To Anyone Househunting

We are trying to find an affordable home in a decent neighborhood. The biggest problem is finding a decent neighborhood. And I'm not talking Garden City or Sands Point, Etc. Can anyone tell me where to go?! We'll even look in Rockland Cty, or NJ, ETC. Cummutable to NYC.

Hey Guys-

A quick question. When are you not considered a newlywed anymore. I know there is a time frame and I was just curious. I'm thinking 3 yrs but is it sooner??? Our 2 yr anniversary is coming up and I hope I am still one :) In our hearts I hope we are always newlyweds.......sniff sniff

To Anyone Househunting

Lynbrook, Malverne (westwood section),Rockville Center, New Hyde Park, Mineola, Garden City Park (less expensive than Garden City) and Roslyn are close to Manhattan by train. I'm not sure how expensive Roslyn has gotten but I guess it's worth a call to a real estate agent.

Hey Guys-

A quick question. When are you not considered a newlywed anymore. I know there is a time frame and I was just curious. I'm thinking 3 yrs but is it sooner??? Our 2 yr anniversary is coming up and I hope I am still one :) In our hearts I hope we are always newlyweds.......sniff sniff

To Anyone Househunting

We just bought a house in Massapequa in the Farmingdale school district. We started looking closer to the city - Rockville Centre, Roslyn,Garden City, Oceanside, but they were all very expensive. The other towns in between like Baldwin, Mineola, Franklin Square, were okay but had some shady areas or the school districts were not very strong. Some other good towns in the area are Wantagh, Bethpage, Seaford, Massapequa and Farmingdale. It's about a 45 minute train ride from these towns to NYC.

Good luck hunting!
Kathy

To Anyone Househunting

I was also checking out areas closer to the city, but they are expensive. Try Merrick or Bellmore...I've heard great things about the schools. East Meadow, Wantagh, Massapequa are also worth checking out.
Kathy

To Anyone Househunting

My brother and his family live in Metuchen. It is a really cute town and I take the train out from Manhattan all the time to see them!
We are 40 minutes by train from NYC. This town
is great!! We have a train station right in the middle of town. We have great resale value, and still pretty reasonably priced. We have high taxes but not as high as Nassau. I went to a neighborhood watch meeting last night. There has not been a homicide in the last 10 years and there were 4 burglaries last year and 1 this year(it's almost over!) Check us Out! Also Westfield NJ is great but, a little more pricey.

YOU COULD LOOK INTO

Long Beach. That's where we bought a home and moved in this June.
Good school districts, a lot of sprucing up going on in all the neighborhoods, a lot of community events, great boardwalk and a 45 min ride on LIRR into Penn station.
Kathy

JUNE/ To Anyone Househunting

Thank you for your input! A friend of mine lives in Metuchen and she loves it as well. Would never think of coming back. We'll look into it, it seems there are alot more options in NJ. We fell in love with Hillsdale, in Bergen Cty, almost the same distance to the city.
Plus, rob doens' know how to cut the strings easily either. He winds up being gruff with them..and then his mom confides in me. So here I am in the middle.
oh well, they too have tried to buy things to decorate our home- without asking...and spending $$ they really shouldn't. so we are weaning them off of this by saying, thanks but I really dont need that..can you use it for someone else?

More on Buying (very long)

There are two different ways you can go ... pre-approved or pre-qualified. When we went househunting, we weren't aware of that. According to the real estate agent representing the house we wanted, we were just pre-qualified not pre-approved. I'm not completely sure what the difference is, but we did have a dollar amount showing what we could get a mortgage for, we just didn't have a specific bank saying they were ready to give it. Maybe that's where the difference comes in. Either way, both are very good when you are ready to make an offer. The seller knows you can really afford what you're telling them you will pay, giving you an edge over someone making an offer without it.

I too have heard it's not good to have a lot of inquiries on your credit prior to a big purchase. Make sure you know what mortgage company you want to go with before you have them run all the searches. All companies do not offer the same rates, but I think companies tend to run either consistently above or below the competition. It may only seem like minor differences, but we're talking about a lot of money...those minor differences will add up over the course of the loan.

For us, the process moved extremely fast, though it seemed like forever. We found the house in mid-October and were supposed to be in before Christmas, until the homeowner changed their mind and decided to stay through Christmas. If I remember correctly, owners have the right to delay a closing date by up to 30 days.

Buying a home (long)

Dear Homeowner,

Someone else told me to get pre-approved too. We should do this even though we don't know where we want to live and are still building on our down payment? I also heard that the more inquiries that are made into your credit status the worse it looks for you. Is this true? When you get pre-approved for a mortgage through a bank, do you have to then get your mortgage through that bank? Are all the banks pretty much the same in terms of rates and such?
oh well, they too have tried to buy things to decorate our home- without asking...and spending $$ they really shouldn't. so we are weaning them off of this by saying, thanks but I really dont need that..can you use it for someone else?

Buying a home (long)

Though I am not a newlywed yet, I am a homeowner. We did things a little backwards...got the house first, then decided on a wedding date.

We bought our home in Deer Park, close to Dix Hills and Commack. We looked into some of the previously mentioned Long Island towns like Wantagh, Seaford, Farmingdale and such. We noticed you get a lot more for your money if you are willing to move out a little more east.

We are less than a five minute ride from the train station (aprx. 45 min to NYC) and are in a very age diverse neighborhood. There are plenty of young couples as well as older couples. And everyone makes maintenance of the house and yard a priority.

To Anyone Househunting

I live in Metuchen NJ, I am from Long Island.
We are 40 minutes by train from NYC. This town
is great!! We have a train station right in the middle of town. We have great resale value, and still pretty reasonably priced. We have high taxes but not as high as Nassau. I went to a neighborhood watch meeting last night. There has not been a homicide in the last 10 years and there were 4 burglaries last year and 1 this year(it's almost over!) Check us Out! Also Westfield NJ is great but, a little more pricey.

To Anyone Househunting

That is great to hear-- def worth looking into for us--
are you from LI? I still cant believe I am a Jersey girl--
Laura

To Anyone Househunting

June
How long have you been in Metuchen-- I am in Ridgefield Park right now and within the year we are going to start house hunting and a friend of ours lives in Metuchen and thinks we will love it--
any info would be great

To Anyone Househunting

Hey Laura!

I live on Highland Ave. We bought this house
5 years ago. The schools are amazing, there is no need to go to private school but, there are great Catholic schools in the area too. Our area(right around Main St.) is beautiful, you can walk to the train station. You don't even need a station car!