Here's Exactly How Much Cash You Need to Buy a House

The Down Payment: What the Rules Actually Require

FHA loans require 3.5% down if your credit score is 580 or higher, and 10% down if it falls between 500 and 579, according to HUD's Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1. VA and USDA loans let qualified buyers put down 0%, no down payment at all, per VA.gov. Conventional loans start as low as 3% down through first-time-buyer programs. On a $400,000 house, the FHA minimum is $14,000 down.

Most buyers aren't putting down the minimum anymore. NAR's 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found the median down payment across all buyers hit 19%, with first-time buyers landing at a 10% median and repeat buyers at 23%. That 10% first-time-buyer figure is the highest it's been since 1989. On that same $400,000 house, a 10% down payment is $40,000. A 23% down payment is $92,000, cash most people don't have sitting in a checking account, which is why proceeds from an existing home sale are such a common source for repeat buyers' down payments.

Closing Costs and Reserves: The Two Numbers That Catch Buyers Off Guard

Closing costs run 2% to 5% of your loan amount, according to Freddie Mac. On the FHA minimum path, 3.5% down on a $400,000 house, the loan is $386,000, and 2% to 5% of that is $7,720 to $19,300 in lender fees, title insurance, appraisal costs, and prepaid escrow for taxes and insurance. Add that to the $14,000 down payment and total upfront cash for the FHA path runs $21,720 to $33,300, before a single reserve dollar.

On the 10%-down path, the numbers move. A 10% down payment on that same $400,000 house is $40,000, leaving a $360,000 loan. Closing costs on that loan run $7,200 to $18,000. Combined with the down payment, total upfront cash lands between $47,200 and $58,000.

Either path, reserves come next. Most conventional lenders want 2 to 6 months of your full mortgage payment, principal, interest, taxes, and insurance combined, sitting untouched in your account after closing. It's money you don't spend, but you have to prove it's there before the lender signs off.

If You're Selling to Buy: How Cash Flow Deals Locks Your Number Early

Most people searching how much money they need to buy a house are also planning to sell the house they're in first. That sale funds the down payment, and until a traditional listing actually closes, the number stays a moving target, 30 to 45 days or more, sometimes longer if the buyer's financing falls through or an appraisal comes in low.

Cash Flow Deals is a Florida real estate investor that locks in a net price for a seller's house before repairs are scoped, using a novation-based, flat-fee process arranged through its licensed FL brokerage partner, Silver Door Realty — not a traditional listing, and not a brokerage itself.

The process runs in three steps. Step 1: Cash Flow Deals reviews the house and locks a net price before any repairs get scoped, so the seller has the exact number early. Step 2: Silver Door Realty, the licensed FL brokerage partner, runs the paperwork through a novation-based closing that connects the seller directly to a real end buyer, FHA, conventional, VA, or DSCR. Step 3: the seller closes in as little as 10 business days and has that net number in hand, ready to use as the down payment and closing costs on the next house.

NAR's 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers puts the repeat-buyer median down payment at 23% of the purchase price, or $92,000 on a $400,000 house. A locked, early net number turns that figure from a guess into a plan the seller can build the next purchase around, instead of finding out what's actually left over only after a 30-to-45-day listing runs its course.