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I read these posts where people have two or more children, own their own home, make $100K or less and are doing fine and quite frankly I just don't get it. I was out of work for thirteen months nearly a decade ago and I needed to come up with $6k every month to cover the bare minimum. We didn't eat out, we only bought essential clothing, we cut back on all the extras and never went anywhere if it cost money (my wife found dozens of great day trips to places that were free admission).
Unless you have a mortgage that's sub-$200K in an area where property taxes are still almost OK (let's call that under $7K per year) and drive your cars into the ground and shun most extras (basic cable only, no cell phones, etc.) you're not living on Long Island, you existing on Long Island.
I'm strong working with numbers and can manage a budget like nobody knows but the truth is that unless we lived a life that was way, way different than everyone else in my neighborhood we could never make $100K work in either of the two houses/neighborhoods we owned in. At $130K we were barely getting by when we left back in 2007.
Argue with me if you'd like but please do so with concrete numbers because that's the only way your argument will hold up under scrutiny.
I read these posts where people have two or more children, own their own home, make $100K or less and are doing fine and quite frankly I just don't get it. I was out of work for thirteen months nearly a decade ago and I needed to come up with $6k every month to cover the bare minimum. We didn't eat out, we only bought essential clothing, we cut back on all the extras and never went anywhere if it cost money (my wife found dozens of great day trips to places that were free admission).
Unless you have a mortgage that's sub-$200K in an area where property taxes are still almost OK (let's call that under $7K per year) and drive your cars into the ground and shun most extras (basic cable only, no cell phones, etc.) you're not living on Long Island, you existing on Long Island.
I'm strong working with numbers and can manage a budget like nobody knows but the truth is that unless we lived a life that was way, way different than everyone else in my neighborhood we could never make $100K work in either of the two houses/neighborhoods we owned in. At $130K we were barely getting by when we left back in 2007.
Argue with me if you'd like but please do so with concrete numbers because that's the only way your argument will hold up under scrutiny.
You are RIGHT on the mark IMHO - could not agree with you more.
I read these posts where people have two or more children, own their own home, make $100K or less and are doing fine and quite frankly I just don't get it. I was out of work for thirteen months nearly a decade ago and I needed to come up with $6k every month to cover the bare minimum. We didn't eat out, we only bought essential clothing, we cut back on all the extras and never went anywhere if it cost money (my wife found dozens of great day trips to places that were free admission).
Unless you have a mortgage that's sub-$200K in an area where property taxes are still almost OK (let's call that under $7K per year) and drive your cars into the ground and shun most extras (basic cable only, no cell phones, etc.) you're not living on Long Island, you existing on Long Island.
I'm strong working with numbers and can manage a budget like nobody knows but the truth is that unless we lived a life that was way, way different than everyone else in my neighborhood we could never make $100K work in either of the two houses/neighborhoods we owned in. At $130K we were barely getting by when we left back in 2007.
Argue with me if you'd like but please do so with concrete numbers because that's the only way your argument will hold up under scrutiny.
You just can't predict how people afford their lifestyle. I have a friend who makes $45,000 a year as a correctional officer in the city. He lives in a Million Dollar plus house on the water. How? His father funds his lifestyle. He just asked his dad to pay off $50,000 of credit card debt.
A lot of what people think you should be able to afford depends on when they bought their house. If they bought it before 2002, then they would be surprised that you can't afford a house on $100,000/year, but those that are looking to buy now know better.
However, without any help, you would be hard pressed to afford owning on Long Island on $100,000/year. It's not a whole lot when you take into account of cost of living on Long Island.
There is a difference between living and LIVING on Long Island. I am a stay-at-home mom (ONE child - 2 year old) and our rent is $2,000 a month in Nassau County. We are young - but our dream of owning a house is unfortunately WAY off.. At this point in our lives: we prefer living comfortable rather than living frugal. We don't go out much (besides kiddie places...) nor enjoy the expensive nightlife of NYC (ah.. the good old days). It depends HOW you want to live on Long Island. You can get a beautiful 3BR for $2000 or a decent 2BR for $1600. You can go out every night and spend your rent money, get evicted and wind up in a 1BR for $1100...
Long Island is VERY expensive.. we all know that. But, with a high cost of living comes higher incomes. My fiance makes $80k a year ... if I went back to work - we could go out on the weekends and enjoy shopping sprees. I weighed my options and prefer to live happily with my son in our rental apartment.
I have friends that just purchased their first homes and make less than $60k combined... they just had the luck of wealthy parents to help with a down payment. We aren't so lucky. In the end, I will be glad knowing we did it ourselves and no one to "thank".
