Down Payment To Buy A Home
The amount you need for a down payment to buy a home seems to change by the year. It depends if it's your first time buying a home or 5th and it depends on if you already own a home and want it as an investment. It's also different if you're buying a duplex or multi-family for your first home because that's considered an investment and possibly a jumbo size mortgage loan as well.
First Time Home Buyer
If you're buying your first home mortgage lenders will require about 3-5% for a down payment in order to buy a home. If you have the minimum down payment then you'll also have to pay for all of the closing costs up front instead of trying to roll them into the monthly mortgage payment. Closing costs are about $2,000 for every $100,000 you want to borrow.
If you don't have a down payment it's not impossible to buy a home but you'll have to look for slightly less home. Assume you got approved for $150,000 from your mortgage lender. You should translate that into a monthly amount that you can afford so that you can finagle a down payment.
Approved for $150,000
Monthly mortgage payment - $805
Monthly Taxes - $200
This tells you that you can afford $1,005 per month according to the approval you got.
Now you want to look at getting a personal loan for the amount that you need for a down payment and closing costs. You're going to have to lower your total mortgage amount in a minute so let's assume you need 5% on $120,000 plus about $2,500 in closing costs.
Approved for $1,005 per month
Personal loan $8,500 over 5 years at 13% = $195
Monthly Taxes = $200
Now you can afford $610 per month for your mortgage payment. Use a mortgage calculator with the current interest rate that you already got approved for and see how much of a mortgage you can get for $610 per month over 30 years. I just used the calculator to come up with $120,000 (minus 5% down payment of $6,000) with a monthly payment of $612.
It's not always as black and white with a mortgage lender as you might think. I know it seems nearly impossible to even go through the process nevermind getting approved but they want to work with you more than you think. Banks only make money when they loan money. | 
