other than maybe some of thecleaning supplies that you
may already have on hand.
Larger homes and car detailing.
Can start adding thousandsin income with just a
single booking a week.
Talk to your real estateagent that you already have.
Oftentimes they're in needof people who need move

(11:01):
out or move in cleaning.
And those are severalhundred dollars and that
either prepares for someoneleaving or coming in.
If you have a lot of peoplethat you know, that are renting
and moving around a lot.
Oftentimes, they want someoneto help deep clean before
they move out to ensurethey get their deposit.
So you may already have anetwork of people that you can
start offering the service to.
And the last here is bakingor cooking often, you just

(11:23):
need a basic permit from thecity or county and a business
license, which usually costsless than about a hundred
dollars to get started.
But if you're one of thosethat are good at making
holiday or unique treats,you can start selling them
locally, online, local fairsor farmer's markets, facebook
neighborhood groups are greatways to get your name out there.
And you may be surprisedhow much people enjoy

(11:44):
your unique creations.
Everything from cookiesto muffins or cupcakes,
charcuterie boards, jams.
Jellies can be.
Made at home.
And sold for a profit.
The next major section here istax refunds and making sure they
go straight to your savings.
If you get a sizable tax refund.
It's really tempting to usethat for things like vacations.

(12:05):
down payments on a newcar, things like that.
But the average refundin 2022, according to
the IRS was over $3,000.
Taking the whole thing, oreven just half of it can
get you a jumpstart on yourdown payment, any other type
of stimulus May also makesense to just drop directly
into your savings account.

(12:26):
Pretend like it didn't evenhappen and use that money
towards your down payment.
The last option is a gift.
And this may sound likesomething that you wouldn't
expect to be able to get,but many churches or local
organizations actuallyhave gift opportunities.
Also consider family memberswho might be able to help you
out a little, even $500 canmake the difference when you've

(12:47):
been saving for a year moreto help put you over the top.
Some cities or counties havegrant programs that are not tied
to a specific loan that helpsfirst time home buyers , often
you have to be a resident ofthe city for several years and
there may be other limitations.
But it's definitely worthchecking your local city
and county for any programsthat they might offer.

(13:07):
Now I want to run through someof the numbers to give you an
idea of how these all work.
Let's say you were able tosave two years of tax refunds
that would give you on average$6,000 in savings without
impacting your lifestyle.
Right?
No budget cuts,anything like that?
But if you are able to cut ahundred dollars per month from
your expenses, That would giveyou an extra $1,200 a year.

(13:30):
And now that puts you at$7,200 in a 12 month period,
that you are able to save.
If you could put away$150 per paycheck.
That would be another $3,600 toyour savings in just one year,
which would put you at $10,800in savings in just one year.
If you were able toadd in a part-time job.

(13:52):
That's an extra $10,000 in ayear and you now would have
over $20,000 in savings.
That would be about as muchas you would need for down
payment and closing costs onabout a 300 to $350,000 home.
All of this in a single year.
If you are able to do thatfor two years, you would be
able to save nearly $40,000to put down on a home.

(14:13):
There are many creativeways to come up with down
payment for your first home.
You just have to get a littlebit creative and resourceful,
find what will work bestfor you and your situation.
It doesn't hurt to askothers how they saved
for their down payment toget other ideas as well.
Just remember the sooneryou start saving the sooner
you'll be able to call yourhouse your home., Thanks so

(14:34):
much for listening and pleasehead over to loanpros.io to
see more information articlesand our contact information.