We will probably purchase our first home in 4-5 years and by then I guesstimate my fiance will be earning $110k/year. I don't know how it is so hard to believe people with an income of $100k or less can own a home...? It is actually very believable. Considering the housing market condition, FHA loan programs available - there are a LOT of incentives for first time homeowners. I have seen many homes priced around $250 (small fixer-uppers, repairs may cost $10k) --- for that price on a 30-year loan you are only looking at about $1000/month mortgage give or take.. thats pretty realistic...
these are obviously rough numbers - sorry i didn't bring my concrete mix with me today. :X
There is a difference between living and LIVING on Long Island. I am a stay-at-home mom (ONE child - 2 year old) and our rent is $2,000 a month in Nassau County. We are young - but our dream of owning a house is unfortunately WAY off.. At this point in our lives: we prefer living comfortable rather than living frugal. We don't go out much (besides kiddie places...) nor enjoy the expensive nightlife of NYC (ah.. the good old days). It depends HOW you want to live on Long Island. You can get a beautiful 3BR for $2000 or a decent 2BR for $1600. You can go out every night and spend your rent money, get evicted and wind up in a 1BR for $1100...
Long Island is VERY expensive.. we all know that. But, with a high cost of living comes higher incomes. My fiance makes $80k a year ... if I went back to work - we could go out on the weekends and enjoy shopping sprees. I weighed my options and prefer to live happily with my son in our rental apartment.
I have friends that just purchased their first homes and make less than $60k combined... they just had the luck of wealthy parents to help with a down payment. We aren't so lucky. In the end, I will be glad knowing we did it ourselves and no one to "thank".
We will probably purchase our first home in 4-5 years and by then I guesstimate my fiance will be earning $110k/year. I don't know how it is so hard to believe people with an income of $100k or less can own a home...? It is actually very believable. Considering the housing market condition, FHA loan programs available - there are a LOT of incentives for first time homeowners. I have seen many homes priced around $250 (small fixer-uppers, repairs may cost $10k) --- for that price on a 30-year loan you are only looking at about $1000/month mortgage give or take.. thats pretty realistic...
these are obviously rough numbers - sorry i didn't bring my concrete mix with me today. :X
It's typically not the mortgage that disqualifies people in the discussed income range. It's the down payment, closing costs, taxes and insurance. My personal opinion is that you are better off renting than buying a "starter" home on Long Island. Save up and make your first house the one you will stay in for the rest of your life.
There is a difference between living and LIVING on Long Island. I am a stay-at-home mom (ONE child - 2 year old) and our rent is $2,000 a month in Nassau County. We are young - but our dream of owning a house is unfortunately WAY off.. At this point in our lives: we prefer living comfortable rather than living frugal. We don't go out much (besides kiddie places...) nor enjoy the expensive nightlife of NYC (ah.. the good old days). It depends HOW you want to live on Long Island. You can get a beautiful 3BR for $2000 or a decent 2BR for $1600. You can go out every night and spend your rent money, get evicted and wind up in a 1BR for $1100...
Long Island is VERY expensive.. we all know that. But, with a high cost of living comes higher incomes. My fiance makes $80k a year ... if I went back to work - we could go out on the weekends and enjoy shopping sprees. I weighed my options and prefer to live happily with my son in our rental apartment.
I have friends that just purchased their first homes and make less than $60k combined... they just had the luck of wealthy parents to help with a down payment. We aren't so lucky. In the end, I will be glad knowing we did it ourselves and no one to "thank".
We will probably purchase our first home in 4-5 years and by then I guesstimate my fiance will be earning $110k/year. I don't know how it is so hard to believe people with an income of $100k or less can own a home...? It is actually very believable. Considering the housing market condition, FHA loan programs available - there are a LOT of incentives for first time homeowners. I have seen many homes priced around $250 (small fixer-uppers, repairs may cost $10k) --- for that price on a 30-year loan you are only looking at about $1000/month mortgage give or take.. thats pretty realistic...
these are obviously rough numbers - sorry i didn't bring my concrete mix with me today. :X
If you will need an FHA mortgage, I would advise you not to put it off too long because they are changing some aspects of their program which will make it less favorable towards both the typical LI home for sale (they are lowering the maximum mortgage available) and the typical LI first time buyer (not enough of a downpayment considering the home prices) with increased downpayments, increased PMI, and decrease in allowed debt/income ratio.
There is a difference between living and LIVING on Long Island. I am a stay-at-home mom (ONE child - 2 year old) and our rent is $2,000 a month in Nassau County. We are young - but our dream of owning a house is unfortunately WAY off.. At this point in our lives: we prefer living comfortable rather than living frugal. We don't go out much (besides kiddie places...) nor enjoy the expensive nightlife of NYC (ah.. the good old days). It depends HOW you want to live on Long Island. You can get a beautiful 3BR for $2000 or a decent 2BR for $1600. You can go out every night and spend your rent money, get evicted and wind up in a 1BR for $1100...
