Zina Kumok

They might help simplify your homebuying process.

Here's what you need to know.

There's no need to save for the traditional 20 percent down payment.

You need a little creativity to make ends meet these days. With wages stagnating and housing prices skyrocketing, people are looking for ways to cut expenses and boost their income. And that’s especially true for anyone trying to save for a down payment on a house. This was all top of mind several years ago when Sam (my now-husband, then-boyfriend) and I decided to move in together.

It took some deep digging to figure out which option best fit our needs right now and for the term of our loan. Here's how we made our decision.

When my husband and I put an offer on our house, I asked our agent if he thought sending an offer letter, or a personalized letter to the buyer explaining why they should pick us over another offer, would be appropriate. “Yes, definitely do that,” Mark Branch, our real estate broker with Century 21 Scheetz in Indianapolis, Indiana, told me. “And send pictures, too.

In 2017, 35 percent of people who bought homes did so sight unseen. In 2018, I was one of them. In the midst of purging, packing, and organizing all our things, my husband and I put in an offer on a house in Indianapolis, Indiana—1,500 miles away from our apartment in Denver. We’d been house hunting for a few weeks and always said we’d wait until we moved to put in an offer. So what changed?