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I am generally against this idea.
My father actually made the suggestion at one point when I was looking for a house that he was interested in matching my payment 50%. Though it is a really nice offer, I thought it was crazy. Instead of taking him up on the offer, and looking at a larger home, I shopped within my own personal budget. Six years later, I had already paid off approximately 50% of my mortgage when he died. The thought had crossed my mind on a couple of occasions that I am glad I did not yoke myself to a payment which depended on someone else to help make.
I am sure helping with a down payment is a popular idea. One suggestion I'd make is consider letting them purchase the home on their own without assistance, then after they have been in the home for a couple of years, surprise them with a windfall of say $10,000 if they can refinance for a lower interest rate.
There is always risk to any of this. If this is your son, and you give them the money and they get divorced and the ex wife gets the house, your son has lost that amount of inheritance. Similarly if it is your daughter and the husband goes off the deep end and the family's finances tank, she has lost that money too.
If they have been in the home for 10 years, and one of them has been laid off and things are really tight, I wouldn't mind helping, assuming they are actively seeking work and are reasonable about budgets / spending / etc.
My father actually made the suggestion at one point when I was looking for a house that he was interested in matching my payment 50%. Though it is a really nice offer, I thought it was crazy. Instead of taking him up on the offer, and looking at a larger home, I shopped within my own personal budget. Six years later, I had already paid off approximately 50% of my mortgage when he died. The thought had crossed my mind on a couple of occasions that I am glad I did not yoke myself to a payment which depended on someone else to help make.
I am sure helping with a down payment is a popular idea. One suggestion I'd make is consider letting them purchase the home on their own without assistance, then after they have been in the home for a couple of years, surprise them with a windfall of say $10,000 if they can refinance for a lower interest rate.
There is always risk to any of this. If this is your son, and you give them the money and they get divorced and the ex wife gets the house, your son has lost that amount of inheritance. Similarly if it is your daughter and the husband goes off the deep end and the family's finances tank, she has lost that money too.
If they have been in the home for 10 years, and one of them has been laid off and things are really tight, I wouldn't mind helping, assuming they are actively seeking work and are reasonable about budgets / spending / etc.
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