Long Island real estate market

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Posted by David'sbride

While you guys are right about several things you aren't regarding rent being better than a mortgage.

The interest you pay on a mortgage is tax deductible. DH's friend makes about the same as him and when they were both single his friend's rent and DH's mortage were pretty close in cost. Well, FH made out much better tax wise because of the mortgage versus rent. Also when you buy you do build equity. Yes, prices are not going to increase as much as they have in the past few years but they most likely won't go down. This area can only build/hold so many houses because it's an island where some other areas of the country can continue the urban sprawl.

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i see what you're saying but it depends what your income is. we get hit with the alternative minimum tax and this yr we were told that even when we buy, it wont help us that much (if at all) which really stinks.

Tax deductibility is a funny thing. It all depends on your personal situation. For some its not even worth it. Its not like you get to deduct the whole amount anyway.

A friend of mine got $2K. Whopee!

RENT:
I know for a fact that in my area the price of rentals have come down considerably and no its not a low end place. WE moved into an apartment that 3-4 years ago was going from $2900-$3200 a month. Now we are paying $1350. We both gave up our respective apartments and are now saving a month $1300 between the two of us by living together. Im sorry but that is a friggin deal:) and we love it here and its the most beautiful aparmtent new kitchen, bath etc. the neighborhood is great and safe as well.

Its a no brainer for us.

Even my boss who is a multimillionare has sold everything he held in RE(talking hundreds of properties) he told me this is a sellers market not a buyer's. He has not purchased one piece of property and will be waiting to buy much later when prices come down. THis is what his family has been doing for over 80 years now. So I trust that he and his dad and grandad now 90 know what they are doing!

Still I wish everyone all the best and hopefully it wll work out for all:).

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Posted by glenda2004

Tax deductibility is a funny thing. It all depends on your personal situation. For some its not even worth it. Its not like you get to deduct the whole amount anyway.

A friend of mine got $2K. Whopee!

RENT:
I know for a fact that in my area the price of rentals have come down considerably and no its not a low end place. WE moved into an apartment that 3-4 years ago was going from $2900-$3200 a month. Now we are paying $1350. We both gave up our respective apartments and are now saving a month $1300 between the two of us by living together. Im sorry but that is a friggin deal:) and we love it here and its the most beautiful aparmtent new kitchen, bath etc. the neighborhood is great and safe as well.

Its a no brainer for us.

Even my boss who is a multimillionare has sold everything he held in RE(talking hundreds of properties) he told me this is a sellers market not a buyer's. He has not purchased one piece of property and will be waiting to buy much later when prices come down. THis is what his family has been doing for over 80 years now. So I trust that he and his dad and grandad now 90 know what they are doing!

Still I wish everyone all the best and hopefully it wll work out for all:).

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Well for your boss it is a sellers market if you don't need the property to live in. If you bought investment properties a few years ago and then sold them for a profit then he is right. If you buy a property to live in, that's a whole different story.

There are areas of the country that are still growing and are worthy of investing in. NY will always be a strong market no matter what. LI is very desirable.

Like any other investment, timing is everything, but real estate will always be a good buy.

I'm glad your rent is cheap and you are happy. The dream of homeownership is a important to some and for others not quite as important. Also, having the knowledge that you have control over your housing situation is comforting.

Just wanted to add that homeownership is very important to us, very much so. Just because we dont choose to get an ARM loan or a Zero% down loan JUST so we can buy property doesnt mean that we have homeownership on the back burner.

Its just that we feel that if we have to come up with all kinds of creatives ways to buy a home because we dont have the money to put down on it and to risk living paycheck to paycheck, then its probably not a good idea to buy.

If you cant afford it(like in our case and some others) then maybe you shouldnt be buying.

Dont even get me started on the people who before they even move in to the house have already taken the equity out of it!!!

And how about the 0% down loans?? just paying interest loans? mean if you are just paying interest on that house then you arent gettin any equity from the home only from the inflating pricing frenzy. What if the homes do come down even slightly. YOU mean to tell me these people arent going to feel it?

Oh I just heard that in 2002 or is it 2003 well anyway interest only mortgages were like 2% in 2005 its 63%!! holy cow.

