$\"The$ \n

Buying a home is exciting\u2026 until you start thinking about the down payment. That\u2019s when the worry can set in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never save enough.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI need a small fortune just to get started.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019ll just rent forever.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sound familiar? You\u2019re not alone. And you\u2019re definitely not out of luck.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing: a lot of what you\u2019ve heard about down payments just isn\u2019t true.<\/strong> And once you know the facts, you might realize you\u2019re a lot closer to owning a home than you think.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break it all down and bust some big down payment myths while we\u2019re at it.<\/p>\n

Myth 1: \u201cI need to come up with a big down payment.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
This one stops a lot of people in their tracks. A recent poll<\/a> from Morning Consult<\/em> and NeighborWorks<\/em> shows 70% of Americans think they need to put at least 10% down to buy a home<\/strong>. And 11% aren\u2019t sure what\u2019s required at all (see graph below<\/em>):\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"a$ <\/a>The truth? According<\/a> to the National Association of Realtors<\/em> (NAR), the typical down payment for first-time buyers has been between 6% and 9% since 2018.<\/strong> But there\u2019s more to the story. If you qualify for an FHA loan, you may only need to put <\/strong>3.5%<\/strong><\/a> down. <\/strong>And <\/strong>VA loans<\/a> typically don\u2019t require a down payment at all.<\/strong> So, there are options out there that can really make a difference for some buyers.<\/p>\n
Myth 2: \u201cIt\u2019ll take forever to save up for a down payment.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Sure, saving can take time. But it may not have to be as long as you think.<\/strong> In many states, reaching your goal can happen faster than you might expect, especially when you know your budget and have a clear savings plan.<\/p>\n
According to a new study, the amount of time varies depending on where you live. The map below shows, on average, how many years it takes to save up for a 10% down payment based on typical home values and income levels in each state (see map below<\/em>):<\/p>\n
But remember, in most cases you won\u2019t even need a down payment as large as 10%.<\/strong> Plus, no matter how much money you end up putting down, it won\u2019t all have to come out of your pocket. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
Myth 3: \u201cI have to do it all on my own.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\nThis is one of the biggest myths of all. The reality is, there are thousands of <\/strong>down payment assistance<\/strong><\/a> programs out there, and the same poll from Morning Consult<\/em> and NeighborWorks<\/em> shows <\/strong>39%<\/strong><\/a> of people don\u2019t even know<\/em> about them<\/em>.<\/strong> That means a lot of potential homebuyers could already be closer to homeownership \u2013 they just don\u2019t realize it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These assistance programs are designed to help people like you who are ready to own a home but just need a little support getting started. As Miki Adams, President at CBC Mortgage Agency<\/em>, explains:<\/p>\n
\u201cWith high interest rates and soaring home prices, <\/em>down payment assistance is more essential than ever.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Bottom Line<\/h3>\n
If you\u2019ve been putting off buying a home because the down payment feels like too much to tackle, talk to a local real estate agent. You may not need as much as you think, and there are plenty of resources out there, so you don\u2019t have to do it alone. You just need an expert to point you in the right direction.<\/p>\n
If the down payment wasn\u2019t the thing holding you back, would you be ready to start your home search?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Buying a home is exciting\u2026 until you start thinking about the down payment. That\u2019s when the worry can set in. \u201cI\u2019ll never save enough.\u201d \u201cI need a small fortune just to get started.\u201d \u201cI guess I\u2019ll just rent forever.\u201d Sound familiar? You\u2019re not alone. And you\u2019re definitely not out of luck. Here\u2019s the thing: a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5902,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[29,27,20,18,28],"class_list":["post-5901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-insight","tag-idaho-real-estate","tag-north-idaho-homes","tag-rain-silverhawk","tag-real-estate","tag-sandpoint-idaho"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250804-Blog-Header-Image-original.png?fit=750%2C410&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdz2Zu-1xb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}