masayako– I have to say I’m having a hard time fully understanding what question you’re looking to answer. I understand the original post, which is how much to put down and what type of loan to get, but further along, you say that you’re on track to have 50% down in 3 years time.
This introduces the factor of when you’d actually be pulling the trigger. On first glance, one might conclude that you plan on purchasing three years from now and are simply wondering how you might approach it when you get there. Thinking about it a bit more deeply, it seems you could be considering a number of other alternatives.
Perhaps you have 20% today, so if that’s a good idea, you would buy today (assuming there’s something you like).
Perhaps you really are three years out, but you want to think about how you might lock up your money. That is, you decide you like half down, so you need to be fully liquid to the tune of $500K in three years.
And, I could go on and on.
I guess what strikes me is your’re asking the question today (well, the other day, really). If you’re three years out, then I’d say save as much as you can, invest it wisely (easier said than done, as someone said, more reward indicates higher risk) and continue to noodle on how much to put down and what vehicle you might use to finance it. It doesn’t do you any good to ponder 4.25% interest rates offered today because who knows where that will be three years from now. Same thing with your million dollar house. Not many meeting your criteria today and who knows what it will look like in three years. Could be a lot more (and cheaper). Or not.
So I guess the short version is “What is your time horizon?”
(and, yes, “between 0 and 3 years” is a fair answer)
