Time to Consolidate Long Island Districts

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by AgingHippie

Your post illustrates the conflict between what many people CAN do to change their situation versus what they're WILLING to do.

As long as you stay on Long Island your personal financial situation isn't likely to change due to external sources. In other words unless the resale value of your house goes up or your property taxes go down. Both of those are forces beyond your control.
I agree....
So what to do? Well you COULD sell your home at a loss, take the money, and move to someplace else in the USA where you could buy a house for that amount (no mortgage). That would solve many of your immediate financial problems wouldn't it? It would be just the 3 of you "with no support system" by which I guess you mean no family around you? If that factor is important enough to keep you here, then you've made a decision that puts financial considerations in second place to emotional ones. Just like your friend has done.
I don't have a support system here anymore either, accept for my lifelong friends. THe "no support system" is NOT an emotional issue.. it's financial. In my original post about this I mention that my husband and I have NO SAVINGS..because life on LI is ridiculously expensive there is no room for any savings.. heck I have too much bills and not enough money every month! Now.. should we sell our house we'd have NO MONEY out of it..actualy we'd be negative ..so therefore would have NO MONEY for a new place.. not first or last months rent even to rent (because i'd want to rent first to make sure I like where I'm moving too before I commit to a purchase). We're also self employed, so we'd have to start up our businesses again where we go with contacts, clients..etc. etc. Emotions ONLY played into my decision to STAY on LI.. because i grew up here, it's what I know and it's where I'm comfortable. Since I purchased my house my brothers have left and the aging Aunt that I stayed nearby for has passed. Now there is NOTHING keeping me here accept being financial Trapped.
Sometimes there's no "good" solution to a tough situation and hard decisions have to be made. Sitting in place spinning your wheels and waiting for some outside influence to ride to your rescue usually doesn't work out very well. I don't know your situation but it sounds like you're saying "We're stuck in limbo but we're too afraid to give up certain things or to take any serious risks in order to get ourselves out of this." That makes no sense to me. If someone hates their life but refuses to do what's needed to change it, whose fault is that?
Again.. are you suggesting that i move to a new ,strange place with a 2 year old child and NO MONEY to support said child or said move? That makes no sense. I already said in the previous post that if it were just me and my husband I would have no problem.. we can rough it out.. but I cant do that with a 2 year old child.. sorry..there's no compromising or "giving up" a roof over your head.
What are my options.. well yes, I could decide to sell the hosue.. short sale.. and live in it FOR FREE by allowing the foreclosure process to kick in while I save up money to leave.. a possiblity I've considered. Should I find a buyer.. which I may not as there are over 220 homes for sale inLevittown, I may have only a "settled in less than full " on my credit and be able to buy in a few years.. OR.. I can just live in the house for over a year free while the foreclosure proccess plays out and really save some money but destroy my chances of every getting a mortgage for the next 10 years . My options are NOT looking pretty.
But then I don't understand how all those people who took out subprime ARM mortgages have any right to complain about what's happening to them now either. Nobody held a gun to their head and forced them to sign on the dotted line. It's like someone who goes to Las Vegas and loses all his money on the tables and slot machines, then complains about being broke. Whatever happened to personal financial responsibility?

I never said I took out a subprime ARM.. And you know what.. unless and until you walk in someone else's shoes you have no right to judge.. because you do not know what circumstances arose or what happened within that transaction that lead to that person taking an ARM.. I dont dare judge someone else until I know all the facts. I find it laughable that everyone wants to put the "responsiblity" on the people who have subprimes.. but what about the financial institutions.. they are jsut as if not more responsible. But I guess it's easier to blame one little guy than the big head right!

I know there's no hope for LI! NONE.. NOTHING will change.. and then you will all start to really lose your middle class young families like myself and scratch your heads.. uh.. what happened!!! ONly then will change comes.. and you bet I'm bitter, I'm angry and I'm annoyed at the ignorance and snobbery I see about ALL our current systems that don't allow for change. Im' ot waiting for an outside influence to change my situation.. IM not so dumb as to think that will happen and i'm trying to figure out HOW to get off this island.. but I certainly can use these boards to vent about it and possibly warn others thinking of coming here about what they'd sacrafice to live here (quality of life..et.c.. but that's for another board)..

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by TristansMommy

IM not so dumb as to think that will happen and i'm trying to figure out HOW to get off this island..

How about you sell your house, take a loss and rent a small apt for a while? Why isn't that an option?

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

How about you sell your house, take a loss and rent a small apt for a while? Why isn't that an option?

Yeah.. good luck finding an affordable rental with a 2 year old and a small dog on this island.. I rented my entire adult life until I was pregnant anddecided I neede to find a home because I did't wnat to have to move so damned much and while single or married living in a basement apartment was fine.. not so fine with achild..
No.. If I lose my house or decide to sell my house I'm going to get money out of it one way or another.. and that would mean living in it without paying the mortgage till it either sells or forecloses. I put ALOT of money INTO this house..you have NO IDEA... I'm going towalk away with something!

