Hey all,

In November, my wife and I signed a contract to build a home...on Thursday, I had my inspector come by and do a pre-drywall inspection and on Friday I had a walkthrough with the builder where I went over the issues he had turned up. I was very happy when my inspector said he was "pleasantly surprised at how great a job the builder was doing." My inspector only turned up 9 minor items -- stuff like a broken shingle -- and no major issues.

Anyway, since we signed the contract, equivalent homes (same floorplan and lot premium) have gone up $8500. I want to put 20% down on the house...but I am unsure how I should calculate the 20% downpayment requirement. Will the house now appraise at the price $8500 higher than what is in my contract? If it appraises at this higher value, can I count that $8500 as equity towards reaching my 20% downpayment? Or should I expect to be required to put 20% of the contract price down on my mortgage and simply have roughly $8500 in extra equity?

I only ask because if I can count the $8500 in equity, I can keep about $6800 in extra cash... (For various reasons, I want to put 20% down even though I would easily be able to get an 80-10-10 or something along those lines.)

Thanks for any information you can provide.

ACME