As you might have been following, my husband and I are in the process of trying to get a mortgage loan. We have looked into a variety of options, even including a piggyback loan in two incarnations: the 75/25, and the 80/20. However, we have decided that the down payment option is probably the way to go, and we have decided on the FHA loan that we were considering. We do qualify for this loan, and even though some of the standards are a little tighter, other issues (such as my husband’s deferred student loans) don’t weigh on it.

Now, there are some rules in getting together a down payment (and the FHA loan down payment requirement is only 3%). The main rule is that you can’t put the down payment on a credit card (not that you’d want to with the rates credit cards charge). But you can receive "gifts" for the down payment. This means that someone else provides you with the money, or part of the money. My parents and my husband’s parents are both willing to chip in a little bit, cutting our contribution to half the down payment amount. SO, this makes it a little easier. It’s not what we originally hoped for, but the interest rate is still decent, and the monthly payments are well within our desired range.