10% Down on Jumbo Mortgage - Now Impossible?

Why oh why is a 20% down such a hardship? Maybe if we all had to come up with 20% pricing would drop an amount equal to negate all the 0% down loons.

It's like allowing anyone in sports to take steroids, bc one guy can't run a 4min mile. Guess what? All athletes would be taking roids. Great f'king policy.....

I think 50% down is the minimum required to avoid another foreclosure debacle.

You should save for the 20% down. A house in the burbs is so expensive and there's always something that needs to be done as well as on going expenses; ie. 2.5K annually for landscaping, funds for cleaning gutters, sprinklers and replacement of water heaters, roofs, etc that can eat up big bucks and all the extra commuting costs, car insurance and activities for the kids which can add up. A condo you pay the maintenance and that's it. Not so with a house, it's a money pit so increase your percentage down even if you can find a jumbo at 10%.

Maintenance and that's it?

So the maintenance never goes up? The building is guaranteed to never need work under for repointing, etc.?

How about the tips for a staff of 20-30 around the holiday time? Or do you just stiff them?

On the other hand, someone in the burbs also has the choice of A - letting a repair go undone, which is up to them. B- doing their own yard work, because for some that is actually a feature, not a bug. C - doing repairs themselves.

As to commuting, car, etc. how do you account for the fact that so many people in the city still have a car despite the 2-3 time increase in insurance cost and the $300-500/month garage?

Sorry, but there are pluses and minuses to each choice. Your post decidedly ignores that and poorly makes your argument against suburbs.

(yep, I do love being the Devil's advocate.)

Have you talked to your bank or mortgage broker. We had to put 30% down on our jumbo 18 months ago. We have great credit and we had more than purchase price in cash in the bank. Still, 30% minimum down. Check with the bank. And, btw, if it an old house in the burbs, add extra reserve for unforeseen events. We once had a renovated house that had 4 yr old windows. The seals had been improperly installed and water was rotting all the wood. We had to have them all repaired at an insane price. Totally unexpected. And not covered by insurance.

10% down anywhere has gone the way of the dodo bird from what I have heard.

I did diligence on this a couple of months ago when I almost purchased an apt. Found a small handful of banks that would do 20% down and a small handful more that would do 25% down. The vast majority of lenders required 30% or more down. I called a lot of banks/mortgage brokers, etc. I highly doubt you will find any lender willing to accept 20% down on a jumbo product in this market.

Correction - I highly doubt you will find any lender willing to accept 10% down on a jumbo product in this market.

USW i not saying don't live in the suburbs. I've been here for 30 years. What I'm saying is put down 20% so you have a little wiggle room when you need a new hot water heater ($750), a new roof ($8000), driveway redone ($6000). NJ Transit just raised fares 30%, my taxes has gone from $2000 to over $14000 annually with an expected increase of $800 this year. You need some extra money. If I didn't like the burbs I wouldn't be here. But make sure there's extra money to cover unexpected costs because you can't wait until you save $750 for a water heater in January with a six month old baby like what happened to me.

Ideally, you should put down 20%, though there are a few portfolio jumbo lenders who offer 90% jumbo loans but it is probably capped at $600k