house hunting

Just wanted to say i went house hunting today and found NOTHING!!! We went to 4 open houses and not one of them was worth what they were asking!!! It was very frustrating!!!

Dont give up.

Keep the faith

Don't give up. It takes a while before you find what you are looking for. I can't believe the condition and the messes in some of the houses we looked at and what people were asking for them. I mean c'mon, if you are having an open house, at least clean your house and get rid of the dog poop
It takes time and patience, but you will get there. It just takes time to weed through all the cr**.

Don't give up. I've been looking since August and out of 14357294635 homes I feel like I've seen I've bid on 3 only!!!! All 3 times I we were outbid or the deal fell apart on the seller's end. We made a bid last week on a 4th one and are waiting to hear back. Good things come to those who watt.............

Don't give up ... we found our house and so will you! It's discouraging, but unfortunately the way it is!

Dh is a builder & we look @ houses everyweek(for us & for investments) The selection is lame. We have noticed that although the prices are still very high, sellers seem to be taking lower offers. We lost a bid on a house 2 weeks ago were the seller lowered his price by 28K!
Sit tight-don't let interest rates scare you, they will go up as prices come come-but remember the principal of your mortgage is a set number.
Even if intrest rates increase, you'll always have an opportunity to refinance during the lifetime of your mortgage.
We have friends that over-bought a crappy house in the last year & already realize their mistake.

Don't give up!! It took us almost 3 full months to find our house, but it could take you longer...just keep your eyes and ears open, and tell everyone you know that you are looking for a home. Identify the areas you would like to live. Stick to your guns about the important things - LOCATION, SCHOOL DISTRICT and your requirements in the actual home. Prices are very subjective, and you never know when you will find a good deal.

Don't expect to find perfection, and don't be afraid of doing a little work to make an okay house the home of your dreams. We found our house in a fantastic neighborhood and a top-rated SD. It's a home we can grow into and stay in for many years if we want to...that was important to us. It is only 13 years old, and while it needs a little 'love,' we are excited about the process of making it ours. Also, we got it for almost $60K less than the original asking price of the seller!

I'm goint to put myself out there and disagree with Claud. I too bagen my search with Location and Scool District being my TOP priority but it has changed recently. Let me give you the perspective from the other side of the coin. FI and I have been looking for quite some time and were just completely disillusined at the prices yet SD was a prioruty. We were going to be paying TOP dollar for soemthing we wereent going to even use for AT LEAST 5 years (assuming we get pregnant in the 1st year and the baby starts school at 4 yrs old). We don't have any kids and we realized that was silly. We recently placed a bid on a home that is not Known for Yale students but that is very decent. The neighborhood is great and the price was sooooo much less than a TOP SD. We hope we end up with this home because it will give us an opportunity to save $$$ and possibly re-sell in 5-10 yrs when I hope the value will be much higher. then we will be able to afford our dream home. nothing wrong with a starter home (think about it)

Curly, you are absolutely welcomed to disagree with my perspective! Not everyone can afford to buy in great neighborhoods or top school districts, and not everyone cares to. It's all about priorities and what's important to you. You are right - there is NOTHING wrong with a starter home! Don't feel bad about your choice!

I was just trying to emphasize for those that just started looking, the importance of things (like location and SD) that will effect your home and property value over time, and they are also things that you cannot change. Think of it this way - anyone can accomplish home improvements, even if it takes them 10-15 years to get their house the way they want it. But, you cannot pick a house up off it's foundation and move it to a different location. There are starter homes in every neighborhood...it's just that some neighborhoods are more expensive than others and it's usually the better SD's that are more desirable (to buyers) when it comes time to consider selling your home.

Personally, I do not think that resale value is the same in a lower-rated SD or a mediocre location, but that's JMHO.

We ended up doing what Curly is talking about, though it was unintentional. When we were first looking 3 yrs ago we could not afford where we wanted in Nassau. Since school district was important we did our homework, and spoke to some people in the areas that we were looking. We ended up buying in Selden, whcih is the Middle Country school district. Anyway, DH works in the city and I work in Hicksville, and the commute ended up killing us. Although we love the house and like the area we decided to sell. Since we bought at a good time and sold at a better time, it worked out for us to go to Bellmore/Merrick, which is what we originally wanted (we are closing at the end of this month).
But, I wonder if we lucked out. There is never a guarantee that the value of any house, in any area will go up the way they have in the last few years. So, really both ladies are right. You just have to do what you think is best for you, and remember that you may not be able to change the location when you want to depending on the housing market at the time. Good luck with everything.

Curley I think if you dont have any children and dont plan on having any in the next few years I dont see why school districts should be important.

I think claud was right though assuming you either had kids or were planning on having them in the near future.

Schools were my top priority when we bought our home in Dix Hills cause I have a 1st grader and now have another on the way.

However, ultimatly everyone can only buy what they can afford. Long Island is a tough place to buy that 'ideal' house with prices the way they are.

Claud- I knew I could disagree with you and not have it snowball Deep down inside I agree with you to an extent. i want her to see the other side of it if no kids were involved. While I do agree that when you resell the value may not be as high as in a top SD, you will still get a good value for the home. I think that is true for all of LI. We all have valid points. If I had a precious baby boy like you did maybe my mind set would be different but right now planning a wedding AND buying a home is VERY challenging and everone needs to evaluate their own situation like Just Jodi. What a great topic

We aren't even looking yet and it's already making me sick

Househunting was a HORROR for us, because my DH accused me of being a PRINCESS and wanting a 500K house which we obviously can't afford. For us the school district was very important since we have one school age son already and hope to have another. We did buy a semi-starter home on a great block in the Connetquot school district that was affordable. Is it my 'dream home' NO, but it is a nice house that is in good condition that has so much POTENTIAL should we decide to stay forever.

I know it is hard, but be patient, you will find your home

Agree 150% with MichelleW

MichelleW

I finally get to see the house you bought. It is beautiful. I know you are closing soon also. Good luck with everything!!

Its not easy, you really have to hang in there and devote a good amount of time to looking. Dont be discouraged by one day of shopping. You really need to devote some time at first to 'Just Shopping' - get to know what you really want/need in house.

These ladies are correct you really have to prioritize (unless you have unlimited funds ). Sometimes it takes a little time to really discover what your priorities truly are. We looked for about 3 months before it really hit me that I needed a little more property than 40x100. It also took a little time to came to the conclusion that a smaller house that didnt need everything redone worked better for us. - DH knew this all along - he barely knows a hammer from a screwdriver.

Of course if you see something that you love make a bid - you never know. Sometimes being in the right place at the right time is all it takes.

Good Luck

It took us well over year to find a home. There were (and still are) a lot of disappointing houses at there. Location, property size and school district were priorities for us (from a resale point of view), while we sacrificed our home style & size (you can always make changes to the physical home). We started out looking for a 4 bedroom New England Colonial, but ended up with 3 bedroom ranch! We lost 3 bids on colonials, which were all well over the asking price! I cried quite a bit, but looking back, I'm so grateful we lost them! I love where we live! I truly believe everything happens for a reason.