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Buying a house I can't really afford
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Optione




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 9:33 pm
Kiwi13 wrote:
I think it's fine to push yourselves a little bit in order to get into a bigger/better house. Many times that ends up being beneficial as income increases and housing values rise, but only if it's workable. We bought a house that's a bit more than we could comfortably afford (we qualified for the mortgage, but it was close) and we had to shift our budget to make it work. In our case it was a "now or never" kind of thing. Housing costs are rising faster than our income and there aren't any realistic rental options in our neighborhood. BUT, if buying the house would have meant financial ruin (ie. if we couldn't afford the mortgage, taxes, utilities, etc.) we wouldn't have done it.

What I'm saying is, if it's realistically doable, it might be worthwhile to do it even if it means reallocating your budget, doing without certain luxuries for a while, etc... but if it's going to break the bank and put you at risk of foreclosure or needing to skimp on essentials (basic groceries, utilities, etc.) then I wouldn't do it.

In general I'm not a huge fan of the "starter home" idea, but it depends on the area where you live and how long you're planning to stay in the house before trading up. Moving is expensive. Closing costs are expensive.

Good luck with your decision!

Exactly this.
And perhaps go through the process of preapproval and see what the bank will allow. -we did that and I found it helpful because it gave me a max on how much we could reallocate our budget to make it work
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amother
Orchid


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2019, 9:54 pm
For those who are able to make it work... I'm very happy for them. But there are so many people who try this and are NOT able to make it work. This is such unwise advice.
Things come up. There are ALWAYS expenses. Water heaters, air conditioning units, etc are thousands of dollars. New roof, floods, etc etc- the list goes on and on. Plus what if G-d forbid you have a non-house related emergency come up?
We just purchased a new house. It is small. The backyard is quite big though which means there will be room to build onto the house in the future (G-d willing we will be able to do so at some point).

Do you have an accountant? I suggest go and speak to a financial advisor/accountant and really crunch numbers and figure this thing out. Not what you CAN pay but what would be wise- especially if you have emergency payments come up.
Owning a house really does come with so many extra expenses. My husband is super handy but even materials cost money and he can't do EVERYTHING. I'm glad we stuck to what we could really afford.
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amother
Coral


 

Post Sat, Feb 09 2019, 10:23 pm
I didn’t read all the comments, but I just want you to know that I had to do a double take when reading your post. This is exactly what I’ve been going through with my husband! We’re Gd willing moving this month to a bigger house that I can’t understand how we’re going to afford! My husband would say he doesn’t even want to look at my budget bc he doesn’t think you can live life accounting for every last penny and you have to just be smart and then have bitochin in Hashem. I still don’t understand where you can decide to draw the line between hashtadlus and bitochin because if it were up to me, we’d stay cramped in this small house knowing we’d be safe financially for the future. My husband says you can’t live worrying about the future and you need to get ahead now before more expenses pile up. So I don’t know what to tell you. In the end, my husband won and like I said before we’re moving. I’m trying to be positive And started looking at this situation as growth in our relationship by showing that I can trust my husband handling our finances and making big decisions like this. Ahhhhh! Hatzlacha!!!!!!
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amother
Babypink


 

Post Sat, Feb 09 2019, 11:12 pm
Its a tricky question. You have to jump into a house to a point but you also can't be ridiculous. I just bought a house over the summer. We have three kids, and a combined income of just over 100k. The house was just under 600k and the monthly payment comes out to just under 3k a month. This is for a three bedroom house in the tristate are. We did bh had the savings for the downpayment and qualified for the mortgage without a cosigner.

After all essentials like mortgage, insurance, car payments, a skimpy food budget and tuition we have a few hundred dollars extra at the end of the month. I just paid a ridiculous amount of money for Yeshiva week winter camp for my kids - I could have done a cheap vacation for the same money and no there was no few hundred dollars left last month.

I would say if you don't have to borrow anything and you can on paper do the monthly budget for your current life situation go for it! You don't need to have your unborn childrens tuition or your bar mitzva that is four years away in your budget - but you have to be able to explain how you are going to make it every month.
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Metukah




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 6:45 am
amother wrote:
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).


At who's expense?

If the city are so concerned about tenants they should buy properties and rent them out and make the rent stabilized.

I agree with Sebastian that this is corrupt. Two wrongs do not make a right. If the original landlord did something illegal, no need for the city to behave unethically.

Imagine you bought a home and were now stuck with nothing? Why is the city not concerned with the innocent buyer's rights?

Your friend sounds selfish and greedy. Sorry.
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watergirl




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 7:03 am
Metukah wrote:
At who's expense?

If the city are so concerned about tenants they should buy properties and rent them out and make the rent stabilized.

I agree with Sebastian that this is corrupt. Two wrongs do not make a right. If the original landlord did something illegal, no need for the city to behave unethically.

Imagine you bought a home and were now stuck with nothing? Why is the city not concerned with the innocent buyer's rights?

Your friend sounds selfish and greedy. Sorry.

You were able to follow that story? How?! I read it 3 times and I have no idea what shes talking about.
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Metukah




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 7:38 am
watergirl wrote:
You were able to follow that story? How?! I read it 3 times and I have no idea what shes talking about.


