SWR: Co-ops and Condos instead of a house?

Hey ladies, hope you can weigh on on this...

My husband and I rent the 1st floor of a house in Long Beach.

Now that the wedding is over, we're recouping the money we put out and trying to build on our savings to afford at least a 10% downpayment on a house out in Suffolk somewhere.

I have 'stellar' credit and he has 'good' credit. No problem there. My sisters and parents live out in Suffolk and I have at least 2-3 family members who are very handy (electricians, construction workers, etc.) that have already offered to lend a hand getting any improvements done on a house to make it livable.

Here's the thing. Now that we're married, we are really antsy about getting our own place. I've always lived in houses, and he's mostly lived in apartments in Brooklyn. He's ok with moving into a Condo or Co-op as a way of getting equity as a 'step-up' to owning a house.

I'm going to be 34 this year and I would rather be a homeowner so we have no more restrictions. I am a gardener and hate knowing that anything I do can't be permanent because it will just be lost when we move into a house. Also having neighbors right on top of you is annoying.

Are any of you doing this graduated ownership step, and if so, would you mind sharing specifics on the experience? I don't know how much of a downpayment there should be, where there are good fairly modern buildings, if you have a lawn and are allowed to change it to your liking, etc.

As a start, we would like to look between Oakdale/Sayville and Holbrook/Medford.

Thanks ladies.

Signed,
Wish I was a homeowner.

Nevermind. Hubby doesn't even want to start looking until we have 30k + set aside for it and prices start going down.

Sigh.

It doesn't hurt to contact a realtor and see what your options are! FH and I will be doing this after the wedding, just to see what the market is really like and what we have to save before we go into contract.

Many of the townhouses in my area of Port Jeff. don't have anyone below/above you as you buy the entire up and down, you just have people next door. You are able to garden and paint, but people maintain the grass, etc.

It doesn't hurt to look and do research!

See, that's what I say. I have an account with www.mlsli.com and I put some things in my bookmarks. If anything, it will give us an idea of the market changes. Already, there are houses that are staying on the market and the homeowners are forced to bring the price down because it's not as hot as it was a year ago.

Hubby works for a mortgage company, you think he would want to take advantage of that!

We actually have Port Jeff on our list. We love that area. I liken it to Long Beach in a lot of ways - seaside, village for shopping, etc.

But if the coops/condos are in the 400-500k range, it wouldn't make sense. We could get a house for that much in a year most likely. We aren't having kids so a 3 bedroom 1 bath house would be perfect. School district doesn't even matter.

I don't know. I think he said it because he doesn't want to get excited about it if we still have to wait a year. I know his point. I just like having something to look forward to.

That's the trick, isn't it? Finding something that you're not going to pay more for than what you rent. There was actually one that was only $100. more than our rent per month. But then you have to factor in taxes, maintenance, etc.

I just don't want to be 40 before we become homeowners.