Does living in NY mean you'll never be able to buy a home?

[mathjak107]

the problem is i think it would be tough for the typical pa family to come up with 20% to compare the 2...

we are holding off early retiring because the pay is so low when we move to pa full time..we want to finish liquidating whats left of our family owned real estate business here in ny and not have to worry about working at all... whatever we earn at our photography hobby will be fine.......i cant imagine saving 20 % on those pa salarys and living...... new york is hard but but pa is worse. for say an accounting degree pay is 30-350000 where we are but jobs are so few ,, ny my daughter inlaw started at 75,000 right out of queens college... you may have a cheaper cost of living in pa on alot of things but the problem with alot of these areas with low pay many things are still very close to ny.... take health insurance costs, education costs, clothes costs and even food maybe 20% less but a salary thats half is tough to live on and save

overall i found we could make due with about 20% less income then ny but not 1/2

[Elvira Black]

Originally Posted by NewYorkBorn

Kudos on this response. Purchasing in NYC has a lot to do with timing. I grew up in downtown Brooklyn, single parent home. My mother raised me and my brother on a hospital salary..........we lived in a housing project and in spite of the beautiful brownstone houses just 2 blocks down could never afford to purchase them. That was 20 - 30 years ago when brownstones in downtown Brooklyn could still be purchased for a reasonable price.........now those same houses (even the ones that need to be completely gutted out and renovated) are selling for $1 million - $3.2 million dollars! Talk about timing......if people could not afford to purchase homes in the areas like Brooklyn which are closer to Manhattan 20 - 30 years ago then they sure can not afford to buy those houses now. Not everyone in NYC is making a six figure salary in a Manhattan office!

Timing is everything...which is why I always stress that areas where others may fear to tread as a kneejerk response are sometimes very worthwhile investments...the history of NYC goes in cycles, and my area went from "prosperous" to "ghetto" and is slowly but surely on the rise again. This cycle changes with the economy, but I think it worth noting that my coop went up in value about 10 percent in the past year or two despite the national and even citywide decline in the housing market.

The coop I was in before on the LES was purchased for 8 grand...years later it went private/market rate and my roomate and I sold it for 450K; now I live in the Bx and I expect the value of my coop to go up more, esp since the new board is very good and they hired a great management firm. Very well maintained, etc and the 'hood around it is improving as well.

Moral of the story: read the signs; do your research online; and don't let fear and ignorance shut you out of an up and coming market when the time is right. Even in Riverdale the market has produced some incredible bargains of late(lots of prewar, spacious gems; check it out) and areas in the northern and southern areas of the Bronx are becoming more desirable (for "safer" areas also look to Pelham and other areas others have also noted here).Not to mention the prewar bldgs on the Grand Concourse, which is also experiencing a renaissance with bike lanes, more trees etc (was modeled after the Champs Elysees at a time where they had a lane for horses and buggies.) Lots and lots of history, more landmark sites, plenty of cheap shopping (cost of living is also low which makes it simpler to stay on a budget) etc. , and the thing that folks always complain is "gone"--mom and pops, a feeling of community, diversity, etc etc.

It's as easy as checking the NY Times online on Sunday, as well as the other dailies, and contacting a broker. Despite this advice, the reason the market is a great opportunity for some is because others are not proactive enough (or are too timid or willing to do a tiny bit of online research) to grab the bargains that are being offered in a buyers' market (I predict this won't last long, folks, as the economy slowly recovers).