Follow These Steps to Set Up a House Fund Registry

Article summary:

• According to The Knot and Zillow Home Loans, more couples are putting wedding money toward down payments for their dream home.
• The Knot is the best place to create a house fund wedding registry because it's free for couples and easy for guests to use.
• Learn the best way to describe your house fund to friends and family with some registry wording ideas.

Marriage is often accompanied by many exciting—albeit expensive—life milestones. There's the wedding, followed by your honeymoon and future investments like adopting a pet, leasing a car or buying a home. Sounds daunting? Well, it can be. Luckily, The Knot Cash Funds can help. This wedding registry house fund option lets guests donate money towards a down payment or renovations instead of purchasing a physical gift. Keep reading to learn everything about creating the best house fund for you.

In this article:

• The Rise of Wedding Registry House Funds
• Why The Knot Is the Best Place to Register for Your First Home
• How to Set Up a House Fund Registry
• Wedding Registry Home Fund Wording Ideas

The Rise of Wedding Registry House Funds

A wedding is one day, but a marriage is a lifetime—hence why we, as registry experts, recommend a wish list personalized to you. If as a couple, your priority is buying, renovating or furnishing a house, a first-home fund should be on your wedding registry. A cash fund of any type is an online money pool that allows guests to contribute whatever amount they'd like as a wedding gift instead of buying a physical item.

And no, it's not taboo anymore to ask for monetary gifts. A report from The Knot and Zillow Home Loans, released in 2023, found that 55% more couples were adding a "home fund" to their wedding registry than in 2018. At the time of the report, nearly 20% of all couples registered on The Knot asked their guests to help them with their future home, making it one of the most popular wedding registry cash fund ideas. Similarly, Amanda Pendleton, a Zillow Homes trends expert, revealed: "Between 2018 and 2022, first-time buyers were at least twice as likely to report putting gift funds toward their down payment. In 2023, 43% reported gift funds from friends and family as the source of at least part of their down payment funds."

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Since the housing market is always in flux, Pendleton advised aspiring home buyers to be persistent and creative during these uncertain times. "Diligently saving on your own simply takes too long and may ultimately never be enough for a down payment, depending on your income and where you're home shopping. Creating a down payment registry allows friends and family to contribute and get a couple closer to their home goals," Pendleton said. (Read: You shouldn't expect wedding gifts to completely cover a home's down payment, but they'll certainly help.) She also recommended meeting with a loan officer to determine how much you need to save for a down payment on a home. "Your loan officer is your best friend. Oftentimes, putting less than 20% down is doable, and your loan officer can talk you through your options. Keep in mind though, that the less money you put down, the higher your monthly mortgage payment will be."

Why The Knot Is the Best Place to Register for Your First Home

The Knot Registry is the top option for your house fund wedding registry journey. Below are some of the many reasons why you should sign up with The Knot for all your gifting needs.

• Easy registry creation: After you create a free account with The Knot, click the "Registry" tab. From there, you'll be asked a few onboarding questions to help customize your registry, then you'll add your house fund to get the ball rolling.
• Multiple cash funds available: Make as many cash funds as your heart desires on The Knot. Click the "New Home Fund" square under the "Cash Funds" section. You'll then be able to customize the fund to be a money pool for a new house or create numerous funds for different home renovations.
• Freedom of choice: Gone are the days of only being able to register for blenders and lawn mowers. Using The Knot Registry, couples have the opportunity to register for physical gifts along with experiences, like romantic dinners and snorkeling, and a house fund, of course.
• Convenient to use for guests: Your loved ones want to celebrate your union without dealing with numerous obstacles. So instead of them writing a check or carrying cash to your nuptials, they can easily access your The Knot honeymoon fund through your wedding website.
• Zero-fee option for guests: The Knot Registry now has Venmo payment options available on mobile devices for gifting. This lets guests avoid paying fees when using their debit card, bank or Venmo balance.
• Automated gift tracking: All the gifts your friends and family buy or contribute to will populate on a gift tracker—even the money sent through Venmo. In the "Track Gifts" section of The Knot Registry, you'll see the guest names, order status and purchase dates, which will make it easy to send thank-you cards later on.

How to Set Up a House Fund Registry

Creating a house fund is easier than binging Selling Sunset thanks to The Knot Registry, and it's free—who wouldn't love that? Follow the quick and easy steps below to make your house fund a reality.

• Log in to your account and create a registry: Go to TheKnot.com/registry. Once you're signed in, click the "Registry" tab at the top of the page then the "Start your free registry" button. Some prompts will guide you through personalizing your registry. During this process, ensure you mention you're interested in creating a cash fund.
• Make a home fund: Click the "Cash Funds" tab near the top of the page. Here, you'll find a box that says "New Home Fund." Once you select this box, a pop-up will show you places to add your own photo, change the fund's name, decide how much guests can contribute, determine if they can see the goal total and write a custom message to let guests know what the fund is specifically for.

Wedding Registry Home Fund Wording Ideas

Guests like to feel like their wedding gift, whether it's a toaster oven or cash, will make a positive impact on the couple's lives. As such, your wedding registry wording is very important. Each cash fund should have a brief description of how you'll use the money. If finding the right thing to say doesn't come easily, that's okay. To help you craft a message that's short, sweet and authentic, The Knot editors have compiled a few house fund registry wording examples below.

• As we embark on married life, we're so touched by the generosity shown by our loved ones. In place of traditional gifts, we've opted for a house fund registry to help us pay for a future home. If you're able, we're so grateful for your contribution to this dream of ours.
• Celebrating our big day with you is the only gift we need. However, for those who are interested, we've set up a cash fund to help pay for a down payment on a home after the wedding and we'd be grateful for any contributions, big or small.
• As much as we'd love linens and china, buying a home is at the top of our wish list. We've dedicated our registry to collecting donations to help us buy the home of our dreams. While your presence at our wedding is a present, should you wish to buy us something, we'd greatly appreciate a contribution towards our goal.
• We've been living in the same apartment for years, so it's time to upgrade! We greatly appreciate your generosity in helping fund a down payment on our dream home.
• As most are aware, we've been slowly fixing up our dream home since we purchased it. Instead of traditional gifts, we've registered for cash funds to help pay for renovations and design upgrades to truly make this house a home. We're so grateful for your contribution to our newlywed nest.
• Your presence at our wedding is all we could ask for. However, for the friends and family who have inquired, we've set up a registry to fund a down payment on our first home after the wedding. We thank you in advance for any contribution you can make to our next life milestone.
• We feel very lucky to have everything we need to stock a house. As such, we've created a cash fund dedicated to helping us pay for that forever home we've always dreamed of owning. Anything you can do to help us make this a reality, we greatly appreciate it.
• We've been blessed to live in our forever home for years now, and we've excited and ready for some upgrades. If you'd like to give us a wedding gift, we're asking for contributions to home renovations so our place is in tip-top shape for our next family get together.
• We're so lucky that we already have all the support we need to begin our life together! However, for those who have inquired, we've set up a cash fund to help pay for a new home. We can't wait to settle into this next chapter with you by our sides.
• Since we have more than we could ever need in physical gifts, and we've been watching a lot of HGTV shows lately, we're feeling inspired. Instead of the typical stand mixer, we would love contributions towards building our own screened-in patio. We appreciate any amount you can provide.

Additional reporting by Chapelle Johnson.