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20% Down Payment Becoming a Rare Sight

By
Real Estate Agent with Homes Charlotte, LLC

This article recently emailed to me was amazing news to be awrae of.  I saw it happening in my own business, but wasn't aware of the satistics.

Fewer buyers are making down payments on their purchase of a new home, and even fewer are forking over the 20-percent sum that was once the norm, according to a new study by the California Association of REALTORS®.

Nationwide, nearly 30 percent of buyers and 45 percent of first-time buyers nationwide no longer make down payments, the study said.

In California, the trend is less pronounced. While 41 percent of home buyers there put nothing down, a solid 20 percent finance every dollar of their home purchase, up from 4.5 percent in 2000.

Buyers blame rising home prices, which make raising even a 10 percent down payment a challenge for many people.

"How many people are going to scrape together $40,000 in a reasonable amount of time? asks Doug Self, a recent home buyer from Sacramento, Calif. "That's three years of socking away a grand a month and not having anything go wrong. That's just not realistic."

With this happening in our industry, how do my fellow members on AR feel about this?  Would be interested to hear your opinions and comments.  Thanks.

Robert McArtor
RE/MAX Components - Fallston Maryland - Bel Air, MD
Top Listing Agent for Baltimore and Harford County

If a lender is requiring my buyer to put down 20%. Simple. I help my buyers move on to another lender. There are TOO many packages out there that even with a low fico, they do not need to come up with that much.

Robert B. McArtor, REALTOR / Auctioneer http://www.MarylandsHomeTeam.com/

 

Feb 24, 2007 11:42 PM