Ask most people what’s the biggest obstacle to buying a home, and hands down they’ll say it’s scraping together enough money for a down payment. But understand a key point: This is not a separate and distinct issue from landing a mortgage. Lenders, after all, like to see clients lay down a sizable chunk of change before they fork over a mortgage, because this shows you have skin in the game and lowers the odds that you’ll default on your loan. So how large a down payment do you really need?

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