Mortgage Articles

A down payment is the amount of cash deposited towards the purchase of a property, whether residential or business property. The down payment is not included in the loan amount. The larger the down payment, the lesser is the loan amount required to finance the purchase of the property. Down payment refers to the difference in the sales price of the property and the loan amount.

For example, suppose the value of a property is $400,000. Martin is interested in purchasing that property. So, he gave $100,000 in cash to the seller and obtained a mortgage loan for the remaining amount which is $300,000. Here, $100,000 is known as the down payment.

Generally, lenders require a down payment of 10% to 20% to be paid by borrowers at the time of closing. There are also lenders who accept 3% to 5% of the sales price towards the down payment. Some lenders also offer low down payment or zero down payment loans. But down payments less than 20% of the sales price often require you to purchase private mortgage insurance policy. Borrowers under this policy are required to pay for private mortgage insurance premiums until they have paid back 80% of their property value. The private mortgage insurance policy helps lenders overcome financial loss in their mortgage if the borrower fails to make mortgage payments in time.

A down payment of about 20% helps you to avail loans at lower interest rates than with down payments of 5% or less. Therefore, you end up paying lower interest throughout the loan term, especially in case of long term fixed rate mortgages. This helps you to save a large fraction of your income. Moreover, when you pay a down payment of 25% or even more, you may easily get the loan amount without the lender willing to check your past credit problems and present income.