These House Prices are Still Ridiculous! (apartment, renter, insurance)

[seren77]

My agent enrolled me to this webpage called listingbook.com. Now I can see the sales prices for the last three years and they update the webpage almost every day. What I see is nothing gets sold unless it is reasonably priced.

I think patiance is a virtue if you are on the market. Don't get emotional on any house. If you see something you like, go ahead and give an offer what you think is fair (or say 10% less than what you think is OK to give yourself some bargaining space). If they reject, don't get emotional on it. Plenty of fish in the pond.

Finally, recognize that housing is a consumption. Renting is not a bad option. If anything, it saves you all the headache that comes with owning and heartache with the ongoing market.

[superfly10]

this is a very good thread. My wife and I have been shopping in Huntington/Centerport/Northport... even looked in Sea Cliff and Port Washington.

We will both need to commute into Manhattan every day. We rent in Manhattan now.

What I'm seeing is this - houses that are clean, updated and priced well for the neighborhood will sell quickly right now - especially if it's in the range of many "first time homebuyers" on LI (say 375-425K in the areas I'm looking at). If it's been around a while, it's overpriced, overtaxed (I love the "can be grieved" note on some listings - then why haven't you?) or there's often something wrong with the property. We loved one place, great neighborhood and price was right, but there was no CO on the whole house and they needed a variance from the town because they rebuilt too close to their neighbor. hence... it's been on the market for 7 months.

There is a lot of inventory - if you can keep the emotions out of it and not take negotiations personally, you can get a great deal.

[nycbrooklyn]

Originally Posted by Rachael84

Look in towns that you can afford. My fiance and I looked in Levittown because it seemed to be one of the few areas we could afford making ~110k together. The other towns that were in our price range were Valley Stream and Westbury, pretty much. We liked Levittown the best. I really love that area. We're closing on a short sale there in just a couple weeks (this is new news as of today ). Mint condition, 4 bedroom for $275k.

congrats. I hope it goes well from here.

[nycbrooklyn]

Originally Posted by scottzilla

I have an accepted offer on a house that was built in 2002 for 490K. They listed it in Nov 08 for 479 and dropped it to 389 in 2/09.
My accepted offer is 350k and is actually too high.
Now, it is easy to tell people they are asking too much for their houses but look at the circumstances. My deal above is clearly a short sale with the next stop being foreclosure.
So is the house that has 475 owed on it listed "Too high" at 389?

Has the bank accepted your offer? or are you listing the numbers that the owners accepted?

[scottzilla]

Originally Posted by nycbrooklyn

Has the bank accepted your offer? or are you listing the numbers that the owners accepted?

Short sale. Won't know for a few more weeks. The owner signed off on the offer though because in all reality, my offer is aprox 40-50K higher than all other offers.

[scottzilla]

Originally Posted by superfly10

this is a very good thread. My wife and I have been shopping in Huntington/Centerport/Northport... even looked in Sea Cliff and Port Washington.

We will both need to commute into Manhattan every day. We rent in Manhattan now.

What I'm seeing is this - houses that are clean, updated and priced well for the neighborhood will sell quickly right now - especially if it's in the range of many "first time homebuyers" on LI (say 375-425K in the areas I'm looking at). If it's been around a while, it's overpriced, overtaxed (I love the "can be grieved" note on some listings - then why haven't you?) or there's often something wrong with the property. We loved one place, great neighborhood and price was right, but there was no CO on the whole house and they needed a variance from the town because they rebuilt too close to their neighbor. hence... it's been on the market for 7 months.

There is a lot of inventory - if you can keep the emotions out of it and not take negotiations personally, you can get a great deal.

I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth in this thread by saying this but it's crazy that a first house is in that 375-425 range. I mean, it is what it is and it's ultimately a good investment but that's a serious mortgage. I thought it was bad when I paid 235 for my house back in '02.

[lialleycat]

Originally Posted by scottzilla

I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth in this thread by saying this but it's crazy that a first house is in that 375-425 range. I mean, it is what it is and it's ultimately a good investment but that's a serious mortgage. I thought it was bad when I paid 235 for my house back in '02.

Ha! I think I overpaid for my house in '97 at 115. I really only wanted to pay 100K for it! If I hadn't refinanced in 2006, I'd be sitting really pretty right now!

[superfly10]

Originally Posted by scottzilla

I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth in this thread by saying this but it's crazy that a first house is in that 375-425 range. I mean, it is what it is and it's ultimately a good investment but that's a serious mortgage. I thought it was bad when I paid 235 for my house back in '02.

fair enough...

I'll qualify this by saying: 1) I turn 40 in June, so I've waited longer than some to become a "1st time buyer"

2) for the first time in years - in many ways, it's the 1st time buyers who are in the best shape right now - I'm not upside down on an existing mortgage that I need to get out of. So, even with 10 percent down I'm in better shape than a lot of folks who counted on using equity from a house they bought 5 years ago...

I'm realistic... i could take a loss the first couple years, absolutely get that it could happen. But, the house will be way within our means - actually a substantial net savings from what we pay in Manhattan rent now!

[logan2k]

Originally Posted by scottzilla

I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth in this thread by saying this but it's crazy that a first house is in that 375-425 range. I mean, it is what it is and it's ultimately a good investment but that's a serious mortgage. I thought it was bad when I paid 235 for my house back in '02.

I am a first time buyer also looking in this price range. Yes, 375-425 seems crazy, but when you crunch the numbers, its actually comparable, if not cheaper than paying rent.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

I gotta call BS on that one. Maybe on the absolute worst rush hour in the pouring rain it would be quicker....but that's a bit of a stretch IMO. If I had to guess I'd say he's nearly doubling the mileage going the other way.

Thats not that insane....I used to do it from Nicolls Rd to Garden city in bad weather and save plenty of time.

Remember youre over at West Islip and out at the Meadowbrook 15 min later.

Not a bad deal.

Beats sitting in a parking lot.

Crooks