Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

Nope. No way right now to afford a downpayment for a one-family house anywhere in this country right now regardless of region or city. However, we were able to afford a downpayment for a cooperative apartment in Queens. So, it was good to own something rather than paying rent.

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

Trust me, now-a-days, you do NOT need to put down 20% and there are ways of getting around the PMI.. if you have a good agent/broker, they'll give you those options.

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

We don't want to buy a house on LI right now- I'm just not ready to be suburban. We are going to buy a condo in Jersey City the beginning of next year.

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

We are buying a new house, but in CT. We are not putting down 20% though, you can get a good mortgage broker to get you around that and PMI if you both have good credit. Its not only the prices of the houses in NY/LI, its the TAXES. We saw houses where the taxes along were $10k a year and over We are paying $3k in taxes on the house we are building brand new.

That said, if we can save for a down payment, anyone can. Set up a saving schedule, have a portion of each of your incomes go automatically into your savings/money market acount. Also put any incremental funds (tax returns, bonus, wedding gifts) into it. We are paying for more than half of our wedding too, and we did it. You can too!

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

We just bought a house in Dallas and it is great! I struggle with wanting to live on LI but not wanting to pay the ridiculous costs there. We could never have what we have in Texas in New York. And as much as we say we want to head back north I think it is going to be hard after we settle into our house and start enjoying it. We would definately have to take a huge step backwards if we moved to LI. I want a nice comfortable life where I can go out to dinner and take nice vacations and go out with my friends and still have an amazing house. Unfortunately, NY doesn't offer us that right now. The taxes alone in NY are ridiculous and more than what we put down on our house in Dallas!

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

We can come up with a reasonable down payment (though not 20%) but it's making the huge monthly payments for the rest of our lives that scares me. (Also means no time off work for me if we have children - another horrible thought).

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

This has been scaring me for months!! We have lived in an apartment for over 3 years and I am so sick of it!!! I can't stand not having a backyard and there is never enough room. I don't want the both of us killing ourselves just so we could have decent house all the way out east on LI. What fun is living if you can't enjoy it and once we have children we agreed that I would not work. How the h*ll can we afford to do that on LI? FH's friend just bought a house in Florida for $180 and it is suppose to be beautiful.

We have been looking more and more into moving away from LI (it's too crowded anyway). I want to go somewhere that it is like how LI was when I was growing up. We have been looking into Delaware (because we don't want to be that far from family) and it really seems nice and affordable. I have been looking at houses online and a $200k is what would be at least $400k up here! We just want to see how the pay compares to from here. It makes me sick because some of these really nice houses monthly payment is almost half of my rent!

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

Actually, in my experience so far the down payment was the worst part. We pay so much in rent that our mortgage payment for a new house is not that much more than we pay for rent- and less than my friend in Manhattan pays for a tiny apt.

speaking of budgeting for kids, FH and I were at pre-cana last night and the couple told us they pay $20,000 a year for daycare That to me is so much more scary than a mortgage!

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

My husband and I have decided not to talk about buying a house for couple years. We are just starting to get back on our feet and buying a house right now is out of the question. We don't want to start a family until we have a house but I don't want to wait to long for both. We also both decided that if we have kids I would stay home but I don't want my husband working 2 jobs just so we can pay a mortgage.

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

The market is so crazy right now. You might want to hold off...hopefully, they will go down.

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

My FI and I are putting together an aggressive plan to save up for a house. He really wants that before we have children, so I am thinking at least two and half to three years before that could happen. We are reallly going to try to make this a reality, but the cost of the house isn't so much what scares me. It is the additional costs..... the homeowners insurance, the appraisers insurance, the extra money you need in the bank in case the septic system explodes or the refrig stops working, and the closing costs. Also, to refinance your house I heard it costs a lot of money up front.

Re: Is anyone able to afford a downpayment for a house?

my family helped provide to get my downpayment.. and they wouldnt charge me for stuff other parents do.. we got a set amount for the wedding.. and we're working within a budget(about 20k) so that we dont have to spend any money