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theres plenty of starter homes for 300k and under, and you sure as hell dont need a $200k income to afford a 250-300k house. thats the problem here, people still want to try to have the best, even if its a starter home. the whole IDEA of a STARTER home, is that its not going to be the best house, probably going to need updating and some work, and probably wont be in your favorite "upscale/rich" neigborhood. Youre right though, if i was making $200k a year i wouldnt be looking for something "slightly updated", nor would i be looking for a "starter home". the people making under 80K are the ones in the "starter home" market
The problem is that a lot of the houses that were built as "starter homes" in the '50s and '60s now tend to come as one of two types:
1) They've been modernized and expanded and now cost way more than your $80K family can swing;
2) They've not been touched, and you can buy it, but then you've got tens of thousands to put into it, which you can't afford to do, and by the time you've done that why didn't you buy the nicer house anyway? Even if you bought one done 10 years ago, it's livable and you don't have the hassle.
It's no small thing to buy a house that needs work. Construction is expensive.
When people bought Levitt houses they didn't need to replace all the windows, fix the subsidence, fit a new boiler and put in appliances that aren't about to blow up. I've seen all that and more in houses that have been owned by the same people for 50 years.
This is also a pretty Suffolk-slanted set of categories. A lot of young Nassau families are in Category 5: in a not very large house which they can't really afford. There sure as heck aren't a lot of starter houses in Nassau for sub-$300K, and if you commute to the city, you're going to put yourself through hell living in central or eastern Suffolk.
I also agree, you don't need to be making 200k; but you do need to be making that OR buying somewhere really cheap, probably in Suffolk, to have bought in the past couple of years and have it easy. Unless your parents gave you a nice down payment.
Our first home was a 1100 sq ft condo back in 1988 which was relatively inexpensive. I don't see why the Island doesn't have more of those. Also you could fit a lot of those Ryan homes on a zero lot line (garden homes, patio homes, etc).
Our first home was a 1100 sq ft condo back in 1988 which was relatively inexpensive. I don't see why the Island doesn't have more of those. Also you could fit a lot of those Ryan homes on a zero lot line (garden homes, patio homes, etc).
Yes you could.
Id love to see more cottage courts on LI like they have in Cali.
My wife and I are pushing 150K now. We own a condo, which has lost significant value according to recent sales, back in 2006. According to my calculations, we've basically been renting it from the bank for the last few years, if you factor in what we would have been paying in rent, tax deductions, laundry, mtc, and the loss in value of our condo.
So, we are basically in category 4..we were told by our mortgage broker that we were shooting WAY below what we could afford (30K in salary ago). He told us that we could have qualified for a 590K house on a 30 yr mortgage. I asked him if he wanted to come over for peanut butter and jelly dinners after the close.
I think we probably went a LITTLE below, but that enabled both of us to take some time off work when my son was born. We looked at houses in the same price range as our condo, but if you factor in the increase in taxes, oil, etc, it would have been a lot more.
I look at the MLS every week, and people are being unrealistic. The same houses for 6 months, they've budged maybe 5% on their prices when they should be at least 10% down from last year this time, probably more. I'm ready to move into a house, but we're waiting for the market to bottom out. Our credit is perfect. For anyone who "can't find a buyer". Here I am, just start asking for what your house is actually worth. If you haven't sold in 6 months, you're probably asking too much.
We're living in an area where housing prices reflect 200K+ household incomes and the average income is less than half that. There are "starter" homes out there, people just happen to be asking for $350K for them when they should be 275K or less. Go look up any 3+, 1 bath house in a decent school district on LI. There are still people asking for close to 400K because they put a new bathroom in 5 years ago and their neighbor got 375K in 2006.
GREAT post Dman72. Im in the same exact boat as you.own a condo, waiting to sell....sitting on the sidelines till these prices shake out to where they should be.
Good luck!
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If you haven't sold in 6 months, you're probably asking too much. 
