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Hmmmm I detect a hint of sarcasm. Maybe I'm wrong - dunno. Anyway, my Port Wash dreams have been squandered. Doesn't seem like we'll be able to afford something decent even with a combined income for $220K. What a shame. Looks like I would need to spend $650K to get something decent. For what? A better commute, some trees and hills? Forget it. Even if I wanted to I couldn't Need to make at least $300K for that. A real damn shame.
You can buy my house when I put it up for sale next year: 3 bedrooms, one bath, about 1100 square ft, in the Terrace section.
I'll probably ask somewhere in the mid 400's.
I live on 40% of what you make and you cannot afford Port?
You ask how do I do it? Small mortgage left over from my wife's parents. Otherwise we wouldn't have a prayer of living in Port. The taxes though are starting to eat us alive.
So it will be upstate for us. I would love to live in Florida but I can't take the summer heat. St. Augustine, Florida is a favorite of mine.
Last edited by Port North; 03-01-2012 at 02:59 PM..
My future wife and I are closing on a home in Port Washington in the Beacon Hill section. Our combined income is roughly 205K right now on base salaries. We were fortunate enough to find a fairly large home (4BR, 2.5 baths etc) on 95 X 115 of property for under 650K in Beacon Hill. The house itself is dated (old paint colors, wagon wall paper, baby blue rugs etc) but it has an updated kitchen, new roof etc. We got very lucky I feel with the price, but it can be done in Port if you happen to find things at the right time. I can walk the 10 to 15 minutes to the train with ease and I love walking. We both are from Queens (Broadway Flushing and Bayside) so we wanted to be close to home. We did look in Queens but the areas we grew up are very expensive. I understand the tax issue in Nassau, but people seem to forget that you only pay school and county tax in LI - in NY you have the city tax also. Take 5K a year in propertytaxes in Queens plus the 4K city tax and your comparison to Nassau is really 9K a year versus the 12K to 15K you may pay. Yes we dont have kids yet so the first several years school taxes will go in vain. But we got in at a great price, amazing mortgage rate, and in a great area. So what does all this mean? Dont give up on Port. You easily have the cash flow to cover the monthly payments. Just work on the upfront costs.
One other thing I will throw out there. The presidential section is really nice and close to the LIRR. Homes are HUGE but OLD. I didnt feel that the asking prices were commensurate with the amount of work they needed in reality. However, you can find some great deals in there, which is west and southwest of the LIRR and also slightly north of the LIRR stop. Hope this helps.
My future wife and I are closing on a home in Port Washington in the Beacon Hill section. Our combined income is roughly 205K right now on base salaries. We were fortunate enough to find a fairly large home (4BR, 2.5 baths etc) on 95 X 115 of property for under 650K in Beacon Hill. The house itself is dated (old paint colors, wagon wall paper, baby blue rugs etc) but it has an updated kitchen, new roof etc. We got very lucky I feel with the price, but it can be done in Port if you happen to find things at the right time. I can walk the 10 to 15 minutes to the train with ease and I love walking. We both are from Queens (Broadway Flushing and Bayside) so we wanted to be close to home. We did look in Queens but the areas we grew up are very expensive. I understand the tax issue in Nassau, but people seem to forget that you only pay school and county tax in LI - in NY you have the city tax also. Take 5K a year in propertytaxes in Queens plus the 4K city tax and your comparison to Nassau is really 9K a year versus the 12K to 15K you may pay. Yes we dont have kids yet so the first several years school taxes will go in vain. But we got in at a great price, amazing mortgage rate, and in a great area. So what does all this mean? Dont give up on Port. You easily have the cash flow to cover the monthly payments. Just work on the upfront costs.
One other thing I will throw out there. The presidential section is really nice and close to the LIRR. Homes are HUGE but OLD. I didnt feel that the asking prices were commensurate with the amount of work they needed in reality. However, you can find some great deals in there, which is west and southwest of the LIRR and also slightly north of the LIRR stop. Hope this helps.
