Pinching Pennies To Save Up for a Down Payment
This week’s cover story in the New York Times real estate section is about people who’ve scrimped and sacrificed— sometimes for years— to save up enough money for the down payment on their first home. One guy survived for an entire year on a daily diet of a $2.95 chicken special and a 99-cent coke;…
This week’s cover story in the New York Times real estate section is about people who’ve scrimped and sacrificed— sometimes for years— to save up enough money for the down payment on their first home. One guy survived for an entire year on a daily diet of a $2.95 chicken special and a 99-cent coke; another woman started drinking only at happy hours. It’s notoriously hard to save from paycheck to paycheck in New York City; we were lucky that a real estate deal we worked on back in 1999 paid off well enough a few years later to enable us to come up with the downpayment on our house. (That, and we had the good fortune to flip a couple of one-bedrooms in Manhattan between 1997 and 2000, when we cashed out thinking the market had peaked! Got that one wrong, huh?) There must be lots of tales of self-deprivation in the name of nest-egg building. Anyone care to share?
Every Penny Counts [NY Times]
10:58
sounds like you can’t make it on your own…some hard work+some education+determination=goes a long way
“But then again who cares what you all think.”-
sounds like you lack education
10:58
sounds like you can’t make it on your own…some hard work+some education+determination=goes a long way
“But then again who cares what you all think.”-
sounds like you lack education
1:22 – Having parents’ or anyone’s help doesn’t make you a child. No man is an island and I’m sure that even if no one helped you financially someone gave you something of value (knowledge maybe) that helped you get to where you are.
But then again who cares what you all think.
if your parents helped you buy your first place…or any place…you are a CHILD not an ADULT…
me:
grew up penniless in south bronx
made wise investments
millionaire
“As an earlier poster pointed out, this really is a matter of credibility, and if I were one of this site’s advertisers I can tell you that I’d want Mr. B to pipe up a.s.a.p.”
How in the world is this information relevant to the advertisers on this site?
Doesn’t sound like Brownstoner had any financial help getting into the market, but even if he did, it was all the decisions he and his wife made with their subsequent purchases and sales that got them where they are today.
It really doesn’t matter how Brownstoner, or anyone else has funded their real estate transactions as long as its legal. Even if he did have help, that doesn’t mean he now has a credibility problem, or is unable to “walk the walk”. What a petty and weak-minded arguement!
If this site were a mere blog, I’d agree that Mr. B shouldn’t utter a peep about how he financed his first home. However, this site is a COMMERCIAL endeavor. Hence, it is perfectly reasonable for people to want to know that Mr. B not only talks the talk, but also walks the walk. So, I think it is very important now that Mr. B be forthcoming about this. As an earlier poster pointed out, this really is a matter of credibility, and if I were one of this site’s advertisers I can tell you that I’d want Mr. B to pipe up a.s.a.p.
living with my parents rent free!
I cashed out my 401k and all my savings and maxed out my credit cards to buy a brownstone in 2000. Since then I’ve bought a few more and they’ve all tripled in value.
I ate PB&J for lunch and cut out alot of extra’s for a year or so and purchased my first home in a neighborhood that I knew I didn’t want to stay in for long. The plan was to stay a while, build equity and sell at a profit to purchase elsewhere. That’s exactly what happened. After only four years I sold at twice what I paid and put a substantial down payment down on my home in Ditmas Park in 1996. Although we cannot go back to 1996/1997 as one poster suggested this can still be done. My friend, a single mom bought a home in Brownsville. Not necessarily where she wanted to be but its hers and she and her children are happy. The value of her home has already increased considerably.