How much do you need for a down payment?
Less than 20% for most first-time buyers. The median first-time buyer put down 10% in the National Association of Realtors' 2025 survey, and many loans accept 3%. The CFPB notes you save the most with 20% down, since a smaller down payment usually means a bigger loan and mortgage insurance. Closing costs come on top, typically 2% to 5% of the price.
On a $400,000 home, 10% down is $40,000, and closing costs add another $8,000 to $20,000. Those two numbers together are what the monthly saving has to reach. The figures are illustrative.
Keep your emergency cushion out of the down payment. The CFPB suggests three to six months of expenses, and points out that money you put into a house is hard to get back out.
How long will it take to save?
Take what's left to save and divide it by what you can put away each month. Use what you've actually saved in recent months, not what you hope to. $15,000 to go at $650 a month is about 23 months. If that's longer than you want, you can buy a cheaper home, put less down, save more each month, or wait longer.
It takes longer than it used to. The typical first-time buyer was 40 in NAR's 2025 survey, the oldest on record, and first-time buyers made up 21% of purchases, the lowest share recorded.
What slows a down payment fund down?
Usually small things over many months. Spending creeps into the money meant for the house. A raise goes to everyday costs. The savings sit in an account that pays almost nothing, and a card balance grows the year you want to apply. None of these looks like much in a given month, but over two years they move the date.
The national average savings rate was 0.37% in September 2026, according to the FDIC. On $34,000 that is about $10 a month.
Lenders also look at your debt-to-income ratio: your monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income. Fannie Mae's limits run from 36% to 50%, depending on how the loan is underwritten, and card payments count toward it.
What Candor watches for
Candor reads the accounts every day and keeps a short list of what's worth talking through. For this goal, these are the ones that come up. Each card is filled from the records, and your agent sees it with the figures behind it.
Our first home: $400 a month going in
$675 a month gets there by September 2028.
The pace comes from the savings account itself, not from what the budget says should happen. A plan that slips $250 a month looks fine for a long time if nobody measures it, and by the time it shows, the date has already moved.
Pay from Northwind rose to $7,700 a month
Up from $6,900. Savings transfers stayed about $650 a month.
A raise is money you haven't started spending yet, which makes it the least painful money to save. Left alone, it tends to disappear into everyday spending.
$34,200 in savings earned $1.42 last month
At 4%, the same balance earns about $114 a month.
A down payment sits in savings for years. In an account that pays almost nothing, it loses ground to the prices it is meant to cover.
Freedom Card is 65% used
$1,290 of a $2,000 limit.
Amounts owed are about 30% of a FICO score, and the CFPB suggests using no more than 30% of your limits. Your credit helps set your mortgage rate, so the plan clears the card before you apply.
Your goals need $1,250 a month
About $1,100 a month is left after spending; 3 goals share it.
The down payment, the card, and closing costs all draw on the same paycheck. When together they need more than is left over each month, one of them will fall behind, and you would want to choose which.
Three months in: a check-in
Our first home: $400 a month going in
$675 a month gets there by September 2028.
Your agent
Your home fund has grown about $400 a month since September, not $650. Food and Drink ran about $200 a month over its line, which is most of the gap. At this pace the down payment lands in fall 2029, a year late. Moving $275 a month into it keeps September 2028. Or we keep the budget as it is and move the date.
You
We'll take $175 from Food and Drink and $100 from shopping, and keep September 2028.
This is an illustrative example. The decision stays yours, and so does any change at your bank. Candor is read-only and cannot move money. It saves the updated plan and the reason, so the next check-in starts from what you decided. Candor is not a licensed advisor and gives no advice.
Common questions
- Where should I keep my down payment savings?
- Money you need within a few years usually goes somewhere it can't fall in value, like a savings account, a CD, or a money market fund. Rates vary a lot between banks, so compare before you leave it for two years. Candor shows what your savings actually earned each month.
- Can ChatGPT help me save for a house?
- Yes. It can work out a target and a monthly amount from the figures you give it, and ChatGPT Finances can read accounts you link there. Candor adds a goal measured from your accounts every day, a budget that pays for it, and a heads-up to your agent when the pace slips, in ChatGPT, Claude, or another agent.
- Does Candor move money into my savings?
- No. Candor is read-only and cannot move money. Your agent can tell you how much to move and when, and you make the transfer at your bank, or set up an automatic one.
- How much does Candor cost?
- Candor starts at $8.25 a month on the annual plan ($99 a year), or $14.99 month to month, and the first 7 days are free.
Sources
- First-Time Home Buyer Share Falls to Historic Low of 21%, Median Age Rises to 40 (2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers) National Association of Realtors, November 4, 2025
- Determine your down payment Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, October 1, 2025
- Figure out how much you want to spend Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, February 18, 2026
- National Rates and Rate Caps, September 2026 FDIC, September 21, 2026
- Selling Guide B3-6-02, Debt-to-Income Ratios Fannie Mae, April 2, 2025
- How do I get and keep a good credit score? Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, December 12, 2024
- What's in my FICO Scores myFICO