Help me decide what to cash for a downpayment

[disneysteve]

With regards to the company stock, its actually very safe because there is no way you can lose money unless you do it on your own accord. If at the end of the 2 year waiting period the stock price is lower than your "purhcase price" you can simply take the money and not buy the stock. We also get to buy the stock at a -15%

That is a pretty sweet deal. Still, I don't think it is a great idea to be too heavily invested in any single company, particularly when that company is also your employer. Remember Enron? Everyone there thought owning a ton of company stock was a good idea, too, until the company went bust overnight. It can happen. All of those folks were left with no job and many of them lost a huge chunk of their retirement savings because it was tied up in Enron stock.

Steve, where did you refi at 3.99? The lowest 30yr fixed I could find was at or above 5%

We used Quicken Loans though that was back in November and it was for 15 years, not 30. Rates have ticked up a bit since then.

I'm curious why you are buying if you are planning on moving in 3-5 years?

Excellent point. I would never buy with that short a time frame.

[littleroc02us]

Excellent question. The only reason I can think of is if you are absolutely 100% positive you will be in this house for less than 5 years. Even then, though, I don't think it is worth it. What if plans change? What if you can't sell the house in time? And rates are so low that it isn't saving much. We refinanced 2 months ago at 3.99% fixed. Why bother with 3.5% adjustable?

But there is never a guarentee, because all you have to do is look at the last housing crisis the country just went through. Record foreclosures from those who thought they'd be out of the house in 5 years with substantial equity. Didn't happen. Fixed convential rate is the only way IMO.

[MrPolarZero]

I think it would be a good idea to leave the stocks behind. They will make a pretty good set of investments in the future, so you need to keep them. On the other hand, you might want to make use of the bonds now.

[DebbieL]

Personally, buying seems like a waste if you're only going to be there for a few years. I wouldn't be expecting big gains in housing if I were you. You'll have all the costs of ownership, lack of mobility (if you wanted to move in a hurry), all the costs of buying (considerable), and all the costs of selling (even more considerable). Not worth it for a few years IMO. You'll lose even more money if the housing market in your area is lower at that time. There is a lot of freedom with renting.