Of the million or so hurdles you can encounter between you and your first home, the down-payment hurdle can sometimes loom the largest.

Lenders can make it easy to buy a house without the traditional 20% payment, but that doesn’t mean doing so is always to the advantage of the new homebuyer. As you’ve doubtless been reading lately, lenders such as New Century and Accredited Home Lenders (Nasdaq: LEND) helped lots of buyers get into a home, but now many of them are facing default and potential foreclosure.

So let’s look at five reasons why it’s better for your pocketbook if you scrimp and save and delay your home shopping until you can make that traditional down payment.

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