10 min read
I do not have 20 percent down, so I cannot buy
This is the most expensive myth in real estate. Twenty percent down is real, but it is not a requirement. It is one option, and most first-time buyers do not use it.
Here is what actually exists. Conventional loans have minimum down payments far below 20 percent for qualified buyers. FHA loans allow 3.5 percent down. These are standard national programs, not tricks or rare exceptions. Lenders write these loans every day.
Ohio adds another layer. OHFA, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, offers down payment assistance programs for eligible buyers. I will not quote their terms here because programs change, so confirm current details with a lender. But you should know that help exists before you rule yourself out.
Why does the 20 percent myth survive? Because putting less down usually means paying mortgage insurance, and 20 percent avoids it. That is a real trade-off worth discussing with a lender. But it is a choice, not a gate. Do not spend five years renting to save a number nobody is requiring.
My credit is not perfect, so I will not qualify
First, the honest part: credit matters. Your score affects whether you qualify and what rate you get, and a stronger score gets better pricing. That part is true, and I will not wave it away.
Here is the fuller picture. Perfect credit is not the bar. Lenders approve buyers with imperfect credit all the time, and different loan types have different flexibility. FHA in particular was built with real-life credit histories in mind. The only way to know where you stand is to have a lender actually look, because the score an app shows you is often not the score a lender uses.
And if you are not there yet, that is not a dead end. It is a starting line with a map. A good lender can tell you exactly what is holding your score down and what moves it fastest. I have watched buyers go from not yet to approved in months once someone showed them which levers mattered.
What I do not want you to do is assume. People with workable credit sit out for years because of a number they saw in an app and a story they told themselves about it.
I should pay off all my debt before I buy
This one sounds responsible, and the instinct behind it is good. Less debt is generally better. If your debt payments are eating your income, paying them down first can absolutely be the right move, and I will tell you so if that is your situation.
But all debt paid off is not the standard. Lenders look at your debt-to-income ratio, meaning your monthly debt payments compared to your monthly income. You can carry a car payment and student loans and still qualify comfortably if the total picture works. Plenty of Central Ohio buyers close with both.
There is also a cost to the pay-everything-first plan that nobody mentions. It can take years. During those years you are paying rent, and prices and rates do whatever they want. I have seen people spend years erasing a small loan while the house they wanted got further away.
The smart version is targeted. Sometimes paying off one specific account changes your approval or your rate. Sometimes it changes nothing at all. A lender can run both versions and show you the difference before you spend a dollar.
Closing costs will wipe out my savings
Closing costs are real, and I will not pretend otherwise. On top of your down payment, you pay for things like the loan itself, the title work, the appraisal, and setting up your tax and insurance accounts. It adds up, and it surprises people who only budgeted for the down payment.
But there are more ways to cover them than most buyers know. Sellers can contribute, and asking is normal. Per the Columbus MLS, pulled August 10, 2026, covering the previous 90 days, 28.6 percent of Galloway closings carried seller concessions averaging about $8,900 where disclosed. That is real money, negotiated for buyers by their agents, in one Central Ohio suburb, in this market.
Builders are even more aggressive right now. As advertised on builder sites in August 2026, some Central Ohio builders are offering paid closing costs, flex cash from $17,500 up to $50,000 at specific communities, and 2/1 buydowns with first-year rates as low as 2.875 percent. Many offers expire monthly, but new ones keep coming while new builds sit longer than resale.
Lender credits can also trade a slightly higher rate for less money due at closing. The point is not that closing costs vanish. They do not. The point is that the money you need on closing day is negotiable, and a good agent treats it that way from the first offer.
There is nothing in my price range anyway
If you have only been looking at the famous suburbs, this feels true. Per the Columbus MLS, pulled August 10, 2026, covering the previous 90 days, Dublin's median closing was $580,000. If that is your reference point, of course buying feels impossible.
But Central Ohio is bigger than its most expensive zip codes. The same MLS pull shows Galloway had 133 closings at a median of $335,000. That is a different world of monthly payment. Per Freddie Mac's weekly survey, August 6, 2026, rates averaged 6.69 percent, and at that rate every $100,000 borrowed costs roughly $645 a month in principal and interest. Borrow less, pay less. The suburb you pick moves your payment more than almost anything else you control.
First houses are also allowed to be first houses. A smaller place in a solid area that you own beats a perfect place you rent. The equity you build there is what buys the next one.
So before you decide there is nothing, be clear about what you are comparing. There is a real gap between nothing I want in Dublin and nothing in Central Ohio. The first might be true. The second usually is not.
If I talk to a lender, I am locked into something
I understand this fear, because parts of this industry do run on pressure and upsells. But here is the plain truth about preapproval: it costs nothing, and it commits you to nothing.
A preapproval is information. A lender looks at your income, savings, and credit, then tells you what you could borrow and roughly what it would cost. You do not owe them a purchase. You do not owe them a loan. You can get preapproved and then wait two years. You can get preapproved with one lender and close with a different one.
What it buys you is the end of guessing. Every myth in this article dies in that one conversation, because you stop wondering and start knowing. Maybe the answer is that you are ready now. Maybe it is that you are eighteen months out with three specific things to fix. Both answers are wins. The only losing move is guessing for another year.
And when a house you love shows up, preapproval is the difference between making an offer this weekend and watching someone else get the keys.
The conversation costs you nothing. I mean that.
No two situations are the same. Every myth above breaks differently for different people, and the only numbers that matter in the end are your monthly payment and your timeline. Not your cousin's. Not a stranger's on the internet. Yours.
So here is my offer, plainly. I will run your actual numbers with you personally, and I will connect you with lenders who will tell you the truth about where you stand. If the honest answer is that you should keep renting for now and fix a few things first, that is exactly what I will tell you, along with a clear list of what to fix and when to check back.
Text me, call me, or email me, whatever is easiest for you. I am happy to meet in person too. It is free, there is no obligation, and there is no pressure afterward. The worst outcome is that you finally know where you stand. I have never met anyone who regretted that.
