Like the title says, I’m curious what others have done if they’ve saved money for a down payment and then finally bought the house. My wife and I are putting about 15% of our after-tax income into personal savings to save up for a house down payment. 55% goes to our ‘needs’ and 30% to our ‘wants.’
My question is: If we get to the right amount for a down payment, should we adjust (read: decrease) the percentage of our after-tax income to savings after buying the house? Example: decrease that rate to 10% and put the extra 5% toward the mortgage budget.
The way I see being able to afford a house that isn’t condemned is to save aggressively for the down payment then save a lower percentage and add the difference to the mortgage budget. Just curious what others may have done, or planning to do.
Mine and my husband’s biggest mistake was putting everything we had into the down payment and having almost nothing left for furnishing the house and other emergencies. We bought a new build that came with no appliances, blinds, nothing, and we didn’t exactly account for that in our budget.
After you buy the house, get some quotes for replacing the roof. Add $5,000. This is your new goal for home maintenance savings. If your inspection showed anything iffy going on with the wiring, plumbing/sewer, or foundation, then adjust upward. Ditto if the HVAC isn’t new.
Things always break in a new house, and home warranties are notorious for denying claims due to the specific nature of whatever went wrong. You should have a healthy emergency fund ready to go on day 1! We discovered 2 months after moving that the master shower was leaking through to the kitchen cabinets that share its wall. Ended up being a gut job.
Keep saving towards an emergency fund and furniture, renovations, and things you want to do in the house. Don’t stop after the down payment is funded. Once you are comfortable with the amount in each fund, then you could move your 15% towards other goals.
You should save enough for a down payment on top of an emergency savings. Your emergency savings should also take into account house emergencies too. If after your down payment you still have that, you could decrease to 10% and switch to paying more on the mortgage, but there are a lot of factors.