Long Island is VERY expensive.. we all know that. But, with a high cost of living comes higher incomes. My fiance makes $80k a year ... if I went back to work - we could go out on the weekends and enjoy shopping sprees. I weighed my options and prefer to live happily with my son in our rental apartment.
I have friends that just purchased their first homes and make less than $60k combined... they just had the luck of wealthy parents to help with a down payment. We aren't so lucky. In the end, I will be glad knowing we did it ourselves and no one to "thank".
We will probably purchase our first home in 4-5 years and by then I guesstimate my fiance will be earning $110k/year. I don't know how it is so hard to believe people with an income of $100k or less can own a home...? It is actually very believable. Considering the housing market condition, FHA loan programs available - there are a LOT of incentives for first time homeowners. I have seen many homes priced around $250 (small fixer-uppers, repairs may cost $10k) --- for that price on a 30-year loan you are only looking at about $1000/month mortgage give or take.. thats pretty realistic...
these are obviously rough numbers - sorry i didn't bring my concrete mix with me today. :X
We bought our first house in 1997 for $165k in East Northport. I was making about $85k per year, we barely had the $10K to cover the closing costs, took out an FHA mortgage for near its maximum limit at that time and wound up with a mortgage payment of just under $1800 per month.
That same house just sold in 2010 for $425k.
The FHA limit for Suffolk is $271k as of today.
Closing costs are up (figure you'd need about $15k at this point), taxes are up (nearly 25% in fourteen years) and the cost of home heating (that was oil) is three times what it was when I moved (I think I paid about $1.30 per gallon in 1997). Just on those factors alone the same house would cost about $2300 per month assuming you could buy it for the same price.
You're currently using 40% of you disposable income on a rental with no short-term tax advantages and so you're not likely to be willing to make the sacrifice of living beneath your means to save anything substantial (we rented a small 1.5 bedroom house in 1997 for $1k per month to save money and we had a baby at the time). The housing market is slowly dropping but a house selling for $425k in 2010 won't make it to the $271k level anytime before your child is old enough to date.
In regards to moving..we have thrown the idea around but his line of work does not pay nearly as much anywhere else. He is at one of the absolute best paying companies in his industry and elsewhere we would really struggle (considering cheaper cost of living, as well). We are young (27 & 29) but it is depressing watching all of my friends purchasing their first homes and we are just nowhere near that point.
I realize we would have to act very quickly for an FHA loan. Unfortunately, we are looking at another 4-5 years down the road. I have tremendous student loans, no savings for a down payment/closing, etc., and we don't want to tack on a mortgage/taxes/our own utilities and repairs costs - until our debt is squashed (at least a majority).
SilverBulletZ06 --- $100k after taxes.... We are doing quite fine for ourselves. Our rent is what some people would consider high (heck, we could have a mortgage cheaper than our rent) but we are living in a beautiful home and hate eating rahmen noodles We both have new cars (2008 and 2010) so as long as I don't have to live with roaches or feel uncomfortable walking to my car at night... I am happy. We are in the village of Floral Park - beautiful area and tremendous home (value @ $890k -- GORGEOUS home.. lucky to find this one..) - on a quiet block... We both grew up in Nassau but relocated to Queens when we first moved in together. So glad to be back....Wouldn't want to live on the north shore either. We were both raised on the south shore. Right now we are pretty "central" Nassau but wouldn't want to go North.
We just relocated here from Howard Beach... which was a great starting point for a young couple but once we included a toddler into the equation - our perspective of the neighborhood changed dramatically. Our rent was $1600 in Howard Beach for a 2BR on the noisiest block in the area. We made this move to protect our sanity and sleep..
It is also QUITE depressing to consider another reason that is restricting our move - student loans. With $50k in loans to repay and another $50k+ being tacked on in another 2 years (MBA program), my debt ratio is nauseating. It is difficult enough to rent with a credit report revealing an expensive education. This is (unfortunately) another cloud of debt pulling us down and away from purchasing our new home.
But yes, we don't want to move until we are good and ready.... meaning, a good hold (and decrease) in student loans.. and a good starter house that will be the only house. And rightfully so, the closing costs (etc, etc) mixed in with a minimal down payment will strangle us even more so. Savings is absolutely out of the question at this point... another depressing issue. How can you save money, pay rent, raise a child (and potentially consider a 2nd within the next 1-2 years), and put away ANYTHING for the future? Nassau is very expensive (both housing and cost of living). I work from home as a web designer/internet marketing/business services. I started the company years back as a "hobby" but now it is a must have extra income. We are fortunate enough that I can stay at home with my son but any extra work is obviously helpful...
