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Sounds like you are in great shape to buy a house. My wife and I were in a very similar situation in 2010 renting with money saved for a down payment. We are very glad we ended up buying! I say go for it, interest rates are low and with that down payment and income you should be able to find a very nice house in a good district. Also it is certainly a buyers market still, you should have a good amount of negotiating room. As for property taxes, no way around it, they will continue to rise, mine went up a grand this year(but didn't go up at all the past two), the assessment system is a complete mess. Good Luck!
The only downside compared to other areas is that it is a complete nightmare to get on and off LI to go anywhere so if you like to vacation by driving elsewhere, take that into consideration.
Well I wouldn't say that. It's a nightmare for a daily commuter for work on our highways, but on a weekend off-peak times (not rush hour!) you have clear lanes. Took us under an hour each to get to and from Stamford, CT yesterday.
One thing that does bring up to consider though. If the OP is more south like Massapequa, it may take an extra 5-10 minutes just to get to other areas of the island. I love it here dead in the middle. Access to all 3 major highways within 5 mins, plus the 135 running north/south a few blocks down the road.
I'm not responding in my capacity as a real estate agent, but rather as someone who was in your shoes not so long ago. My husband and I were both attorneys in Manhattan but were thinking about kids and the thought of raising kids in Manhattan just didn't appeal to us. We started looking at houses and just got discouraged and disgusted, it seemed like everything was just so expensive, even on a combined income. So we sat down and had a "come to Jesus" as I like to call it. Basically, we decided that our options were to stay or move. Although moving sounded appealing after looking at all those houses, it just wasn't a realistic option because of our jobs. Since we decided to stay, our options were to either continue renting or buy. In the end we decided that buying was better for us, because it was the lesser of two evils. Yes, the prices and taxes are absolutely insane, but so is throwing money away in rent when we were in a position to buy when the interest rates were low.
We ended up settling in Huntington and I couldn't be happier, I absolutely love it here. Now that we actually do have kids I can't imagine being anywhere else, especially not in the city. I don't regret it for a second. We have a comfortable house on a half acre on a cul de sac street within walking distance to the village for under $500k. The house needed work, but it is cosmetic work and it's turned into our hobby, so it can be done. If you want something more move in ready, you will probably be a little farther from the village, but maybe think about looking at houses near the Greenlawn LIRR station. The houses there are a bit less expensive and commuting is still relatively easy. I just closed a deal for a couple who moved from Manhattan to the Greenlawn area and they absolutely love the area.
If you have any questions about Huntington or the area, feel free to direct mail me. I promise to answer as a person and not a real estate agent
One thing that does bring up to consider though. If the OP is more south like Massapequa, it may take an extra 5-10 minutes just to get to other areas of the island. I love it here dead in the middle. Access to all 3 major highways within 5 mins, plus the 135 running north/south a few blocks down the road.
Same holds true with Huntington, though.
As far as traffic, I am talking about coming and going on driving trips if they like to take driving vacations. Traffic within the Island is a given and I'm sure he's familiar with it. In the past 20 years the ability to get on and off the island easily has seriously eroded. Sure there are times you can hit it great - my sister was just up for the weekend and made it in 10 hours each way - you aren't gonna do better than that from N.C. All depends on his travel preferences - and certainly if he has family here, why bother with NJ and Westchester when he'd have to fight that traffic just to get there for a day trip. I used to absolutely dread returning from vacations, doing the bridge and tunnel thing.
I don't think you can go wrong in Huntington or Massapequa. The taxes are high in Huntington, though - holy crap I was just looking on the MLS - I am in shock. Looked at houses in some of the areas we looked in, taxes were $6-7K in the mid-90s and now I'm seeing $15K and up - didn't think it had gotten that bad there.
If you are planning children then I would base at least some of the decision from that. Not only is school district important, but availability of a support system. If you have family in the area, living near that support system is very helpful when raising children. Homes in good school districts retain value better, even in spite of the high taxes. You need to balance that against living in Manhattan where you are very happy right now - there are a lot of great things to be said about resources for children in the city. Yes, children in an urban setting have different childhood experiences, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Good luck!
You are tied to this area due to jobs. Since taxes are similar in the entire metro area and you have family in LI, it makes the most sense to buy something here.
When I get frustrated about taxes I look at the cost of private schools and then realize my taxes for everything is still less than tuition for 1 child in a private school.
Yep another thing to consider is that not only are you tied to LI due to employment, but also you plan to have kids therefore prefer suburbia. My husband and I, unfortunately, are paying to subsidize OPK (other people's kids) due to our decision to remain child-free, yet forced to live here because my husband's job requires County residency for job promotions/lateral moves, etc. So we have no choice but to suck it up.
We live in Greenlawn (Harborfields) which is in the Huntington area. A friend in Elwood just put her move-in ready house on the market because they want a bigger house. It sold in a week. Now she is looking for something in the 500-650k range and there is just not that much out there. I think this is a slow time for the market and also it seems that stuff that is move in ready moves quickly.
We were in your situation except we bought a co-op in Queens before we bought a house. Huge nightmare. I wish we had just bought a house. It would have been way better than moving when I was 9 months pregnant and had a toddler.
We are happy here, and as someone else mentioned, when I compare the taxes to the cost of private school I think we come out ahead. Plus if you work in the city and live on LI you don't pay city income tax. There are a few things I miss about the city but I really only miss them now because my kids are older and we're getting a life again. When I had two babies we were just living day to day. I still get to go out in the city at least once a month and Huntington is very centrally located.
That being said, if you work near Grand Central I might consider Westchester. My in laws live there and as twingles said, it's pretty much the same thing in terms of taxes.
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