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In the big scheme of things:

"BMO Bank of Montreal says homebuyers could save an average of $2,500 in insurance premiums, based on an average home price of $300,000."

and over the course of a 25 year mortgage it's not a big deal but every little bit helps I guess. Over the course of the past 8 years my house has appretiated more than that each month.

If I were in the market I wouldn't hold off to get a 25% or even 20% downpayment, go for it as soon as you have 10% together would be my recomendation especially with the interest situation.

I was considering a second property myself in the west end just last year.

2001 ZTS,Apr 24 2007, 10:48 AM Wrote:go for it as soon as you have 10% together would be my recomendation especially with the interest situation.

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Thats what I did, and I dont regret it at all.

Flofocus,Apr 24 2007, 09:56 AM Wrote:Thats what I did, and I dont regret it at all.
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Nor should you, is that $2500 savings in insurance over the course of the whole mortgage like I suspect it is? Because that is peanuts, $100/yr in 2007 dollars and pocket change at the tail end of a 25 year mortage. Whats $100 going to get you in 2032? a pizza slice?

2001 ZTS,Apr 24 2007, 10:48 AM Wrote:If I were in the market I wouldn't hold off to get a 25% or even 20% downpayment, go for it as soon as you have 10% together would be my recomendation especially with the interest situation.

I was considering a second property myself in the west end just last year.
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x2 ... with a caveat ... don't wait BUT do whatever you can - and I mean whatever - to reduce the amount of time it takes to pay off the mortgage.

Shop rates aggressively ... get a smaller house ... buy a fixer upper ... move further out of the city ... double your payments (or max pay whatever they allow) ... pay weekly instead of monthly ... a year or two saved will result in tens of thousands in your pocket and not the banks.

A second property is a good thing to consider as in investment, especially if you can avoid the tax implications of it not being your primary residence.

My wife and I have two rental townhouses that we bought using the equity in our primary residence ... they basically pay for themselves and at the end of the day we will own property that cost us essentially just the down payment, and it will have increased in value according to the real estate market ... and it won't be long before we can use the equity in those properties to buy more ...

but all that was predicated by being very aggressive about reducing the time and therefore the interest paid.

ZTWsquared,Apr 24 2007, 10:25 AM Wrote:A second property is a good thing to consider as in investment, especially if you can avoid the tax implications of it not being your primary residence.
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Yup, that WAS the plan. Since that is no longer the case I revert to getting the current house paid off faster which is easier to do and justify since RRSP's are maxed and no room left there.

Here we go on another personal finance thread, it's been a surprisingly long time since we had one and goodness knows I love them.

EDIT: As well you don't need 10% down that is just my comfort threshold, you can with 5% these days.

Frig, my best freind got his house with 0 down but got nailed in the interest rate. He's just happy to have his own place.

I'll be in the market for some land over the next 5 years. I'd like to buy something in my town since its blowing up like crazy, something that i can build a 4 or 8 plex housing....theres a few zoned for that exact thing now between 100-160K. I can afford that....just depends how fast I can pay it off, as I'd like to do that quickly so I can start bulding 10 years down the road.

My dad always told me it was important to get in the "game" as soon as you could. Jen and I managed 15%...we just couldn;t wait any longer. It was costing me a fortune commuting from Beamsville to T.O. so we HAD to move.

iI don't regret it in the least. Our home has appreciated almost 40k in 2 years. However, so has everything else in the area.

Jen and I have plans to move in 2 more years to something with A LOT more room. Let's hope we can swing it.

We did 5% down and we'll be dropping a large sum before we renew.

We were going to wait as well, but the thought of paying even another year's rent and getting nowhere was driving us nuts.