Just need to vent! We just moved back to the Island from Cali, and we're hunting for a home. We are not locked into one particular area, since I'm not working yet (new Mom to the adorable baby I posted a photo of), and my husband is able to work from our home.
I cannot believe that 300K can only buy you a 'fix up special'!!! This is insane! I thought the housing market in Cali was bad - at least out there you can find gorgeous rentals! Of course, a 2 br shack sells for 500-700K, but that's why we moved!
We are looking at possibly going much further East, but then we'll have at least an hour's drive to see friends and family. It kinda makes moving back pointless. Granted, anything less than a 6 hr plane ride is better, but I want to be somewhat convenient to my family (Nassau). Ugh - thanks for listening to my rant!
Suzanne
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Re: The house hunt...woe is me
I was in the same boat as you not to long ago.. we put about 300-350K cap on what we wanted to buy, and i thought that was a lot of money,., what a joke! for that price they showed me houses smaller than my apt. with no basements, washer and dryers in the middle of kitchens .. it was like rediculous... i am picky about where i want to live because i really WANT a good school district... luckily for me my landlord offered us a deal of a life time on the house we currently rent, however this is no where near cheap.. and i have to completly renovate which will put prob another 70K on top of the loan.. but im in the school dist. i want and the town i wanted..i keep hearing the market will come down soon..my sil just moved to suffolk (shirley i think) and she got a 5 bedroom house with a yard as big as a football field, in a good school dist, for like 100K (im sure somethings is up for that price but i cant figure out what) but for me that was too far.. good luck with your hunt and with your BEAUTIFUL baby!!
Karen H
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Re: The house hunt...woe is me
We found that we had our best luck with houses that were in the Friday section of new listings, or those that our realtor brought to us that were not yet published in the papers. The really good ones get snapped up fast.
You're right - there is not a lot out there in that price range. We were trying to keep it under 300k and ended up just a little bit over. It's a fixer-uper but it's mostly cosmetic - paint, trim, yardwork and the bedroom and kitchen were in pretty good shape. The engineer said it was structurally sound. It's in Sayville - a 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath farm ranch with a half finished basement (ok - it's really half of the basement is half finished ) and the garage was converted to a den/family room. It has a fireplace and a jacuzzi in the master bedroom and sits on a half acre. We decided to get the space we'd go for the fixer upper.
Keep looking - I've noticed more listings in the paper than I've seen all summer (we've been keeping an eye out for hubby's cousin) Good luck!
Claud2001
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Karen H - how do you like Sayville?
I'm wondering b/c I saw a listing today, and was hesitant to call about it b/c I am not very familiar with the area. What school district are you in? Any guidance/advice on that area is appreciated!
And, I'm glad to hear you're settled into your new home - congratulations!
Fran M
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Re: The house hunt...woe is me
Claud - If you are not worried about the commute to NYC you may want to look in Ronkonkoma. You can get a very decent size property and a house that is 20-30 years old for less than 300,000 and the taxes on the older homes out there are not bad. They are also doing a lot of building - beautiful homes with everything in them for around 350,000 but the taxes are hefty, in the 7,000 to 10,000 range. Best of luck. The baby is beautiful!
Karen H
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Re: Karen H - how do you like Sayville?
We're very happy living in Sayville. It has a cute Main street area with shops and a Starbucks and a town beach with a small marina. The school districts are supposed to be excellent. We're in Connetquot school district, and part of the town is also in Sayville district I think. It's a safe area. Hubby stopped by the local police station to try to get some feedback and recommendations about putting in an alarm system and the guy at the desk sortof chuckled when he heard where our house was and told him not to worry.
They just had the big summer festival, where they had a carnival at the park in town, and shut down the streets for an arts and crafts fair and various dance performances. The town does a lot of community things. They have a website - www.sayville.com - you can see pictures there.
I think it's about 1:20 min by train to Manhattan. During off hours it's about a 50 minute drive to visit our family in Queens (Middle Village or Bayside) I'm fortunate to work a whopping 3.7 miles from home and hubby works from a home office so we're lucky to avoid the commute.
We're well situated for lots of things - within 45 minutes or so you can be in Nassau or in the Hamptons. This weekend's Newsday had a couple of open housed listed for Sayville - I don't recall the price range (some were pricy, some were under 300k but I don't remember which were the open houses) or the day, but you may want to check them out. Also look on Realtor.com
