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It seems like youre leaning more towards the house and IMO its the better deal. Its appraised for more than its worth which means you cant lose money wise and you'll have extra space. I'd take the house since thats where you'll end up in a few years anyhow.
So here's the deal...some of you may know I'm tossed between buying a co-op in eastern Queens, or buying a starter house in Nassau County on Long Island.
Here's a little background information on my fiance and I: We're teachers and we make about 110,000 together. I'm 24 and he is 27. I teach in the west Bronx, he teaches in Flushing. We're getting married this July, so we aren't in a big big rush to get a place at the moment. We're moving in together by the wedding though.
Today we saw this house for sale in East Meadow on Long Island, about 10 miles east of Queens. It's a 2 bedroom house (but could be made into 3 bedrooms), 2 bath house. It's a short sale and the highest bid is 260,000 by this building company or something. We liked the house; but would use it just as a starter house for the next 6 years or so when we could trade up into a bigger house. The owner apparently owes 410,000 on it still (bought in 2003), so it must have been at least 450,000. The house is in excellent condition and the property is 80x100. I would need to get a car if we bought on LI. I would carpool with 2 others at work, so that would really cut down on the costs of going to the Bronx.
Our other option is buying a 1 bedroom co-op in the Whitestone area.. I would still carpool with the same 2 coworkers, but I wouldn't need a car since it's Queens. We would just keep his car. Most of the 1 bedrooms we're seeing are around 150-180k.
We really aren't sure what to do. I'm not sure which would be the better option for us. The agent showing us the house said the house would appraise a lot more than the co-op would, in the next 6 or so years.
what would your advice be? what would be a wiser choice?
I don't understand why you would be told what the highest bid is. If you offer 265K to beat out the 260K offer, then does the party who originally made the 260K offer get a chance to increase their bid to beat yours?
Where in East Meadow is it? That's a great deal. I think from reading your posts, it seems you guys want to live in Long Island more, so I'd say go for the house. Best of luck!
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miles
okay then Rachael, I bid you adieu, and pray that you don't start one of those threads when you move - you know, like "Long Island is way, way better than that dump, NYC."
lol no no no...I wouldn't say that about NYC. I love the city and it's nice living here as a young professional, it's just not my ideal location to raise a family
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UpstaterInBklyn
Very roughly, I'd say the house on LI will cost you about $3,000 more in taxes per year.
Here is the breakdown. Based on your income, staying in the city would cost you about $3,500 in city income tax and city property tax on the co-op would be about $1,600.
In the suburbs, of course, you pay no city income tax. However, you indicated that you thought the L.I. house was worth about $450K. This will cost roughly $8000 in annual property taxes.
Another thing to consider is that suburban property taxes go up at least a few percentage points every year without exception, mostly because each school district gets to set its own tax rate. Your property tax burden is mostly the school taxes. The city income tax isn't likely to go up anytime soon (and certainly not every year) because it is much more difficult pull off politically.
If you are getting a great deal on the house, maybe it's worth the extra tax cost!
No, the highest bid on the house is 260k so far. The taxes are 6000, which is pretty cheap considering it's only 10 miles east of Queens.
Id go for the house...it will be a better investment in IMHO...and East Meadow is a nice community to get your roots into...youll meet other young couples and they schools are good...you own yard, extra bedroom, autonomy....i like that move...thats what I would do...my wife and I were making a similar decision and ended up buying on Long Island for the schools and community but we have a 2 year old so our situation is a bit different...at the end of the day, just do what you can afford, but if you can afford the house, id go for it..
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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We never ended up getting the house since we found out there were a couple features of the house that would be very difficult/expensive to fix. So now we've been looking again. Mostly looking into Valley stream and Levittown.
We never ended up getting the house since we found out there were a couple features of the house that would be very difficult/expensive to fix. So now we've been looking again. Mostly looking into Valley stream and Levittown.
i still say that the property tax on long island is too high....
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