Only if I were 10 years older
My family bought a house in Brooklyn back in 2001, the price was “expensive” for them but with hard work they saved enough to afford it. Now the house is worth 3x as much. Sigh. How can someone in their mid 20’s afford a home in Brooklyn nowadays? Now even working hard and saving a…
My family bought a house in Brooklyn back in 2001, the price was “expensive” for them but with hard work they saved enough to afford it. Now the house is worth 3x as much. Sigh. How can someone in their mid 20’s afford a home in Brooklyn nowadays? Now even working hard and saving a lot wont get you anything… Sigh, I am just venting since I been looking for about 6 months now.
renting is overlooked by too many people as a great alternative to living somewhere you like TODAY. renting is not bad and owning is not necessarily a badge of honor. ownership has its risk – a hard lesson the current mkt is teaching or reminding us. prices aint going to run up on you any time soon. hunt down a nice rental in a neighborhood you consider buying, use the time to save some more, research some more if neighborhood is where you want to live, etc. Crown Heights North for example has big 2-3 bedroom units for rent in the 1700-1800 range – that’s a pretty cheap alternative (vs. mortgage + tax + insurance +….) vs owning.
I agree guikazoid. In many ways I miss the days (’60s–70’s) of Everett Ortner’s “Brownstoners’ Coup” whereby a couple of schoolteachers could buy a brownstone (or other unwanted city house) and live like millionaires on very little money.
You’ll get there! I’ve always found that, whether you rent or own, you have to do a lot of shopping before you find the right place. Check out all the usual sources, Craigs list, NY Times, those little magazines you see in the grocery store…. Make a routine of it. Have fun! I always did.
shoot me an email to guikazoid@hotmail.com ill then send you my gchat address.
thanks!!!
I do use gchat. I am happy to chat with you via email or gchat about properties in the Crown Heights/Prospect Heights area. We literally just closed on one a month ago, and it was an interesting process where I learned a lot. I’ve lived in Park Slope, then Prospect Heights (and Ft Greene for a brief stint) on and off since 1997 and seen the neighborhood change quite a lot during that time. Post your email? Or try to gchat me?
I didn’t use the FHA process, but I’ve heard good things about it if you are willing to go through a bit more extra hoops and if you can scrape together something, now is a good time to buy.
I would also, as a side, advise to stay away from short sales unless you have a strong stomach for risk taking. Short sales are where the properties are selling for less than the mortgage(s) and the bank will lose money. They have to be approved by the bank, who can hold onto your deposit for months on end, only to deny your sale.
We didn’t go the FHA route (we were able to muster up the 10%, rolled the closing costs onto the loan and didn’t have to pay PMI insurance because of a 2nd mortgage). I have a friend who is in the process of closing on a 2 family in Greenpoint and the loan is FHA. I don’t think he is putting more then 3% down though (which is less then 20K). There are limits for FHA loans too (I think for a 3 fam it’s about a million). Talk with any mortage broker about the FHA process (Adam Dahill who is on this site frequently is good). He can give you a good idea about how much of a mortgage you can qualify for.
theklahy. do you use IM? gchat or aim?
PS. The property is located next to a church. I even did research to find out if the church would have lots of homeless or other people hanging around it and I don’t think it did. (Though I applaud churches who feed the homeless and have drug counseling meetings, I didn’t want to live right next door to one.) I thought it was a good deal at the time based on what I offered. I think it is now an even better deal.
Nope, it was this one. http://www.trulia.com/property/1041220816-726-Lincoln-Pl-Brooklyn-NY-11216
I actually made an offer on it in December, and the gentleman declined because he was hoping to get more for it. I have since purchased another property, but am still getting listings from Trulia. I noted that he has now gone with a different realtor who has dropped the price BELOW what I offered in December. It’s the market, I guess. Anyway, the house requires a decent amount of work, but it was decent, and I think the area in that few block radius is getting better rapidly.