You're definitely onto something here. When I bought my first property, I underestimated how quickly those unexpected costs pile up—like when the water heater decided to quit mid-winter... Keeping some cash handy saved me a lot of stress. Trust your gut on this one.
You're spot on about those unexpected costs. Had a client once who stretched herself thin to make a bigger down payment, thinking she'd dodge high interest. Sure enough, a month later the roof leaked—badly—and she was scrambling to find cash. Sometimes paying a little extra interest to keep your liquidity can save you from headaches down the line. Trusting your gut is smart here; flexibility counts for a lot in real estate.
"Sometimes paying a little extra interest to keep your liquidity can save you from headaches down the line."
Couldn't agree more. When I bought my first rental, I went heavy on the down payment thinking I'd save big on interest. Then the furnace died mid-winter...lesson learned about keeping cash handy for surprises. Flexibility really is key.
Totally get where you're coming from—keeping cash handy can be a lifesaver. But I'm curious, did you find the higher down payment helped your credit score much? Sometimes paying down more upfront can boost your credit utilization ratio, which is great for your score...but yeah, not so great if your furnace decides to quit in January, lol. Did you end up financing the repair or scrambling to cover it?
"Sometimes paying down more upfront can boost your credit utilization ratio, which is great for your score...but yeah, not so great if your furnace decides to quit in January, lol."
Haha, been there—January furnace breakdowns are like a rite of passage in property investing. I remember one winter, right after I'd proudly put down a hefty chunk on an investment property thinking I was being financially savvy, the roof decided it had enough of holding snow and started leaking everywhere. Talk about timing. Ended up scrambling to cover repairs with a mix of credit cards and emergency funds. Definitely didn't feel like the financial genius I thought I was at closing.
Honestly though, I've never noticed a huge immediate bump in my credit score from bigger down payments alone. Seems like credit utilization matters more when you're juggling multiple properties or lines of credit. Curious if anyone else has seen significant credit score improvements just from larger down payments—or is it mostly psychological comfort knowing you owe less?
