Saving for home

What do you recommend is the best way to save for a home? Unfortunately we didn't get the money from our wedding so we have to save now. We can put aside money weekly into an ING account but is there a better way? Also are there areas in Westchester/Queens that anyone would recommend?
THANKS

Saving for home

Put a set amount from your paycheck automatically into a savings account. Any raises you get, bonuses, monetary gifts, goes in there.

Saving for home

We used one check for savings and one check for bills and expenses... That was our way and it worked!

Re: Saving for home

I am sure you know this already, but with an FHA loan, you can put a minimum of 3.5% down and get up to 6% of the purchase price as a seller's concession to cover closing costs (meaning, the closing costs are rolled into your mortgage versus paid out of pocket).

I know some people prefer to save up more money, so it's a personal preference. But because the rates are so low now, and aren't going to stay that way forever, I think it makes sense to buy now if you can. The difference between a monthly payment on a $300K loan with a 4.00% interest rate versus a $300K loan with a 6.25% rate (which is where the rates were at just a few years ago in 2008-2009) is in the range of over $400/month! So even though many people prefer to wait until they have 20% down to avoid mortgage insurance, that may be only a couple of hundred a month.

It may be more financially beneficial to buy now (esp. because prices are still relatively low, but they've leveled off now), then to wait to save more money. Also, mortgage insurance can always be removed after 5 years and a certain amount of equity is established, but the rate is forever. Of course, if they go down again, you can refi, but most economists say that the rates are at an all-time low, artificially so, and predict that they won't go back down this low again.

It might be worthwhile to talk to a mortgage professional about your particular situation and get some more information about the pros and cons of waiting.

If you prefer to wait and are trying to save, I would either:

1) Deposit paychecks in a savings account and only transfer out a certain amount each month to cover your expenses, leaving the remainder in savings (assuming you have accounts at the same bank and there's no fee for transferring money from one account to another). This has always worked well for me.

2) If money is tigher, I would sit down and come up with a budget, eliminating as many of the the "extras" as you can, and put the money you were previously spending on the extras in savings.