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Buying a house I can't really afford
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familyfirst




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 2:05 pm
If you can rent out space or take in boarders than I say go for it. In a few years you can remortgage if necessary but the house is yours, the space is bigger, and no one if throwing you out.
That's if you're at least in the ballpark...
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amother
Jetblack


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 2:22 pm
Don't do it. If you really won't have a cushion of savings and every month is a stretch, what happens if you have a large unexpected bill? Your house is your collateral. If you can't pay the mortgage, you risk losing the house. Save up a bit more.
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amother
Amber


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 2:22 pm
I have a relative who works for the court system and she sees a lot of frum people coming in because the banks foreclosed on their homes due to non-payment of their mortgages.

If you bite off more than you can chew then someone losing a job or unexpected medical bills or a major repair needed on the house can set you back so much that you can end up losing your home. Please be very careful.
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baltomom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 2:41 pm
I would be very wary of buying a house I can't afford. But have you considered buying a starter house that you could build on to in the future when you need more space and hopefully can afford it?
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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 6:48 pm
I wouldn't as I value my sanity. For me, taking on debt that I can't realistically pay off would be so anxiety provoking.

What we did is buy a house that is larger but a little... strange. The layout is very odd and the whole second floor has slanted ceilings because it's right under the roof. It is also very old and needs a lot of work. All this contributed to a very doable asking price for a lot more space than any of the other homes in our price bracket. I've also had friends who bought homes farther away from the center of town to get more space for their dollars.
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 7:00 pm
I bought a small house with an apt in it and my payment was less than rent.
My next house was much bigger bh and I also put in an apt. It empty now for a while. Bh we r doing ok now and not struggling.
My sister just bought a house that is a great deal but I think she is nuts since there is no way she can afford it unless she rents out the entire upstairs. She is stuck if it's not rented. She got the loan because a filter member co-signed. (We r in the mortgage business and they know what they are doing) I personally would have waited till I was more financially comfortable.
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Amarante




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 7:10 pm
The point of buying a small home that you can afford is that your cost will remain fixed versus rent rising.

While most people do stretch a little to purchase a home the emphasis is on a little and they make it work by not buying furniture and living with stuff rather than remodeling.

Most people who have never owned a home really under estimate the costs of home ownership beyond the mortgage payment and taxes. Every home will require maintenance and some will be nominal like a leaky faucet and some will be major like new appliances or leaky roofs or burst plumbing. Are you or your husband handy or do you rely on the landlord for everything because all of those costs add up.

Do you have six months of living expenses saved? Are you free of credit card debt or are you living paycheck to paycheck and scrambling to make ends meet.

I agree with several posters to to see whether you actually can come up with the increased amounts by working additional jobs and being frugal. See whether your husband really wants to work 16 hours a day six day a week.

Also borrowing for a down payment is a terrible idea. The reason there are formulas for lending based on income is that this is an amount that most people can afford for housing. And that formula is intended for regular people and not people with four children who intend to have more and who send to private school instead of public school and therefore have tuition.
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amother
Navy


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 7:54 pm
thunderstorm wrote:
OP, some people buy a house that costs more than they could afford if it comes with an apartment they could rent out. Renting out part of the house can help you cover the part that you initially couldn't afford. That's the only way I see it making sense.

I have a friend who lives in a two family house that was an investment property for the original owner. The original owner tried to evict her but she won because there were 6 units in the house-- owner leased separate rooms instead of apartments-- so now the entire place, all the units, are rent stabilized. Owner sold it for really cheap to an investor who then turned around and sold it to a family. This family tried to go to court and claim they wanted to use it for themselves but the case got dismissed. Now they are trying to sell again and are not telling potential buyers that the house is occupied and/or rent stabilized. Anyone buying the house will be screwed over if they don't do their research. So buying a two family house is not always the best thing to do if you will be screwed over by sellers who don't follow the laws and only care about money. The house is in a Jewish neighborhood and the owner is trying to scam some Jews into buying it. People should be careful and do their due diligence before spending thousands on a house they won't be able to use or make money off of if its an investment property.
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Sebastian




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 8:07 pm
why did the owner want to evict your friend? I must say your friend doesn't sound so nice in this story.
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amother
Navy


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 8:19 pm
Sebastian wrote:
why did the owner want to evict your friend? I must say your friend doesn't sound so nice in this story.