Thanks for this and you're totally right. My wife and I pay $10K in city tax alone and don't own diddly squat, so it's a wash when considering LI property tax. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you put down, what rate, and what's the monthly payment - taxes included. This is where I am stuck. Most of my calculations come out to $3,200 for a 600K home and that's hard considering all other expenses for the month.
we looked a bit over in that section, there were a few beautiful victorians but indeed needed too much work
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcost1082
My future wife and I are closing on a home in Port Washington in the Beacon Hill section. Our combined income is roughly 205K right now on base salaries. We were fortunate enough to find a fairly large home (4BR, 2.5 baths etc) on 95 X 115 of property for under 650K in Beacon Hill. The house itself is dated (old paint colors, wagon wall paper, baby blue rugs etc) but it has an updated kitchen, new roof etc. We got very lucky I feel with the price, but it can be done in Port if you happen to find things at the right time. I can walk the 10 to 15 minutes to the train with ease and I love walking. We both are from Queens (Broadway Flushing and Bayside) so we wanted to be close to home. We did look in Queens but the areas we grew up are very expensive. I understand the tax issue in Nassau, but people seem to forget that you only pay school and county tax in LI - in NY you have the city tax also. Take 5K a year in propertytaxes in Queens plus the 4K city tax and your comparison to Nassau is really 9K a year versus the 12K to 15K you may pay. Yes we dont have kids yet so the first several years school taxes will go in vain. But we got in at a great price, amazing mortgage rate, and in a great area. So what does all this mean? Dont give up on Port. You easily have the cash flow to cover the monthly payments. Just work on the upfront costs.
One other thing I will throw out there. The presidential section is really nice and close to the LIRR. Homes are HUGE but OLD. I didnt feel that the asking prices were commensurate with the amount of work they needed in reality. However, you can find some great deals in there, which is west and southwest of the LIRR and also slightly north of the LIRR stop. Hope this helps.
My future wife and I are closing on a home in Port Washington in the Beacon Hill section. Our combined income is roughly 205K right now on base salaries. We were fortunate enough to find a fairly large home (4BR, 2.5 baths etc) on 95 X 115 of property for under 650K in Beacon Hill. The house itself is dated (old paint colors, wagon wall paper, baby blue rugs etc) but it has an updated kitchen, new roof etc. We got very lucky I feel with the price, but it can be done in Port if you happen to find things at the right time. I can walk the 10 to 15 minutes to the train with ease and I love walking. We both are from Queens (Broadway Flushing and Bayside) so we wanted to be close to home. We did look in Queens but the areas we grew up are very expensive. I understand the tax issue in Nassau, but people seem to forget that you only pay school and county tax in LI - in NY you have the city tax also. Take 5K a year in propertytaxes in Queens plus the 4K city tax and your comparison to Nassau is really 9K a year versus the 12K to 15K you may pay. Yes we dont have kids yet so the first several years school taxes will go in vain. But we got in at a great price, amazing mortgage rate, and in a great area. So what does all this mean? Dont give up on Port. You easily have the cash flow to cover the monthly payments. Just work on the upfront costs.
One other thing I will throw out there. The presidential section is really nice and close to the LIRR. Homes are HUGE but OLD. I didnt feel that the asking prices were commensurate with the amount of work they needed in reality. However, you can find some great deals in there, which is west and southwest of the LIRR and also slightly north of the LIRR stop. Hope this helps.
Actually the comparions should also include the STAR reduction for the school taxes in LI, unless you're earning over $500,000.
Pauly, unless you were missing a zero, you definitely need to save more down, 15K won't even cover your closing costs. Unless you are excluding taxes and insurance, I think your calculations of $3200/month are probably a little optimistic as well. No money down loans are difficult to get, and the interest rates are higher. In addition, you need to figure on the higher commuting costs, the higher heating/cooling costs (nothing is cheaper than sharing the costs with the other people in the building), the higher maintenance costs, etc.
Moderator cut: snip
Last edited by Kimballette; 03-03-2012 at 12:22 PM..
Reason: off topic
Most of my calculations come out to $3,200 for a 600K home and that's hard considering all other expenses for the month.
I think you said elsewhere you make around $220k combined income. You should be able to make a $3200 monthly payment on $220k combined income. I agree that many would argue that $3200/mo represents too large a portion of $220k pre-tax income spent on housing, but such is life in Nassau County, LI.
Rein in your expenses man. It sounds like you don't want to make sacrifices to live out in the suburbs/become a homeowner. And that's fine, but appears to be a 180 from your original post.
Aimless does make a good point. My closing costs are close to 20K. We put down 20% avoided PMI, and our mortgage is still $2,500 a month (not including taxes and homeowners INS). I personally dont see any issues with spending 3K to 4K on housing (guess it is all relative in the end) because unless you are going to rent forever, eventually you have to suck it up and take it on the chin when it comes to living in NY. Not sure about the age bracket of everyone but my dad bought our home in 1983 and only had a 70K mortgage on the house. 70K!!! NY just doesnt offer the affordability it once did - people in their 60's are retired nicely at the expense of my generation. But what can I do? I was just born to late to reap the benefits, but just in time to take it real hard. But I wouldnt want to live anywhere else.
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