Renting > Buying (Nassau: section 8, sales, real estate)
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This is probably a dumb question but, here it goes anyways. I'm from Arizona and have no clue how the rest of the country lives, especially not what I'd consider nearly polar opposite of here (big city downtown manhattan).
When it comes to housing, I assume most people rent apartments if you're in Brooklyn or Manhattan. Correct? Does it EVER make sense to buy a condo? I've seen the crazy HOA fees on some of these places, 3k mortgage, and 3k HOA... However, do people just come to grips with the fact they'll rent forever? How do you retire if you just rent forever? Or, do most people move away after retirement age? how does this work?
You put the money that you would be putting into the mortgage into the market and enjoy flexibility and liquidity. I'm not saying it's the only way to go, but it can work.
With the current prices across NYC, buying doesn't make sense in a lot of circumstances. There are those who will argue until they're dead that it's always better to buy then rent but that is simply not true.
At the end of the day it's a numbers game. I bought my house in the late 90s. Back then it was clearly better to buy then rent. If I had to do it today, there's is no way I'd buy the same house. The numbers just fine make sense.
There's too much money bidding up the NYC market in addition to a terrible supply (getting worse by the year).
What a lot of people don't understand/take into account is that a lot of RE sales in NYC involve inheritance, gift money, or as an investment/bank account for those with plenty more. Under these circumstances, buying absolutely makes sense.
I just sold my place uptown and am now renting in Brooklyn.
I say rent and put the down payment, closing costs, etc into the market. Unless you plan on staying put for ten plus years, and even then…
Most people don't even take closings costs into account. They're not terrible for coops but for houses/condos most will be giving up 1-2 years of rent just in closing costs.
How much can you afford each month, then budget what it cost to own vs rent.
Don't forget that owning is a long term process not like renting, if you lose your job or need a bigger place.
Owning a house is not suitable for majority of people regardless how cheap the interest rates.
The entire game in NYC has been appreciating property prices. The game is cyclical though. If you bought at the beginning or middle or a cycle, you'll most likely be fine. If you bought somewhere in the latter half of the cycle, you most certainly will lose money.
It varies from person to person, your requirements and preferences to buy or rent a property. Follow your interests and rent if you think it is the right choice for you.
This is probably a dumb question but, here it goes anyways. I'm from Arizona and have no clue how the rest of the country lives, especially not what I'd consider nearly polar opposite of here (big city downtown manhattan).
When it comes to housing, I assume most people rent apartments if you're in Brooklyn or Manhattan. Correct? Does it EVER make sense to buy a condo? I've seen the crazy HOA fees on some of these places, 3k mortgage, and 3k HOA... However, do people just come to grips with the fact they'll rent forever? How do you retire if you just rent forever? Or, do most people move away after retirement age? how does this work?
Manhattan is its own world. Forget about buying there these days unless you're already a multi millionaire. My ex gf and I bought a 1 bedroom on the upper east side in 1996 for $150K (we were in our mid 20s with decent white collar jobs). It's now worth $2m, although we broke up years ago and sold it. Point being this scenario is almost impossible in Manhattan these days (2 young kids buying cheap apt). So forget about it!!!!!
The outer boroughs are a different story. You can get decent 1 bed coop in outer Queens, nice green areas, for $200K+. There are similar deals further East as you get into Nassau.
Since NYC area real estate is likely to keep appreciating, always good to buy if you can.
Retirement? In the past decades, you could live in NYC your entire life and get by. Not really anymore, in decent areas anyway. Nowadays most old timers (50+) have cashed out on their homes/apts and moved to places that are tax free like TX, FL and NV. I'm talking about cops, firemen, teachers, nurses, accountants...middle of the road salary folks. The immigrant/3rd world class of NYC (a very large population) will always have to rent and pretty much never retire. That's how it goes. But the days of being born/raised and retiring in NYC as a native in the middle class are pretty much gone. Again, this applies to decent areas of NYC. I guess you could live in the hood section 8 housing in Browsville all ya life and love it.
We bought in the Upper West Side at the height of the pandemic. It was still far from cheap, but now a year later with prices recovered we could sell and make a nice buck. I do miss renting sometimes, because you have that flexibility of getting to choose and move where life takes you. If you own, you have to try to sell beforehand, or if the market is down, hold out until hopefully things get better.
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