{"id":4927,"date":"2016-01-05T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T17:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/?p=4927"},"modified":"2024-01-04T16:31:19","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T23:31:19","slug":"new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a new year, and you know what that means. It time, once again, for resolutions. If you resolve to leave your landlord behind\u2014or to move into a larger, more luxurious home\u2014this year, you may have to provide a down payment of up to 20 percent of the home\u2019s sale price, which can be challenging. Here are some strategies to help put you on the path to homeownership.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Know your numbers.<\/strong> The first step in saving for a down payment is establishing your budget. Examine your income and recurring monthly expenses to help determine how much house you can afford. That number should give you a general idea of how much money you\u2019ll need to set aside for a down payment. <em>See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/using-a-mortgage-calculator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Making the most of a mortgage calculator<\/a> for more information.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cut your costs.<\/strong> Sure, giving up the little things, like your overpriced morning latte, may help you stash some cash over time. But if you want quick results, it\u2019s best to put the brakes on big spending. Look for ways to really reduce expenses, like cutting the cord on cable, canceling your pricey gym membership and\/or cooking meals at home instead of frequenting fancy (translation: expensive) restaurants.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Automate your savings.<\/strong> Open a special savings account exclusively for your down payment. After you determine how much money you can comfortably set aside each month, have that amount automatically diverted into the account. This can help you resist the temptation to spend (out of sight, out of mind, right?). Contact your bank to set up an automatic transfer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bank or invest large sums.<\/strong> If you happen to come into some money this year (e.g., tax refund, bonus, inheritance), resist the urge to splurge. Instead, deposit your windfall into your dedicated down payment account at your earliest convenience, or speak with a financial planner about low-risk investments. This could bring you several steps closer to owning the home of your dreams.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask for assistance.<\/strong> Do you have a family member who is willing and able to contribute to your down payment? It\u2019s okay to ask for help.&nbsp;In many cases, gift funds can even be applied to closing costs. <em>See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/frequently-asked-questions-using-gift-funds-to-buy-a-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frequently asked questions: Using gift funds to buy a home<\/a> for more information.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Please note that some types of mortgages, such as FHA and VA loans, require little to no down payment. Contact a representative from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.homeamericanmortgage.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation<\/a> to find out if you are eligible for one of these types of loans.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"nopin\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a new year, and you know what that means. It time, once again, for resolutions. If you resolve to leave your landlord behind\u2014or to move into a larger, more luxurious home\u2014this year, you may have to provide a down payment of up to 20 percent of the home\u2019s sale price, which can be challenging. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4944,"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":[2],"tags":[48,150,279],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"melissa neiman","author_link":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/author\/melissa\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment on a Home<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is a down payment standing between you and your dream home? Following are some strategies to help put you on the path to homeownership.\" \/>\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\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment on a Home\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is a down payment standing between you and your dream home? Following are some strategies to help put you on the path to homeownership.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Richmond American Homes Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-05T17:00:33+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-04T23:31:19+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"397\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"melissa neiman\" \/>\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=\"melissa neiman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 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\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/\",\"name\":\"New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment on a Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-05T17:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-04T23:31:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4d424a5ae24c0dc4fa70c253b1a8c778\"},\"description\":\"Is a down payment standing between you and your dream home? Following are some strategies to help put you on the path to homeownership.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":397,\"caption\":\"Calculator and tiny house sitting on top of blueprints\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment\"}]},{\"@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\/4d424a5ae24c0dc4fa70c253b1a8c778\",\"name\":\"melissa neiman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11e21e558a45506cc7af7111a302d030?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11e21e558a45506cc7af7111a302d030?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"melissa neiman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/author\/melissa\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment on a Home","description":"Is a down payment standing between you and your dream home? Following are some strategies to help put you on the path to homeownership.","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\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment on a Home","og_description":"Is a down payment standing between you and your dream home? Following are some strategies to help put you on the path to homeownership.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/","og_site_name":"Richmond American Homes Blog","article_published_time":"2016-01-05T17:00:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-04T23:31:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":397,"url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"melissa neiman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"melissa neiman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/","url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/","name":"New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment on a Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-05T17:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-04T23:31:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4d424a5ae24c0dc4fa70c253b1a8c778"},"description":"Is a down payment standing between you and your dream home? Following are some strategies to help put you on the path to homeownership.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/down-payment-blog.jpg","width":600,"height":397,"caption":"Calculator and tiny house sitting on top of blueprints"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/new-years-resolution-saving-for-a-down-payment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Year\u2019s Resolution: Saving for a Down Payment"}]},{"@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\/4d424a5ae24c0dc4fa70c253b1a8c778","name":"melissa neiman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11e21e558a45506cc7af7111a302d030?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11e21e558a45506cc7af7111a302d030?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"melissa neiman"},"url":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/author\/melissa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4927"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26949,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4927\/revisions\/26949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richmondamerican.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}