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(Seriously, don't be looking at the brand new 8 bathroom McMansions in Windswept Prairie OK available for $199,000 and compare that to LI or you will make yourself sick!)
I'll second that Not going to happen on Long Island with your budget
I do own my car outright. We are looking at a small SUV such as a Honda CRV and yes, we would like to lease.
In this case, you may want to wait until after purchasing a house, as other posters have mentioned. Your goal at this point should be keeping your credit and debt/income ratio as healthy as possible.
Honestly, I've been looking at houses in the 300-350k range (online) and by the pictures I feel as is I would have to spend loads of money to just make them livable!! I think my brain has been spoiled by HGTV!!
All of us Long Islanders have been made bitter by HGTV....Have you seen what $300k buys in Texas?!
Excellent point. I actually find RedFin provides the most valuable information, such as whether a house is a short sale, pending, etc. Unfortunately their search parameters are lacking, so I generally use other sites (such as MLSLI) to search for homes, and then when I see a house I'd like to learn more about, I input the address/MLS # into RedFin to get the complete skinny.
If you guys want the best history on a home (sales history, previous owner names & prior addresses - that's how detailed they are), propertyshark.com provides it, but they are no longer 5-free searches. I think they're down to just 1. If you're really digging into many homes, I would even consider subscribing to them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CuriousGeorge13
All of us Long Islanders have been made bitter by HGTV....Have you seen what $300k buys in Texas?!
Yes just last night they had a mini-mansion for $300k, something that should easily be over $800k. The buyers were pointing out the negatives. It's all relative, but we'd be all over that in 2.4 seconds. Can we start naming all the negatives of Houston to make ourselves feel better? I asked myself how low could their jobs pay... can't be that bad. Maybe that's why they can afford to eat so much down there.
That's entirely dependent on the car, options, and terms. Someone can lease a BMW for $800/month, but finance (purchase) a Toyota for $300/month.
The point is, if the OP is leasing or financing her current vehicle (which she has not stated) and replaces it with a new lease, she could simply make sure to get a car with similar monthly payments so as not to increase her monthly debt (which is exactly what I did). This would not change their situation one bit. If they currently own their vehicle outright, then it would obviously be additional debt to lease a new car. If this is the case, it definitely makes sense to wait until after buying a house, unless the OP's debt/income ratio is healthy enough for it not to matter.
My example is based on the comparison between leasing and purchasing the same vehicle. You can't make the same comparison between leasing a Ferrari and buying a Kia.
In this case, you may want to wait until after purchasing a house, as other posters have mentioned. Your goal at this point should be keeping your credit and debt/income ratio as healthy as possible.
I totally agree with this statement. When we were going for our home loan, I was told anything under $1k or that has a year left to be paid off would not affect us getting a mortgage. So since you do not have anything already I would keep it that way otherwise it could hurt you in the long run for qualifying for a loan in the amount you need. I know how you feel that you want a car that is more suitable for your baby (that's what I did when I was pregnant; traded my 2 door Honda Accord in for a SUV) but I was already in my home and had the mortgage. I just wouldn't chance it right now with you wanting to go forward with a mortgage. The banks have gotten much more strict with everything since the housing bubble burst and there are so many foreclosures and short sales these days.
I remember watching those shows on HGTV and how cheap the cost of living is in those other states, etc..but you are comparing apples to oranges. LI is totally different from Texas...the pay rates on LI I assume are higher as is the cost of living and as much as everyone complains about living on LI with the taxes, cost of housing, etc...there really isn't anywhere else like it per se. Our schools are better than average if compared ot other states.. I'd bet even the lower end districts on LI are probably better. I know if you were to go to Florida, their school systems don't even compare to LI. So you really have to look at the pros of living on LI when you look at those homes on HGTV.
All of us Long Islanders have been made bitter by HGTV....Have you seen what $300k buys in Texas?!
HGTV is depressing to watch at times. We're about 2-3 months in with house searching and we can barely watch those shows anymore. We watched Property Virgins a few weeks ago and what you can get in the Atlanta suburbs is ridiculous. I wanted to make sure that they weren't lying to me, since I heard House Hunters is scammy. I went on Redfin and typed in the same neighborhood they were in and it wasn't a joke. A 200k house with 2k-3k a year in taxes. Sigh...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maru50
Honestly, I've been looking at houses in the 300-350k range (online) and by the pictures I feel as is I would have to spend loads of money to just make them livable!! I think my brain has been spoiled by HGTV!!
Try looking on a 200-250k budget! That's where the boyfriend and I are at. It's scary what you find. We've found some hidden gems, but have been outbid by a cash offer, lost out once because of an army vet and his family looking for a house. We've been underbid because of one condition: the other couple wasn't going to get an inspection on the house
And yes, I recommend stop watching HGTV or watch it for minimal investment. The only shows I like to watch on there now are the DIY shows on the weekend.
Try looking on a 200-250k budget! That's where the boyfriend and I are at. It's scary what you find. We've found some hidden gems, but have been outbid by a cash offer, lost out once because of an army vet and his family looking for a house. We've been underbid because of one condition: the other couple wasn't going to get an inspection on the house
Wow! I didn't even know that kind of budget was feasible for a single family house on LI. What neighborhoods?
Wow! I didn't even know that kind of budget was feasible for a single family house on LI. What neighborhoods?
I should revise that its more like a 210k-270k budget, I was just riffing off of the OP's 300-350k remark. We've mostly looked at towns in the Sachem school district (Ronkonkoma, Lake Ronkonkoma, Holbrook, Farmingville), we've also looked in Centereach and Selden. We've seen a few homes on the South Shore in the Copiague, Amityville and Lindenhurst areas. We've basically been going where the deals are and paying attention to school districts.
We pay special attention to the taxes (especially village taxes), which have been a real killjoy with most of the homes we've seen. Most of the houses we've looked at have been corner lots or near busy streets or the backyard is sharing a border with a parking lot. We've looked at some tiny houses and we've looked at some real fixer uppers. We have found some nice homes though in our price range.
Ngl, it is very hard in our price range, but we keep chugging along.
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Not going to happen on Long Island with your budget 
I asked myself how low could their jobs pay... can't be that bad. Maybe that's why they can afford to eat so much down there.