Owner did not have the right to create a multi-family house and didn't have the right to collect rent--still doesnt have the right. Whats not nice about my friend? She stood up for her rights and won. Her case is helping other people in similar situations. Bottom line, don't break the law and think that the court will penalize innocent tenants for it. And don't buy a house without doing full research as to the history of the house, some are rent stabilized, others have liens on them, etc. Do your due diligence before you end up with a lemon.

You think its nice for an owner to try to scam potential buyers into buying a house without telling them that its rent stabilized and/or occupied?
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Sebastian




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 8:26 pm
She hurt the owner and badly. NYC law is very pro tenant and the owners can easily get screwed. I'm sure she knew the apt wasn't legal when she took it and she had no problems signing a lease.

IMO, if it's the owner's house they can rent whatever they want for however much they want, providing there are safe living conditions (working heat, water, sewers etc). If she didn't like it, she could've looked elsewhere.

she "stood up for her rights" and now there's a poor family that thought they bought a house to live that they can't live in b/c of selfish ppl like her.

the owner sold it to an investor. The investor did behave unethically, not the owner.
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amother
Navy


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 8:39 pm
Sebastian wrote:
She hurt the owner and badly. NYC law is very pro tenant and the owners can easily get screwed. I'm sure she knew the apt wasn't legal when she took it and she had no problems signing a lease.

IMO, if it's the owner's house they can rent whatever they want for however much they want, providing there are safe living conditions (working heat, water, sewers etc). If she didn't like it, she could've looked elsewhere.

she "stood up for her rights" and now there's a poor family that thought they bought a house to live that they can't live in b/c of selfish ppl like her.

the owner sold it to an investor. The investor did behave unethically, not the owner.

The original owner knew it was rent stabilized and sold it anyway as did the investor and now the current owners are trying to do the same thing and make $350,000+ off of it even though they did not renovate or do anything to deserve it.

You can't do whatever you want just because you own the house. If you build without a permit then you get penalized for it. If you don't pay the mortgage then you lose the house. If you create illegal units then you take the risk of having it deemed rent stabilized by the courts. And there are plenty of other things people get penalized for I.e. liens on house if you don't pay taxes, etc. And your tenants get to continue living in the house even if you lose it to foreclosure and they get to stay in the house as rent stabilized tenants if you created a multi family house. My friend did nothing wrong and the courts/govt agency agreed with her.

This "poor family" (who aren't Jewish) can still live in the house if they want to just not in her unit but are instead choosing to screw over some Jews. But according to you they can do whatever they want because they own the house so screwing over Jews is perfectly acceptable to you Banging head
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tweety1




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 8:49 pm
amother wrote:
When we were looking to buy, DH asked his Rav who told him that if it makes sense on paper 80% then go for it. There's a certain amount that you need to have bitachon. I've heard from many people who bought and said that on paper the numbers didn't add up but once you buy and live there, you figure out how to make it work. Somehow, Hashem sends a bracha, you get a raise, you tighten your belt a bit more, etc.
This has been our experience BH.

This! I could've written this word for word.
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amother
Fuchsia


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 8:55 pm
amother wrote:
The original owner knew it was rent stabilized and sold it anyway as did the investor and now the current owners are trying to do the same thing and make $350,000+ off of it even though they did not renovate or do anything to deserve it.

You can't do whatever you want just because you own the house. If you build without a permit then you get penalized for it. If you don't pay the mortgage then you lose the house. If you create illegal units then you take the risk of having it deemed rent stabilized by the courts. And there are plenty of other things people get penalized for I.e. liens on house if you don't pay taxes, etc. And your tenants get to continue living in the house even if you lose it to foreclosure and they get to stay in the house as rent stabilized tenants if you created a multi family house. My friend did nothing wrong and the courts/govt agency agreed with her.