My father always rants about how he had his first house at the age of 28 and second home by 32 in the Poconos... well, that was the early-90's with a pretty booming economy. Unfortunately, my generation is suffering and opportunities don't slide by easily as they did 20-30 years ago. It is difficult and tremendously depressing to think about. Sometimes I wonder if I will rent forever and it hurts... I know, nothing 'wrong' with renting but I have always dreamed of being a homeowner. I realized when I was 19-20 after the economy began to slip that my friends and I would have a difficult time getting ourselves through college, finding jobs, and developing a suburban lifestyle for ourselves (the one with the white picket fence and all...).
My fiance and I started out in a 1BR basement apartment in Queens paying $800 a month. I never thought that would happen - paying rent?!? HOW? Somehow we got this far to an entire home @ $2k/month.. so I know there is potential... how long is shall take to arrive at the place we want to be (homeowners).... I can only imagine.
In regards to moving..we have thrown the idea around but his line of work does not pay nearly as much anywhere else. He is at one of the absolute best paying companies in his industry and elsewhere we would really struggle (considering cheaper cost of living, as well). We are young (27 & 29) but it is depressing watching all of my friends purchasing their first homes and we are just nowhere near that point.
I realize we would have to act very quickly for an FHA loan. Unfortunately, we are looking at another 4-5 years down the road. I have tremendous student loans, no savings for a down payment/closing, etc., and we don't want to tack on a mortgage/taxes/our own utilities and repairs costs - until our debt is squashed (at least a majority).
SilverBulletZ06 --- $100k after taxes.... We are doing quite fine for ourselves. Our rent is what some people would consider high (heck, we could have a mortgage cheaper than our rent) but we are living in a beautiful home and hate eating rahmen noodles We both have new cars (2008 and 2010) so as long as I don't have to live with roaches or feel uncomfortable walking to my car at night... I am happy. We are in the village of Floral Park - beautiful area and tremendous home (value @ $890k -- GORGEOUS home.. lucky to find this one..) - on a quiet block... We both grew up in Nassau but relocated to Queens when we first moved in together. So glad to be back....Wouldn't want to live on the north shore either. We were both raised on the south shore. Right now we are pretty "central" Nassau but wouldn't want to go North.
We just relocated here from Howard Beach... which was a great starting point for a young couple but once we included a toddler into the equation - our perspective of the neighborhood changed dramatically. Our rent was $1600 in Howard Beach for a 2BR on the noisiest block in the area. We made this move to protect our sanity and sleep..
It is also QUITE depressing to consider another reason that is restricting our move - student loans. With $50k in loans to repay and another $50k+ being tacked on in another 2 years (MBA program), my debt ratio is nauseating. It is difficult enough to rent with a credit report revealing an expensive education. This is (unfortunately) another cloud of debt pulling us down and away from purchasing our new home.
But yes, we don't want to move until we are good and ready.... meaning, a good hold (and decrease) in student loans.. and a good starter house that will be the only house. And rightfully so, the closing costs (etc, etc) mixed in with a minimal down payment will strangle us even more so. Savings is absolutely out of the question at this point... another depressing issue. How can you save money, pay rent, raise a child (and potentially consider a 2nd within the next 1-2 years), and put away ANYTHING for the future? Nassau is very expensive (both housing and cost of living). I work from home as a web designer/internet marketing/business services. I started the company years back as a "hobby" but now it is a must have extra income. We are fortunate enough that I can stay at home with my son but any extra work is obviously helpful...
My father always rants about how he had his first house at the age of 28 and second home by 32 in the Poconos... well, that was the early-90's with a pretty booming economy. Unfortunately, my generation is suffering and opportunities don't slide by easily as they did 20-30 years ago. It is difficult and tremendously depressing to think about. Sometimes I wonder if I will rent forever and it hurts... I know, nothing 'wrong' with renting but I have always dreamed of being a homeowner. I realized when I was 19-20 after the economy began to slip that my friends and I would have a difficult time getting ourselves through college, finding jobs, and developing a suburban lifestyle for ourselves (the one with the white picket fence and all...).
My fiance and I started out in a 1BR basement apartment in Queens paying $800 a month. I never thought that would happen - paying rent?!? HOW? Somehow we got this far to an entire home @ $2k/month.. so I know there is potential... how long is shall take to arrive at the place we want to be (homeowners).... I can only imagine.
100K after taxes is a whole different story then 100K before taxes. Thats what, 150-160ish total combined pre-tax?
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Pouring concrete....
We both have new cars (2008 and 2010) so as long as I don't have to live with roaches or feel uncomfortable walking to my car at night... I am happy. We are in the village of Floral Park - beautiful area and tremendous home (value @ $890k -- GORGEOUS home.. lucky to find this one..) - on a quiet block... We both grew up in Nassau but relocated to Queens when we first moved in together. So glad to be back....Wouldn't want to live on the north shore either. We were both raised on the south shore. Right now we are pretty "central" Nassau but wouldn't want to go North. 
