I am so completely baffled by this. Who here would pay 400K for a cape with one bathroom, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen as old as my parents and as small as my nieces Barbie dreamhouse, and a backyard with a metal chain link fence and no landscaping???????????
One like this just sold two doors down from my sister!
lorimari
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
LMAO Misty - FH and I bought a few months ago and got a great deal on it because we knew the sellers and they were a little clueless as to how much they could really get for it.
Previous to finding our house I cannot even tell you what we saw. I am completely amazed at what people are getting for their POS houses. One house was so bad that I walked out and they wanted $320,000 and got the full offer!!!!!
I don't know who is buying these homes b/c I can't fathom how they afford them and then spend thousands of dollars renovating them.
I'm moving in and dropping my bags - we have no money left!!!!!
Misty
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
It's so upsetting and discouraging.
We're never going to find a house. I refuse to let ANYONE sell me sh** and tell me it's gold!!!!
lorimari
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
I hear you - we looked for two and a half years!!!! We were not willing to settle and buy in an area that we did not want.
The one thing we did learn is to have 'vision'. There are some things you need to overlook. Start learning how much things are to fix and if it something you are willing to tackle. Buying a home is very difficult but being educated about the area, cost of construction and the market in the area it definitely helps.
I wish you much luck in your search. I completely understand how you are feeling right now but stay positive. It will happen when you least expect it!!!
Sonicstef
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
Misty: Houses in my area that are COMPLETELY unliveable. (no floors, falling roofs, etc..) are going for $500 and up. If you want something liveable, the bidding starts at $800K for one family fixer uppers!!!! Its absolutely insane! I dont know who is paying it but i think they are nuts!
Misty
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
Stef, you're in Brooklyn right? So am I...and while I'd really really love to stay in the area we are in right now, we'd have to come up with 600K for something liveable.
And now, looking on Long Island is a complete joke. It's insulting!!
Where the heck is left to go? Jersey is starting to get priced out also...and if we want something affordable, we'd have to give up our jobs because we'd spend 4 hours a day travelling to the city!!
Ugh.
Teri
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
I really don't know how younger couples are doing with entering the market for the first time. I assume many are getting help from their parents, or were able to use their wedding money as a downpayment? Not sure.
But I see how older families are able to upgrade, if they already own a comparable house in the area. Take my friend for example. She recently sold their starter house for about $400K - not sure how much equity they had in the house, but it was a lot. Then they upgraded to a $750K house, and I'm assuming their mortgage isn't SO bad, considering they had a $400K house to trade up with. Their taxes are another story though
It does S U C K and I know I can't afford what I want either - it's amazing to see what you have to settle for, and even that can be a stretch financially
Misty
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
This 2 bedroom is 330K! WITH A CRAWL BASEMENT!
jennbaby
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LMAO at that house
And Teri, how true:
I really don't know how younger couples are doing with entering the market for the first time. I assume many are getting help from their parents, or were able to use their wedding money as a downpayment? Not sure.
Sonicstef
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
Misty: At least for us, we made a compromise about living in a house that was GOOD ENOUGH but in an area that close to NY and nice.
I see a lot of people who move out of Bklyn to have a big house in the burbs. And the houses are always amazinglying beautiful. But often times they are a LOT more than anyone really needs.
For me, id rather live in a much smaller house where my commute is reasonable and I love the neighborhood than have to move to a place I dont like so I can have 4 bedroom and a big kitchen.
I was lucky to find a house a few years ago...but condos in Bklyn are still relatively affordable and in very nice buildings. Plus there is the advantage of not having to deal with all the hassles of home ownership. If i were looking now, thats what I would be buying.
Teri: It seems that everyone (except for me) has gotten help from their parents with everything. Im really green with envy.
Jeanene
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
We have been looking for about 6 months for a house and it is very discouraging!
The prices are so out of control. We refuse to overpay. We are lucky that we can take the time we need and in the meantime save more money.
We are not getting any money from family - this is something we are paying for ourselves.
We do not want to be house poor either. We love taking vacations and this is something we do not want to give up. We decided to budget for a house only using one of our salaries (the higher one) so that when we do buy a house we would have some cushion in case of bad financial times.
