LI first time home buyer. Please help! (Babylon, Huntington: insurance, mortgage broker) - Long Island - New York (NY) - City-Data Forum

Maru50 · 05-22-2013, 10:08 AM

Hello All!!!

So we are planning on FINALLY buying our first home in December. We currently live in East Meadow at my parents house, which is great, but its time to fly the coop!! We started looking on Zillow to see whats out there. We are VERY flexible in the town that we move to, as long as it is safe, good schools, (we have a 5 month old) & I dont want to go toooo far east. Does anyone just love their town?? Im looking to find a town that has a real sense of community & lots of events and fun things to do. It looks like Huntington and Babylon keep coming up, but I hear that they both have some shady parts. What parts should avoid of both towns?? Where should I look? How are the schools? FYI: We have a 400k max.

Also, I love the look of neighborhoods with lots of trees, hopefully even some in our backyard. Any suggestions??

Thanks everyone! Any help is appreciated!

ocngypz · 05-22-2013, 10:38 AM

First, forget Zillow. Use MLSLI.com

400K along with taxes doesn't buy much on LI in a decent sd. And you need to be prepared for tax hikes every year. Then there is homeowner's insurance to figure into that monthly payment as well.

First thing to do, get a copy of your credit reports (all three agencies). It's free. Make sure there are no discrepancies.

Get a pre-approval. And don't buy another thing on your cc's!

Interview for a buyer's agent, then select one.

Then go house shopping.

KEEP THE PARENTAL FIGURES OUT OF THE SELECTION PROCESS!

CuriousGeorge13 · 05-22-2013, 10:46 AM

We also live in East Meadow, and are in the process of buying our first house on LI. Our budget is the same as yours as well. Feel free to message me if you're looking for information about the buying process or recommendations for a buyer's agent, mortgage broker, inspection engineer, etc. We should be closing within the next few weeks and have been extremely happy with everyone we've used thus far.

As for the towns you mention, I don't know much about Babylon, but I haven't heard great things. For Huntington, you definitely want to stay away from Huntington Station.

Maru50 · 05-22-2013, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocngypz

First, forget Zillow. Use MLSLI.com

400K along with taxes doesn't buy much on LI in a decent sd. And you need to be prepared for tax hikes every year. Then there is homeowner's insurance to figure into that monthly payment as well.

First thing to do, get a copy of your credit reports (all three agencies). It's free. Make sure there are no discrepancies.

Get a pre-approval. And don't buy another thing on your cc's!

Interview for a buyer's agent, then select one.

Then go house shopping.

KEEP THE PARENTAL FIGURES OUT OF THE SELECTION PROCESS!

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. How high do you think that we would need to go in order to get into a good town with good schools? We CAN go higher, but I would like to keep payments as low as possible. We have NO cc debt thank goodness, so at least we have that going for us! I will for sure get a copy of our credit report and we will try to get pre-approved. Thank you!

And trust me, I 100% understand about the parents, but thats much easier said than done!! My father is already "why do you guys have to leave at all?? stay here for as long as you want. Save more money. Blah. blah, blah" But I think its just because he doesnt want us taking his only grandchild away lol

S.I.B. · 05-22-2013, 11:11 AM

where do you work and what's the max commute you'd want to deal with?

Have you figured property taxes into your budget?

Maru50 · 05-22-2013, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CuriousGeorge13

We also live in East Meadow, and are in the process of buying our first house on LI. Our budget is the same as yours as well. Feel free to message me if you're looking for information about the buying process or recommendations for a buyer's agent, mortgage broker, inspection engineer, etc. We should be closing within the next few weeks and have been extremely happy with everyone we've used thus far.

As for the towns you mention, I don't know much about Babylon, but I haven't heard great things. For Huntington, you definitely want to stay away from Huntington Station.

Thanks CuriousGeorge! Where did you guys end up buying?? And thanks so much for offering recommendations. I will for sure send you a message once the time comes. Thanks!!!!

twingles · 05-22-2013, 11:12 AM

Huntington is good choice; You'll get more bang for your buck in Greenlawn, a better school district and you would be close to Huntington and Northport and G'lawn has its own cute little downtown. You can commute from Huntington too if you take the train.

Maru50 · 05-22-2013, 11:15 AM

My husband works in Woodbury, and I work by JFK. I dont mind traveling up to an hour to get home. We have figured property taxes. We estimated paying $8,500.00, which from me just looking online, seems to be an average. Do you think that this is accurate?

Maru50 · 05-22-2013, 11:17 AM

Ive heard so many things about Huntington! Ive been a couple of times, but only to the restaurants around there. Looks like a cute little town, so why do I read not so great things online?? I wonder...

CuriousGeorge13 · 05-22-2013, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maru50

My husband works in Woodbury, and I work by JFK. I dont mind traveling up to an hour to get home. We have figured property taxes. We estimated paying $8,500.00, which from me just looking online, seems to be an average. Do you think that this is accurate?

That really depends on where you're looking and the size of the house/lot. After STAR, it's a feasible number, if not a little on the low side. We were lucky enough to find a house with similar taxes (after STAR) after viewing dozens with taxes closer to $12-14k.