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Make a big down payment
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Make a big down payment

The two decades leading up to the mortgage crisis saw a loosening in down payment requirements for mortgage loans, from a standard of 20 percent to as low as zero down.

There's a reason those requirements were there in the first place, and why they remain a sound idea, Feddis says.

"Down payments show you've got skin in the game. They also show that you can better withstand downturns in the real estate market, which invariably happen," she says.


 

 

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