This "poor family" (who aren't Jewish) can still live in the house if they want to just not in her unit but are instead choosing to screw over some Jews. But according to you they can do whatever they want because they own the house so screwing over Jews is perfectly acceptable to you Banging head


I don't understand anything in this story - but making money on real estate isn't about "deserving" - owners can sell the house for whatever price they want if someone will purchase it.
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saralem




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 8:55 pm
Struggling with too big of a mortgage payment is like choking. Every day. I’m happy with my house and it was great for our large family but I can’t breathe much of the time, financially. And we have no savings.
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amother
Navy


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 9:02 pm
amother wrote:
I don't understand anything in this story - but making money on real estate isn't about "deserving" - owners can sell the house for whatever price they want if someone will purchase it.

Sure they can try to sell it for two million or three million as well but the point is that they are lying about the use of the house and not telling potential buyers that it is rent stabilized which means that anyone buying thinks that they will be able to rent it out at market value which is inaccurate and could get them into trouble with the law as well. Bekitzur, if you are buying a house then do your due diligence and don't get screwed over by dishonest, unethical owners who don't care about Jews or anything else except for money.
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amother
Brown


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 9:08 pm
tweety1 wrote:
This! I could've written this word for word.

I wonder if it's the same rav. Wink
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Sebastian




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 9:14 pm
amother wrote:
You can't do whatever you want just because you own the house. If you build without a permit then you get penalized for it. If you don't pay the mortgage then you lose the house. If you create illegal units then you take the risk of having it deemed rent stabilized by the courts. And there are plenty of other things people get penalized for I.e. liens on house if you don't pay taxes, etc. And your tenants get to continue living in the house even if you lose it to foreclosure and they get to stay in the house as rent stabilized tenants if you created a multi family house. My friend did nothing wrong and the courts/govt agency agreed with her.

This "poor family" (who aren't Jewish) can still live in the house if they want to just not in her unit but are instead choosing to screw over some Jews. But according to you they can do whatever they want because they own the house so screwing over Jews is perfectly acceptable to you Banging head


I think NYC rent laws are unethical and stupid. This is why there is a housing crisis in NYC. Creating safe illegal units is not hurting anyone and I still think your friend was wrong.

I'm allowed to feel for the poor family even if they aren't Jewish. No where does it say sympathy can only be reserved for Jews. UGH.

[And the idiots running the city should've just forced the owner to use the house as a 2 family instead of a multi family since it was zoned for that. NYC streets cannot handle more congestion. Then your lovely friend could've been evicted. And she would've deserved it too.]
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amother
Fuchsia


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 9:18 pm
amother wrote:
Sure they can try to sell it for two million or three million as well but the point is that they are lying about the use of the house and not telling potential buyers that it is rent stabilized which means that anyone buying thinks that they will be able to rent it out at market value which is inaccurate and could get them into trouble with the law as well. Bekitzur, if you are buying a house then do your due diligence and don't get screwed over by dishonest, unethical owners who don't care about Jews or anything else except for money.


I suspect you aren't privy to the conversations between the seller and the buyer - and yes - people do use lawyers when they purchase property.

Anyway I was responding to your comment about the the sellers "deserving" something.
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amother
Navy


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 9:32 pm
Sebastian wrote:
I think NYC rent laws are unethical and stupid. This is why there is a housing crisis in NYC. Creating safe illegal units is not hurting anyone and I still think your friend was wrong.

I'm allowed to feel for the poor family even if they aren't Jewish. No where does it say sympathy can only be reserved for Jews. UGH.

[And the idiots running the city should've just forced the owner to use the house as a 2 family instead of a multi family since it was zoned for that. NYC streets cannot handle more congestion. Then your lovely friend could've been evicted. And she would've deserved it too.]

If the landlord creates safe illegal units to help tenants then making it rent stabilized helps the tenants even more as it ensures their stability and safety. Why are you so bitter about it? If you don't like the laws then run for office to change it (especially since NY is now completely democrat and is about to become even worse than its been before).
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