Most of the first-time buyers I work with at Melby Wealth Management come in with the same question, framed slightly differently: do I have enough to buy? They want a yes or a no. The honest answer is almost never that simple, because "enough" doesn't just mean "enough for the down payment." It means enough liquidity left after closing, enough margin in the monthly to absorb a slow month or a broken HVAC, and enough integration with the rest of the plan that the house doesn't quietly stall everything else.
As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) professional running a fee-only fiduciary firm in Nashville, my goal in writing this is to lay out the coordinated planning work that should happen before a first-time buyer signs an offer, because the moves made in the six months before a purchase often matter more than the moves made the day of.
The Down Payment Is the Easy Number to Calculate
For consumer-facing context, the most recent NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers shows the median first-time buyer puts 10% down, real loan minimums run from 0% on VA and USDA programs to 3% on Conventional 97, HomeReady, and Home Possible, and 3.5% on FHA. On a $400,000 home, that's a range from $0 to $14,000 to $80,000 of upfront cash. I cover this in the consumer-facing post on Melby Money, and the data is the same.
What's harder, and what I generally walk clients through individually, is the rest of the balance sheet on closing day. The down payment is one of four numbers, not the only one. The other three are closing costs (typically 2% to 5% of the purchase price), the cash reserve a lender wants to see post-close, and the household emergency fund that I'd want untouched after the keys are in your hand.
Where Coordination Earns Its Keep
For clients in this situation, the questions I'm modeling tend to include:
Cash flow under the new monthly. Mortgage principal and interest, property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and (if applicable) PMI add up to a payment that often runs 25% to 35% higher than the all-in cost of renting the same square footage. For clients with variable income, equity compensation, or business ownership, this is where the math has to be tested against a soft quarter, not the best one.
Retirement contribution timing. I see prospective buyers slow or stop 401(k) contributions to accelerate their down payment savings. Sometimes that's the right call. Often it sacrifices an employer match worth more than the few months of compounded acceleration. A coordinated plan rebuilds the contribution after closing rather than letting "we'll restart in January" drift into year two.
Asset location for the down payment itself. Cash within 12 to 18 months of being deployed for a home purchase belongs in a high-yield savings account, money market fund, or short-duration Treasury, not in equities. I generally see new clients holding too much of the down payment in a brokerage account that's appreciated, which means the bill is partly a tax bill.
Tax planning around the purchase year. Mortgage interest deduction, state and local tax (SALT) interactions under the 2025 tax law, and whether to bunch deductions in the closing year all change the after-tax cost of the first year of ownership. None of that shows up in a mortgage calculator.
Insurance and estate basics. A new homeowner with a mortgage and dependents usually needs term life insurance sized to cover the mortgage and a will updated to reflect the new asset. These are dollar-cheap and conversation-cheap, and they get skipped constantly.
Where Professional Guidance Pays for Itself
For a single buyer with a straightforward W-2 and one savings account, a first purchase can be handled solo. The value of a fiduciary advisor shows up when there's complexity: dual incomes that don't move in sync, equity compensation that vests around the purchase window, self-employment income, family gifts that come with tax implications, or a multi-decade plan where the house is the first decision of many.
The work in those situations is integration. Lender, real estate agent, accountant, and financial plan all touching the same transaction without contradicting each other. That coordination is some of the higher-leverage planning I do, and it's the part a checklist on a blog can't replicate.
For the consumer-facing version of this post, head over to Melby Money.
About 71.5% of the people who meet with us at Melby Wealth Management have never worked with a financial advisor before. If a first home is on your horizon and you'd like a coordinated plan rather than a series of one-off decisions, we're used to where you're starting from. You can plan your purchase with confidence.
About The Author
Shaun Melby, CFP® provides fee-only financial planning and investment management services in Nashville, TN through his company Melby Wealth Management. Shaun has over 15 years of experience as a financial advisor in Nashville. Shaun created Melby Money to educate the public about finances.
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