Buying a House

[Paolissimo]

Also, once you decide on a house and you are ready for the mortgage, look into biweekly payment for your mortgage, you'll be surprised on how much you can save. Make sure that whatever bank you choose, offers it.

 

[DrAsTiC]

I to have been looking for a house and +1 on zillow. You can even ask professionals advice in the forums on zillow. I have been looking in North Nj Bergen county area because what you get there is better in most places I have been looking. Yonkers has some really nice areas also with taxes not to bad.I work in Manhattan so I am looking for easy access to the city. Best thing to do is do research online and read up. Make sure the realtor you get is doing what you ask them and not showing you properties that are not what you are looking for or are way out of your price range. I think it is a tactic of the agents to show you out of your price range houses. They get you thinking about spending more money.

 

[crox99]

It all equals out to about the same. Us long islanders don't pay 3000 dollars per year in city taxes on our paychecks. Add that to a house in the Boros taxes which is about 3000 it's totally worth it. You might pay an extra 2000 per year in taxes compared to the city but schools,parks,living,and having a spot in a driveway or in front of your house EVERYDAY and not worrying about parking tickets priceless.

I totally agree. NYC income tax rate is close to 4% so for a family where both spouses work it can be more than paying high real estate taxes. Also if I would be living in the city I would've sent my daughter to private school.......

 

[nanoreefer22]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Me and Mich read through this thread a couple times and have been thinking about this way too much. We did decide that we would like to stay in Brooklyn or Queens, which makes this search increasingly difficult to find something in our price range. She wants to stay close to family and I can't deny her that.

I've been browsing those sites you all linked and there are some houses in the $500 - $550k range that would be manageable if we can save for a while longer.

I'll keep you all updated. Really do appreciate the advice!

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Good luck Kris..Did you get my pm? Also to all those who swear by zillow..it is very good for price history ,tax history etc BUT their appraisals are not accurate so don't think that if the price is 350 and the zestimate is 450 that it's automatically worth that. The only way to really know is to do an appraisal and market value changes all the time.

 

[guarda]

+1 triggerman. Didn't want to start a flame war for no benefit to me whatsoever but zillow is a scam. try to leave a negative review on any broker/firm who has a paid ad on zillow and see if it gets through. I personally don't think that people in the industry use it nor its data for any decision making endeavors. hang on while i get my flamesuit...

 

[guarda]

and like i said, acris for historical sales data and nycserv for taxes paid. it's public info so i'd rather get it from the source instead of regurgitated

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

As a former licensed real estate agent and someone who still keeps up w/ everything and is buying a house himself trust me when I tell you that people in the industry do not rely on zillow because it is not always accurate. Another site I used to use to search was weichert realtors there is tojs of listings and is very easy to navigate but they are also not very accurate they still have listings from 2-3 years ago on there that have already been sold saying they are available.

 

[nanoreefer22]

If looking in queens, what areas would you guys recommend thats MTA friendly.

 

[ming]

If looking in queens, what areas would you guys recommend thats MTA friendly.

If you're looking in Queens, and I assume "MTA" means excluding bus, then I would say around Forest Hills/Rego Park.. or Elmhurst (not East Elmhurst).

Another option is to live near the LIRR stations in Queens which can expand your options a bit more.

Take a look at www.redfin.com

 

[ming]

Also, if you're curious about the demographics of where you choose to live, check this out (2 year old data, but its more or less correct)
http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map
You can choose the view the map by population density, ethnicity, etc

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Flushing in my rea is great we have every highway in close proximity and lots of buses that go to main street to the 7 train. Realistically the 3 best areas are whitestone flushing and bayside. I don't know about a fully detached you might get lucky but you could definitely get a semi for that around here. Also what about si? Si isn't bad and that money could get you something real nice there the ferry goes right to the city there's buses everywhere. I'm SI bound myself.

 

[duke62]

SI bound? what happened to all the talk of wanting to move to LI cause you hate the city?

 

[nanoreefer22]

Thanks for the info Ming that site's pretty cool.

J, me and the wife have different plans. Wife wins and we're staying in the city for now at least

 

[CoralMeister]

Get a good idea online. Westchester County is very nice.

Except that Westchester has the biggest property taxes in the country!!



Move to Cali you won't be sorry

 

[Awibrandy]

Kris, Michelle, you've gotten good advice in previous post. I will only add, and STRESS DO NOT purchase anything with a "Two Party" driveway. Sooner or later you will regret it. That was the biggest mistake we made with our first purchase. Original neighbors were wonderful, but then we got new neighbors, and all hell let loose....
Also, when you find a neighborhood you think you like take a trip there at different times of the day so that you can get a feel for what the place is really like!!

Best wishes for a successful, and pleasant experience! I wish my original Realtor was still in business. He was like an Angel sent from heaven. The last one was just a money hungry person.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

SI bound? what happened to all the talk of wanting to move to LI cause you hate the city?

LOL Never said I hate the city I love queens just can't afford a house here man it's too damn expensive. Minimum for even a semi is like 450-500 fully detached are like 600+. Taxes in LI are so much too and we decided we didn't want to be so far out. Staten just seemed like the best bang for our buck plus we have a lot of friends there she is from there. I thought I told you about all this?

Back to the topic at hand wtf Kris am I chopped liver ova hea? I sent you a pm and didn't hear back. I hope you have all the info you need. Let me know what you decide to do and I will hook you up w/ someone.

As far as Awi's comment I def agree on that you want your own driveway for sure.

 

[cono]

Hey I live in long island and I am walking distance to city limits... the school district is one of the best here and everything is very close ( shopping, transit, hospitals, highways) ) . And i work in brooklyn and its not a bad ride . Its about 13 miles. I work in Williamsburg and live in " the incorporated village of floral park.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Any thoughts on buying a co-op? Understand the basics behind it, would it be a decent investment?

I came across one that has everything we want minus 1 bedroom for a great price.

Would it be worth looking into?

 

[yesjenks]

Nothing to lose by looking.