I feel compelled to chime in on this thread due to my purchase that is due to close on March 23rd. I have debated the financing aspect of this in my head alot. My FICO is 800 and I have more money liquid than the purchase price of the home I am buying. I have decided to put 20% down and do an interest only loan fixed for 7 years on the 80% balance.
I can pay it off at any time, yet I still have the flexibility of having the money left to invest and make gains on. With a good financial profile, which I have, there are still unlimited financing options. I am in complete agreement that if you do not have 20% down you should not be buying in general. Obviously there are exceptions to this.
The biggest concern I always have is paying off a home, and having it sit there as a sitting duck for a lawsuit. I know you can place it in a limited parnership, etc but that is a pain in the ass. It makes we want to basically keep my balance at about what it is worth over time, and leverage the money.
Since I am in the money management business, a lawsuit is always lurking even if it is baseless, and having a limited profile of things for them to come after is a concern.
Hopefully, I have offered a non-standard situation to contemplate. Any input would always be welcome.
