I am impressed by the amount of people who own their own homes(M)

Michele thats wonderful!!!

Anna thats digusting & sad!

I used to know someone like this, and she collected, worked off the books & lives better than alot of people who work full time jobs! Her freezer was always stocked with meats galore, she had her rent paid free, she worked cleaning offices, WHEN she felt like it and lived so well, meanwhile I was paying for her to live this way !!!

I think buyin a home is all about comprimise. I am sure we would all want a huge mansion on a huge piece of beautifully landscaped property but that is not in many people's budgets so we have to find a home that best fits our needs and makes us feel like 'home' all at the same time.
For scott and I being close to the LIE and LIRR was a MUST. With our long commutes living in an area that would take us 30+ minutes to get to the LIE during rush hour was NOT an option. For those people who work locally or are not working at all that is probably not an issue so they don't care about how far the LIE is from their home.
I wanted a DR- it didn't have to be formal but I wanted a place for family holiday dinners. A friend of mine never entertains so she didn't care one way or the other about it.
Scott and I wanted to begin TTC and we knew we didn't want to have the baby in our one bedroom condo since space was already tight for us. We wanted to buy a home prior to TTC so we had to decide a) wait TTC and save more money or b) start TTC and buy a home with what we have now.

Again, you need to do what is best for your family and not worry about what others think is best for you.

Sonicstef I agree with you re: the prices of materials!!!!

We had this steel beam put in (in order for us to tear down a bearing wall and not have columns), and the beam alone was $12,000!

Insanity!! Everything is sooo much expensive.

Our windows....Anderson..(they're really big, I think about 8 feet tall x 10 feet and arched at the top), were around $2,000 a piece.

It's crazy!

Can we change this thread to gripe about the cost of home related stuff?

I just bought a gallon of paint with a few other things like brushes and painters tape and it cost me $55!!! What the hell??? Why the hell is this stuff so expensive?

People always say Just Paint and then you have to spend tons of $$$ on brushes, paint, drop clothes and those stupid plastic pans to put the paint in. Now I know you can use the brushes again but ***??? I started buying quarts to make sure I like the color and ended up spending close to $100 just on sampling the stupid colors for my walls.

And to have 2 trees removed from our yard (that are full of poison ivy) $600! I would MUCH rather put that money into something that I can use or my headboard/footboard. 2 trees gone from our side yard will not really beautifty or make a difference at all to the house.

if pool-related stuff counts as 'homerelated' the prices are also INSANE !!!! just to buy chlorine, and all the other chemicals and nik naks (JOhns job) to maintain a pool. Its like having another child to shop for in the summer !
Last year a VERY NICE saleskid at a local pool store told a customer that a $4 item they sold was at Home Depot for $1 !!! and of course the customer goes 'ah, its not worth the trouble'..

And when I heard what the markup is in the pool industry, I wanted to THROW UP !!

John and I joke around that we should open up a pool supply store here in the summers, and go to Florida from sept-may

Anna: When I was a kid, we had a pool in one of our houses. My father (aka cheapest man alive) saw the cost of chlorine and flipped, so he decided to see if regular bleach from the 99 cents store did the same thing. And it worked exactly the same.

I have no idea what he did with it b/c by the time i was old enough to do that sort of stuff, we no longer had the pool - but if you played around with the quanities, etc, you could probably save yourself a lot. They sell no name bleach at the 99 cents store.

Stef: Yep. Johns buddies that grew up with pools, told him several ways to save. I think he buys Baking soda/powder?? instead of 'whatever they call it in pool stores' ( think the 'shock')(LOL) is like 20% of the price they charge in pool stores!!!
its sickening. He's finding out tricks of the trade as we go along.

Stef..

I heard at Lowes if you are a carpender and show a business card you get a discount..
If U want I can give you one of Ronnie's!!

Ronnie was able to make 400 bucks in about 4 hrs to put up crown molding in someone's bedroom.
and the Wood cost about 300 bucks..

I guess bc Wood is from the Earth they think they can charge more for it..............

You should get into the business!!!!!

Find Ronnie work and you get a finders fee.. J/K

Stef I agree home related stuff is so expensive. FI and I just went to home depot yesterday to get 2 rolls of duct tape and some other odds and ends and we spent over 60 dollars.

well I am glad to see I am not alone. I was born and lived on the island up until 5 years ago when I moved out to LA. Out here I met the man of my dreams along with the best weather you can ask for.

As we our planning the wedding now and looking to buy a house I feel better by reading this post. I kept telling FH back on Long Island the houses aren't this much....LOL....

It sounds like the same. The differance I think is out here you don't get any land. And houses (very small fixer uppers) are going for at least 400K and above.

How is it possible to do all of this nowadays?

I don't get.

P.S. Not sure if I am 'allowed' to post on this board but i read this thread and had to chime in.... thanks for induldging me...LOL

'wowlifeisgood'...being that you are in CA...there a lot more opportunities to buy nice townhouse...in communities...pool, gym..you know...

thats not a big option in LI...so houses it must be...


my mom and I went to an open house in her neighborhood (she went in out of curiosity...she's done a lot to her house...and wanted to see what these people did) well...on the back of the flier...they told you how you could afford the house for $52K down!!! sound good?

$3100 - a month...mortgage payments
$800 - a month...taxes

can you imagine paying $4K in mortgage/rent? the worst part...is the house wasn't in good condition at all...


I don't think that housing will fall...just stablize...the only thing to worry about is deflation...If this happens (which it could easily happen) then all of us with debt (mortgage included) will be paying a lot more for the house than anticipated...

Stef- great assessment on the economics of the situation- after a semester of economics I actually understood it! I'm so proud.

I think the housing prices are going to come down... historically nothing just rises, rises, rises... it is cyclical. I had this same argument with my mother the other day because I want to buy and she said to just chill out for a little bit. I said, 'why, the housing prices won't fall!' And she said.. oh no? and went into a 30 minute discussion of about 5 different people I know who's houses have gone down in price (in 70s, 80s, etc.). So it is possible, and I do think as interest rates rise again (and they will) the housing market is going to have to come down to accommodate this.

so, we are waiting. We want to by a condo in Edgewater, NJ- they are still affordable (under 200k) but we are just going to keep saving & just have more of a down payment.