When you’re budgeting for a down payment, the goal isn’t always to put every last dollar into the house. If you have $20,000 set aside and an extra $5,000 available, that money may work harder somewhere else. Adding $5,000 to the down payment might only trim your payment by around $40 a month. But using that same $5,000 to pay down credit cards can boost your score, improve mortgage insurance pricing, and often lowers your monthly cost more. Let’s run the numbers together so your cash supports b