The only rental I'd find is a house and it still wouldn't allow for much savings anyway.

[AgingHippie]

This sort of exchange is why I never posted on this forum before, and after this one last reply I'll just go back into my black hole of lurkdom. Anyway....

First, I never said that you took out an ARM; I was just expressing my opinion about the financial judgment (or lack thereof) of people who DID. Also I'm not "judging" anything about your financial situation but I AM expressing my OPINION which AFAIK is always allowed. Just like I'm allowed to express my opinion that I don't understand how someone who smokes or takes drugs can complain on and on about their health not being good; to me, it makes no sense because they chose to do it to themselves, nobody forced them to.To make bad decisions and then blame the outcome on something or someone else is IMHO irresponsible and I don't have much sympathy for people like that.

It sounds like your family made some bad financial decisions. You either financed more of your house than you could afford at the time, or put more money into it than your financial situation could support. Maybe both. I can't see any other way that you'd end up with a negative equity. You made those decisions (in other words using money that you didn't have) based on the assumption that your house would continue to go up in value, because that's what the LI market has done for the past X number of years. Just like someone who plays the stock market (though not many smart investors will buy high and plan to sell higher, they buy low and sell high) or goes to Vegas, you took a gamble on the future but in your case you lost. The loss isn't the fault of the Long Island school district system, or the philosophies of the people who live here, though. Ultimately the loss is the fault of the person who took the gamble in the first place.

And yes I do blame supposedly intelligent adults if they allowed themselves to be talked into gambling away their financial future by a banker or a realtor or whoever.

That's all I have to say on this or any subject here.

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by AgingHippie

This sort of exchange is why I never posted on this forum before, and after this one last reply I'll just go back into my black hole of lurkdom. Anyway....

First, I never said that you took out an ARM; I was just expressing my opinion about the financial judgment (or lack thereof) of people who DID. Also I'm not "judging" anything about your financial situation but I AM expressing my OPINION which AFAIK is always allowed. Just like I'm allowed to express my opinion that I don't understand how someone who smokes or takes drugs can complain on and on about their health not being good; to me, it makes no sense because they chose to do it to themselves, nobody forced them to.To make bad decisions and then blame the outcome on something or someone else is IMHO irresponsible and I don't have much sympathy for people like that.

It sounds like your family made some bad financial decisions. You either financed more of your house than you could afford at the time, or put more money into it than your financial situation could support. Maybe both. I can't see any other way that you'd end up with a negative equity. You made those decisions (in other words using money that you didn't have) based on the assumption that your house would continue to go up in value, because that's what the LI market has done for the past X number of years. Just like someone who plays the stock market (though not many smart investors will buy high and plan to sell higher, they buy low and sell high) or goes to Vegas, you took a gamble on the future but in your case you lost. The loss isn't the fault of the Long Island school district system, or the philosophies of the people who live here, though. Ultimately the loss is the fault of the person who took the gamble in the first place.

And yes I do blame supposedly intelligent adults if they allowed themselves to be talked into gambling away their financial future by a banker or a realtor or whoever.

That's all I have to say on this or any subject here.

I bought my house because i saw myself rapidly being priced out of where I thought I woud be with my family that I've started..since I grew up here. I bhought a piece of **** house that neede renovations.. and yes, at a hefty price tag in what is supposed to be an "affordable" neighborhood. I put my money into it and had $50K in equity (as my house was appraised for $450 and i had a $400K mortgage).. Now, the market has tanked and I have lost that equity (as opposed to building on it that new kitchen & batrhooms are supposed to add to value.. which ,btw, I don't have granite and what not.. but they are new and needed to be).

While I don't blame LI or the attitude of those living in it for my finacial situation..I blame the people and the attitudes that hve been expressed on this board for the decline in the place where I grew up. It used to be a wondeful place full of promse.. NOW.. it's full of a lot of BS and overpriced EVERYTHING! and it's pushing those that grew up here OUT!!! The decision to buy a house here was mine.. ONE THAT I SEVERELY REGRET!! The downfall of LI is the fault of the snobbish attitude of those in it that won't allow for positive change to make it an affordable place for all..

Soon.. we'll be the island of CEO's etc.. an d the middle class will be gone..then you'll all scratch your head and wonder what the heck happened. But I'll be long gone.

BTW.. I'm surprised you use the name Hippie in your handle..doesn't seem to fit with your views, IMHO.

[nbres]

The downfall of LI is the fault of the snobbish attitude of those in it that won't allow for positive change to make it an affordable place for all..

Great Quote.

BTW.. I'm surprised you use the name Hippie in your handle..doesn't seem to fit with your views, IMHO.

I thought the same thing. A real hippie would have an open mind. Seems like yesterday's 60s Hippie is really just another square and part of the system.

[watamensch]

Tristan's Mommy has her personal financial issues, and nobody should be passing judgment on her or how she is handling things. If we want to discuss schools, let's do it. Leave Tristan's personal life out of this... and Tristan, that goes for you too.

Aging Hippie, I like your postings, please come back!!!