[quote=HLS]smshort…
If you are considering putting 15% and paying mortgage insurance, but you have the ability to put 20% down and avoid mortgage insurance completely, at that point it will be expensive money to not come up with the extra 5%…
The OP willing to walk away and take a credit hit is a different angle.

Others that talk about potential investment returns and lost opportunity value by larger down payments are just gambling.
Other advice posted is the ignorant leading the blind or vice versa.[/quote]

I’ve run the numbers many, many times in comparing different loan products and down payments. Yes, I get that I’d be paying a monthly fee for essentially peace of mind — larger cash reserve in case of job loss, mostly, and I think that’s going to win over. A double-dipper seems to be all but expected, and I am in an industry that’s considered vulnerable by most. Perhaps less so considering we’ve endured considerable workforce cuts and other cost-cutting, but still vulnerable.

But I’m still a sucker for putting down far more than a few grand.