we found a house we really like - update

We were looking for house's near and around the area we both grew up in, so we were familar with the good and the bad areas and the schools..anyway this area is not really affordable for us (harder to find houses in our price range)
so we decided to look out east - we went to two houses today and found one we really like and can really work for us
My question is do we/should we look at more houses in the new area of interest?
How many house do we need to look at to justify putting a bid on this house?
thanks!

The house we are in the process of buying is not in the area we originally wanted to buy in but with the prices the way they are, our ideal location was out of the question. Our thoughts are its a nice area so we are not really settling but we are being realistic about where we are in our lives. In 5-10 years we may be able to afford our ideal location.
I dont think there is a set # of homes you should look at in order to justify putting a bid on one! I know people who looked at 2 and found the home of their dreams. We probably looked at 50 before we found one we wanted to bid on. We only bid on one and it was accepted. only you can tell if its worth it to you.
I would do some research on the area you found these homes in, take 3 days or a week and research, and then reassess, maybe take one more weekend looking in that area to see and then make your decision!
Either way its really your decision and only you will know if its right for you!
Good Luck!!

What area out east are you looking at?

do you m ind sharing the areas you like and could not afford vs your new areas. you sound just like us. the places we want to look we cant afford but we cant go too far out east b/c of fiancees job- queens high school teacher. if you want, fm me! thanks for your help!

Amy I think if you REALLY like the house & its meets your list of needs you should put an offer in. I'm not sure if its in the area you asked about a few weeks ago, but we are buying there & the houses do seem to go quickly. What are you concerns about the neighborhood if any? I spent a lot of time driving around our new neighborhood at all different times of day to check out what types of schedules our neighbors keep, do people come & go late at night...stuff like that. My DH is working near there now so he went by early one morning to see how old the kids were at the bus stop & if they had parents with them.
We felt very comfortable with what we saw.
I know these things might seem silly, but to we wanted to know that we were moving into a 'family' neighborhood. We are also buying in an area with a homeowners association so I plan to get involved in that as well.

we grew up in East Northport and were looking for house in E. NPT, Npt, greenlawn, kings park, the huntington's but the prices were too high in the good area and perfectly priced for us in the really bad areas. I'm sure we looked at over 50 houses there, whether it was just driving by or open houses or with our RE agent. We put a bid on two different houses. One they countered us with a price that was not worth the house and the other was in contract but was still accepting offers, we didn't get it.
So now we started to look out east, middle island, rigde, rocky point and sound beach plus a few other towns. The house we love is in Middle Island!!! We know how fast houses can go but we have only looked at two house out east. In comparing houses in East Northpost vs. Middle island for the money this house in MI is out of this world.
My RE agent knows the listing agent for the house and is giving him a call to see if he can find any thing good out about the sellers. We should he from our RE agent today. The house has been on the market since Nov. and they dropped the price at some point by 10k.
We don't want to miss out on this house but we still think we need to look some more.
Next weekend we are going to drive back around the house and check stuff out

Amy, I think Diane lives in Middle Island-maybe she knows something specific about your neighborhood. I lived in Middle Island years ago, I rented a condo & was happy there. We are buying in Lake Panamoka-about 10 minutes east of Middle Island.
Good luck!

Our ideal location would have been the Norhtport, east Northport, Huntington area as well. I work in NYC so these are good commutable areas, and my FH often has to travel for work to NJ or Westchester. But we cant afford 450K for a house that would still need a lot of work.

So we settled with looking in Ronkonkoma, Holbrook, Lake Grove, Nesconset area. We looked there for about 5 months. We found some we liked but nothing that really met our desires. I will admit we are picky. I feel that if I am paying these prices I shouldn’t have to settle for a house that we are going to grow out of in a year or two! I wanted a house that would meet our needs for at least 5 years. Anyway, In February we noticed a few houses in Centereach that looked nice so we went and saw one. We went on Saturday and wanted to take a second look on Sunday, but it was already sold one day later! Then on a Tuesday we got an email from our RE agent with a house listed, my FH went to see it after work, called me and said he wanted to take me that night! So we did and the house was great! We put in a bid the next day!

We are buying a house that has really NO work to be done to it, its more than big enough for our needs for now and the next 5+years. And its about 100 K less than whats available in Npt, Huntington, etc.

Our point of view is that we don’t have to find our forever house right now. I love the house we are buying, it’s a ranch but its so much more spacious than any ranch and some two story homes we saw. We both knew the moment we saw this house that it was perfect for us. It’s a little sacrifice especially for me. My commute is going to be longer and we are farther from our family than we intended but honestly for the house and the price its worth it Our goal is to love this home and reevaluate in 5 years! Who knows what will happen then.


ETA: Diane lives in Coram I believe.

i just got a call for our RE agent
the house has two offers on it right now, the owner was holding out for more money - We need to decide if we want to put an offer on it by this afternoon
what to do???? I'm freaking out here, I hate all this pressure!!!
my REa told me how much the other two offers were, was he telling me the truth I have no idea???
we have some cash to put down, its not 20% but its a nice amount
should we put an offer in for the same amount as the other offers and hope the cash we are putting down will beat the other offers?

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Posted by Kelly9904

Our ideal location would have been the Norhtport, east Northport, Huntington area as well. I work in NYC so these are good commutable areas, and my FH often has to travel for work to NJ or Westchester. But we cant afford 450K for a house that would still need a lot of work.

So we settled with looking in Ronkonkoma, Holbrook, Lake Grove, Nesconset area. We looked there for about 5 months. We found some we liked but nothing that really met our desires. I will admit we are picky. I feel that if I am paying these prices I shouldn’t have to settle for a house that we are going to grow out of in a year or two! I wanted a house that would meet our needs for at least 5 years. Anyway, In February we noticed a few houses in Centereach that looked nice so we went and saw one. We went on Saturday and wanted to take a second look on Sunday, but it was already sold one day later! Then on a Tuesday we got an email from our RE agent with a house listed, my FH went to see it after work, called me and said he wanted to take me that night! So we did and the house was great! We put in a bid the next day!

We are buying a house that has really NO work to be done to it, its more than big enough for our needs for now and the next 5+years. And its about 100 K less than whats available in Npt, Huntington, etc.

Our point of view is that we don’t have to find our forever house right now. I love the house we are buying, it’s a ranch but its so much more spacious than any ranch and some two story homes we saw. We both knew the moment we saw this house that it was perfect for us. It’s a little sacrifice especially for me. My commute is going to be longer and we are farther from our family than we intended but honestly for the house and the price its worth it Our goal is to love this home and reevaluate in 5 years! Who knows what will happen then.


ETA: Diane lives in Coram I believe.

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I lived in Ronkonkoma and now I live in Centereach. If you have any questions, ler me know

Tracy

it's worth a shot if you really like it - you will never know unless you try good luck

If you can see yourself there I would put in a bid.

We bid on our house within 3 hours of seeing it and had our builder/RE accept it and start our contract that night.

7 other couples put in bids within the 24 hours of us starting our contract.

Mortage rates are just so low right now that you just need to go for it if you can afford it and find a property that you like!

Have the owners met you? I know with my parents house they accepted a lower bid because they loved the people and they also had 100,000 to put down so they felt they had no worries with them!

Best of Luck

thanks everyone for all your advice!!!
we decided to wait on bidding, we really need to check out the area this weekend (we think the location is to close to gorden heights)
We were feeling to much pressure to place a bid!