LizD
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
We looked at this house in Bellmore (open house)- it is listed as excellent condition and clean
OMG The wood floors are peeling up, it looks like it has not been kept up at all. It is not clean nor in excellent condition. It is 399,000 and would really need to be completely gutted and redone. Also, they sold the small lot next to it seperatly and someone is building a house on that lot that will end up being so close to this one.
My friend and I were just talking about this! DH and I bought our house a year ago and thought we paide a lot...but now we just see the houses skyrocketing and it's completely unbelievable. We have a starter home which is absolutely perfect for us. Our parents are not and did not help us. I find a lot of people will put every last penny they have and live paycheck to paycheck to live in a house. I refuse to do that. I like to go out to dinner and go on vacations. It's makes me sick to see the prices of the houses!!
It's interesting though, I was talking to a realtor who said that she sees so many young couples competing for things. Who has the bigger house, bigger ring, better car etc... I think a lot of people feel pressured to have the biggest and the best, it's sad but true. I wonder what makes our generation so much different than those who came before?
LizD
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
We have not had help from our parents either. We have lucked out in that DH had just went into contract on a condo in Queens when we met. We sold that , made a profit and bought a house in Selden, sold that, made a profit and bought in Nassau. Now we are selling this house and looking for something a little bigger. We are stepping up as we are able to but without already owning I am not sure we would be able to buy now. It is nuts out there. We have seen some scary places and the prices people ask are amazing. Hey, if you want to get that kind of money for your house, at lease clean it and throw out the dog shi* that is on the floors. I can not believe how some people live!!
Teri
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
Jen/Stef -I hear you - I'm not getting any help from anyone either - hence my rental apt
But to clarify, when I say people may be getting help from their parents, I mean that more with really recent purchases, when the market got TRULY insane within the past year. And who knows - everyone's situation is different, maybe others have really been saving for a while with fantastic careers.....I just know that many of my friend's recent purchases have been with the help of other resources.
Diane
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
It kills me too. I want to know who is BUYING them. The new construction now..these houses are so big, and you cant touch them for less than $300,000
Is it just me? why do I think 300-400's are not a bad price? I know in the 80's my parents put our house on the market (but decided not to move) and it was listed for $250K ish...in Suffolk...after 15-20 years...its now about $500K (a neighbors house just went for less...but my parents house has been renovated many times over)...it seems like that is a reasonable amount of time to double
I think the best way to do it is to do an 80/10/10 or an 80/15/5...
or start out in a condo/coop
JENHOS
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
Yabbobay-I am with you on this one. I think the $330K-$400K range is great and wish we could have found what we wanted in that range,
Given some of the pictures you girls pposted were very scary! But after looking for almost a year I can tell you that (in Nassau anyway) $350K is about as low as we saw prices in neighborhoods that we would consider living in and these houses were tiny. I don't think we looked at very many that didn't need work (cosmetic or otherwise)
I agree the prices are nuts but that is what they are and I don't think they are coming down anytime soon. Things seem to have slowed a bit but everytime we look in the paper in the neighborhood we bought in it seems the $$$ amounts keep going up.
Just keep saving and you will figure a way to make it work.
Teri
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
Erica - WOW - that's a scary thought Maybe the prices in San Diego are starting to get to ya j/k
When you consider the avg take home pay of 2 thirtysomething's income, then factor in the downpayment and mthly mortgage plus taxes it's frightening. What of course doesn't help is seeing what crap you get. (where we're looking the prices just went up above $350K about 6 mths ago)
here's an example of a house for $350K and taxes of $7,200:
downpayment of $70,000 (that's huge for a young couple!) mthly mortgage payment of $1,678. plus factoring in those taxes is another $600 per month....that totals your mthly payment to be: $2,278 without any of your normal monthly bills related to the house
Then of course you need to furnish the place and keep a wad of cash on hand for unexpected repairs....all this for an 80 yr old 3 bdrm cape that needs $100K worth of work!
Jenny5150
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Re: Who is paying these prices?!
We paid over 1/2 a mil 2 years ago for a 50 yr old 3br/2ba ranch that hasn't been updated in 20 years (some rooms are 30 yrs old). We also had to replace the roof and septic tank within the 1st week (an additional $20k) of moving in, but yet we still got a deal. The property and location were worth the cost to us.
