Downpayment vs Cash for Rehab and/or Future Downpayment

[Jonathan Louie]

My wife and I are having a hard time figuring out how to weigh the use of capital for future costs vs our monthly payment. Liquid cash on hand is not a problem for us now, but we need our monthly payment to be manageable. Our monthly income is not high so we don't know whether to put more money down to lower the monthly payment or to put less money down because we would need it for rehab and a future downpayment on another home since we don't expect to be living that long in the home we are looking to buy.