PS: I dont think LI is that desirable, I mean its nice and all but its not like the all in all place to live and the property taxes are insane. Its not like everyone I talk to dreams of living in LI. There are lots of other nice places to live as well.

PSS: MY BOSS SOLD HIS APARTMENT, because he could get so much money if he sold it. He is married and his kids are long gone. THEY ARE RENTING! yup! you heard it right. They got so many extras if they rented in the building they are in now it was like a no brainer. Is he crazy, yeah maybe but he is confident that he did the right thing. I dont know maybe selling his place was bit much but he can afford to I guess.


Ok just wanted to add that in.

Interest only loans are not 63%..?? I'm not sure what you mean here.

I happen to agree that taking an interest only loan is high risk and I wouldn't do it.

LI is desirable due to it's proximity to NYC just as other suburbs have proximity to their downtowns. Also LI has some of the best schools in the nation. The property taxes are high and that really sux, but people still want to live here.

I'm guessing your boss has other properties still even with the sale of his primary residence.

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Posted by Blu-ize

Interest only loans are not 63%..?? I'm not sure what you mean here.

I happen to agree that taking an interest only loan is high risk and I wouldn't do it.

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She is probably saying that IO loans probably make up 63% of all the loans that are being taken right now (compared to Fixed, ARM, etc).


I don't think IO loans are THAT popular... at least not for first mortgage. It probably got up to 63% because of all the re-fis going on. IO is a popular refinance option.

But if 63% of all home buyers are going IO on their primary mortgage... there are probably a lot of dumb people out there.

IO makes sense sometimes... but for the most part it doesn't.

My DH saw a program the other night which featured a couple in California (where the RE prices seem worse than NY). They had a combined income of a little more than 100k per year, and had just bought a $900,000 house. Not sure what the down payment details were, but they took out an IO loan, and according to this show about 60% of new mortgages in California are IO.

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Posted by DjPiLL

I have a feeling in the next two years you will see a ton of forclosures or selling due to all the people that bought way beyond their means and are living paycheck to paycheck.

Watch for it.

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I couldn't agree more!

Glenda- you made my night!!!

I cry b/c i feel like I will never own a house. Anyone can 'get' a house. And the 63% of IO loans are merely 'renting' from the bank. Thats how it was explained to me. I will 'own' my home when the time is right for 'us'. Not 'rent' from the bank. My friend just got a tiny tiny ranch $3000/month IO loan, no-income check...and doenst have a pit to pi$$ in.

NO THANKS!!

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Posted by nervouschic

Glenda- you made my night!!!

I cry b/c i feel like I will never own a house. Anyone can 'get' a house. And the 63% of IO loans are merely 'renting' from the bank. Thats how it was explained to me. I will 'own' my home when the time is right for 'us'. Not 'rent' from the bank. My friend just got a tiny tiny ranch $3000/month IO loan, no-income check...and doenst have a pit to pi$$ in.

NO THANKS!!

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I agree! That is why we are renting for another two years! We are not ready to piss in the pot just yet! And the sad part of it all...I find that i have to explain my decision to those who question why we are renting! It makes me so mad!

We rented until we had enough to afford it. Even after that, we were scared of paying twice as much as our rent.

In the end, we bought and we are glad we did. We are also now buying an investment property out of state.

There is no shame in renting. If you want to buy a house eventually, do it when you can without emptying your bank account and strapping you.

So happy to see Im not alone here!

There is one thing Im afraid of most of all is being house poor.

If we managed to buy now we would barely have money to eat never mind fix the house and buy furniture etc.

So we would have to sit in the house and stare at the walls. We would have tv but probably just basic.

Maybe Im spoiled but Im just not ready to sacrifice myself for who knows how many years just so that I can have a house.

Im still young and can wait another 5 years or so to buy.

I just remmember how I was struggling about 7 years ago barely having enough food to eat paying my bills, rent etc. I didnt have a pot to piss in either and just made it by. It felt horrible because I didnt know wht Id do in case of an emergency. True I had family but I was on my own now.

I just cant bare to go back to that. Why should I? Id rather wait and save.