{"id":2209,"date":"2014-01-24T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devrahblog41\/?p=2209"},"modified":"2024-01-05T09:13:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T16:13:20","slug":"down-payment-savings-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Down Payment Savings Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you&#8217;re a renter ready to become a homeowner, or a would-be move-up buyer, saving for a down payment on a house can be a challenge. Depending on your timeframe, how much you need to save and how aggressive you&#8217;re willing to be, there are several things you can do to shorten the path to your dream home.<\/p>\n<h2>Easy, everyday money-saving strategies<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/NTL031486_Pinterest_DownpaymentSavingsStrategies.jpg\" alt=\"Down pament graphic\" title=\"down payment graphic\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 15px; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px;\" height=\"620\" width=\"384\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create a household budget. There&#8217;s a budget worksheet in our free <a title=\"Get our free homebuyer guide.\" href=\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/Campaigns\/6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">First-time Homebuyer Guide<\/a>, if you need it. Knowing what you spend each month and how you spend it could help you find ways to save.<\/li>\n<li>Define your savings goal. Not sure how much you&#8217;ll need? Use a <a title=\"Use an online down payment calculator.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bankrate.com\/calculators\/mortgages\/down-payment-calculator.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">down payment calculator<\/a>. Having a number in mind will help you stay on track and measure your progress as you save.<\/li>\n<li>Look for cash leaks. If you&#8217;re paying for a newspaper you never read, cable you don&#8217;t have time to watch, or a gym membership you <em>wish<\/em> you were using (but aren&#8217;t), now is the time to stop.<\/li>\n<li>Commit to small sacrifices. Luxuries like your morning Starbucks, weekly movie night or monthly manicure can quickly add up. Check out <a title=\"Visit Mint.com\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mint.com\/blog\/saving\/9-small-ways-to-save-100-or-more-a-month-0114\/?utm_source=twitterfeed&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MyMint+%28Mint+Personal+Finance+Blog%29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mint.com<\/a> for some more ideas on what to cut.<\/li>\n<li>Put major spending on hold. Wouldn\u2019t it be more satisfying to wait and park that nice NEW car in your beautiful NEW garage?<\/li>\n<li>Use cash instead of cards when you can. If it helps, try this <a title=\"View the Bank of America video.\" href=\"https:\/\/vine.co\/v\/h3ndjLX111Z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">note trick<\/a> to help you cut back unnecessary credit card purchases. BONUS: Keeping credit balances low can help you <a title=\"Get more info about preparing your credit for a mortgage application.\" href=\"\/blog\/5-ways-to-help-maintain-or-improve-your-credit-score\/\">get ready to apply for a loan<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Open a separate savings account for your down payment and consider those funds off limits until you\u2019re ready to buy. Don\u2019t mingle this money with your regular or emergency savings.<\/li>\n<li>Decide how much you can afford to set aside each month, then set up automatic deposits to your down-payment savings account. If you don\u2019t have to think about it, you won\u2019t forget to make the deposit or find another use for the money.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More aggressive savings strategies<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Talk to a financial advisor to see if <a title=\"Visit Forbes.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/lawrencelight\/2013\/01\/07\/how-to-find-low-risk-high-return-investments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">low-risk investments<\/a> are an appropriate way to help you build your savings. Be sure he or she understands your buying timeframe and financial situation.<\/li>\n<li>Weigh the pros and cons of temporarily diverting other types of monthly savings into your down payment fund, and ask your financial advisor or accountant whether that\u2019s a good option for you. NOTE: Don\u2019t forget to factor in employer-matching on your <a title=\"Visit Bankrate.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bankrate.com\/finance\/retirement\/use-retirement-savings-to-buy-house.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">retirement<\/a> or HSA contributions!<\/li>\n<li>Larger sacrifices\u2014such as turning your family vacation into a staycation or trading your high-payment car in for a more affordable model\u2014may help get you into your new home faster.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>No matter what saving strategies you try, always be sure to track and celebrate your progress. Think about how proud you will be when you\u2019re finally holding the keys to your brand new home.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Have questions about down payments or other parts of the mortgage process? <\/strong><\/em>Contact a loan officer at our affiliate mortgage company, <a title=\"Learn more about HMC.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.homeamericanmortgage.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation<\/a>, at <strong>866-400-7126<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"nopin\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you&#8217;re a renter ready to become a homeowner, or a would-be move-up buyer, saving for a down payment on a house can be a challenge. Depending on your timeframe, how much you need to save and how aggressive you&#8217;re willing to be, there are several things you can do to shorten the path to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[382,150,279],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"rahblogadmin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/author\/rahblogadmin\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Tips and Tricks: Strategies for Saving for a Down Payment<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Depending on your timeframe and how aggressive you&#039;re willing to be, there are several things you can do accelerate saving for a down payment.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tips and Tricks: Strategies for Saving for a Down Payment\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Depending on your timeframe and how aggressive you&#039;re willing to be, there are several things you can do accelerate saving for a down payment.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Richmond American Homes Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-24T15:00:03+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-05T16:13:20+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rahblogadmin\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rahblogadmin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/\",\"name\":\"Tips and Tricks: Strategies for Saving for a Down Payment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-24T15:00:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-05T16:13:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ac7090dbdce461390f3592d2191adfd8\"},\"description\":\"Depending on your timeframe and how aggressive you're willing to be, there are several things you can do accelerate saving for a down payment.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Down Payment Savings Strategies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Richmond American Homes Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ac7090dbdce461390f3592d2191adfd8\",\"name\":\"rahblogadmin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/625196274d1a8f127802d0e43cdb59ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/625196274d1a8f127802d0e43cdb59ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"rahblogadmin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/author\/rahblogadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tips and Tricks: Strategies for Saving for a Down Payment","description":"Depending on your timeframe and how aggressive you're willing to be, there are several things you can do accelerate saving for a down payment.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tips and Tricks: Strategies for Saving for a Down Payment","og_description":"Depending on your timeframe and how aggressive you're willing to be, there are several things you can do accelerate saving for a down payment.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/","og_site_name":"Richmond American Homes Blog","article_published_time":"2014-01-24T15:00:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-05T16:13:20+00:00","author":"rahblogadmin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rahblogadmin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/","name":"Tips and Tricks: Strategies for Saving for a Down Payment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-24T15:00:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-05T16:13:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ac7090dbdce461390f3592d2191adfd8"},"description":"Depending on your timeframe and how aggressive you're willing to be, there are several things you can do accelerate saving for a down payment.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/down-payment-savings-strategies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Down Payment Savings Strategies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/","name":"Richmond American Homes Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ac7090dbdce461390f3592d2191adfd8","name":"rahblogadmin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/625196274d1a8f127802d0e43cdb59ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/625196274d1a8f127802d0e43cdb59ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rahblogadmin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/author\/rahblogadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26961,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions\/26961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}