Down payment...should I go large or small?

by Jon Paul Hunt
(Georgetown, Ontario)

I asked this question when I started out investing and was scared I was going to make the wrong decision.

I relied on the advice of my accountant saying "use other peoples money as much as you can" and to this day I am very happy even though its only been 1.5 years since I have started - his advice has been gold to me.

There has been little money out of my pocket (my first investment property was 0% down over a year ago and my second was 5%, which is the min now) and I love the tax advantages of this strategy.

I have a few friends that use a bigger down payment to increase cash flow each month but if I can buy positive cash flow properties with less down payment then I am all for it since I am not concerned with my month to month cash flow as long as its positive.

My mortgage statements just came in and with both properties I have paid down my mortgages about $4K and had about $3K in positive cash flow for doing pretty much nothing. My definition of nothing is about 5 hours a month combined.

That's just my point of view, my friends will agrue another way but for me less down payment is better for me.