I would boast about my wisdom, but, in all honesty there is no way to fully understand that story. However, it is very simple to glean from the compote of words, that her friend is living in a house, at capped rent, at the expense of an innocent home buyer. Worst of all, her friend seems proud of her accomplishments.
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watergirl




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 8:05 am
Metukah wrote:
I would boast about my wisdom, but, in all honesty there is no way to fully understand that story. However, it is very simple to glean from the compote of words, that her friend is living in a house, at capped rent, at the expense of an innocent home buyer. Worst of all, her friend seems proud of her accomplishments.

Is the friend renting the place? Its early where I live. Maybe I need more coffee.
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Iymnok




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 8:06 am
Buying a home with a yard that is comparable in size to your apartment is really a much larger space. You have space to move in the yard, you may have a basement, garage or attic for storage or refinishing to additional living space. If you have a large enough yard, in the future you could build an addition. You have the option of buying a shed to store your bikes and stuff.
If you finish it well and take care of it, then when you are in a better financial situation you could sell it well and move to larger quarters.
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amother
Navy


 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 9:29 am
Metukah wrote:
At who's expense?

If the city are so concerned about tenants they should buy properties and rent them out and make the rent stabilized.

I agree with Sebastian that this is corrupt. Two wrongs do not make a right. If the original landlord did something illegal, no need for the city to behave unethically.

Imagine you bought a home and were now stuck with nothing? Why is the city not concerned with the innocent buyer's rights?

Your friend sounds selfish and greedy. Sorry.

My friend is one of the nicest people I know and did nothing wrong so lets not discuss her further.

The point of my posting is that you should do your due diligence before buying a house
and do your research on it (I.e. check city records to see what the legal use of house is, if its different than advertised then run for your life, ask about court cases, have a lawyer check for court cases even if the seller says there aren't any, if the court determined that it was rent stabilized then run for your life, etc) otherwise you may end up with a lemon and maybe even in legal trouble as you inherit whatever issues the previous owner had. And if you do buy a house then don't break the laws because you can end up with major legal issues as no one will penalize your tenants just because you couldn't follow the laws. Just like no one will penalize the passengers in a speeding car as they did nothing wrong so too, no one will penalize your tenants if you break the laws. Hope that is clear enough for everyone to understand regardless of the specifics of my friends case (which I can't go into further details without revealing her identity).
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 9:39 am
amother wrote:
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?

Maybe we should say the same about your friend. Don't rent an apartment without doing full research on its legality or risk breaking the law by living in an illegal apartment.
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amother
Navy


 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 9:46 am
ra_mom wrote:
Maybe we should say the same about your friend. Don't rent an apartment without doing full research on its legality or risk breaking the law by living in an illegal apartment.

Again, without discussing my friend or going into specifics of the case, the burden is on the homeowner to ensure the laws are being followed. Just like the burden is on the driver of the car to ensure that s/he is not speeding and is following the laws, not the passengers.

The point of my posting is that you should do your due diligence before buying a house
and do your research on it (I.e. check city records to see what the legal use of house is, if its different than advertised then run for your life, ask about court cases, have a lawyer check for any court cases even if the owner says there is none, if the court determined that it was rent stabilized then run for your life, etc) otherwise you may end up with a lemon and maybe even in legal trouble as you inherit whatever issues the previous owner had. And if you do buy a house then don't break the laws because you can end up with major legal issues as no one will penalize your tenants just because you couldn't follow the laws. Just like no one will penalize the passengers in a speeding car as they did nothing wrong so too, no one will penalize your tenants if you break the laws. Hope that is clear enough for everyone to understand regardless of the specifics of my friends case (which I can't go into further details without revealing her identity).
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Amarante




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 9:58 am
I think the point about buying a home with the intention of covering the mortgage with rent is not one to be taken lightly because it covers certain risks.

First, you may have months with no tenant or you may have a tenant who doesn't pay and then uses the system to avoid eviction for a long period.

You may have a lousy tenant who is destructive or noisy and then you are sharing space with that person.

Also, most two family homes are really not constructed so well in terms of noise abatement so that you can hear what is going on much more than in a well built apartment house so you will have much less privacy than moving into a single family home without a tenant.

And if there is already a tenant in residence BEWARE because many places have laws which are very protective of the tenant not being tossed out on the street. Even under the best circumstances, you will wind up paying money to have the tenant move - and even more money if the tenant is senior citizen or disabled. Best is to stipulate that the home be delivered without any tenant at all.
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amother
Navy


 

Post Sun, Feb 10 2019, 10:56 am
Amarante wrote:
I think the point about buying a home with the intention of covering the mortgage with rent is not one to be taken lightly because it covers certain risks.

First, you may have months with no tenant or you may have a tenant who doesn't pay and then uses the system to avoid eviction for a long period.

You may have a lousy tenant who is destructive or noisy and then you are sharing space with that person.

Also, most two family homes are really not constructed so well in terms of noise abatement so that you can hear what is going on much more than in a well built apartment house so you will have much less privacy than moving into a single family home without a tenant.

And if there is already a tenant in residence BEWARE because many places have laws which are very protective of the tenant not being tossed out on the street. Even under the best circumstances, you will wind up paying money to have the tenant move - and even more money if the tenant is senior citizen or disabled. Best is to stipulate that the home be delivered without any tenant at all.

Even if the house is empty, if the court deemed it to be rent stabilized then you are required to follow those guidelines or you can get into trouble. That is why I keep saying that potential buyers should do their research before buying a house.

In NY, you can look up the certificate of occupancy/other issues through the department of buildings-- https://www1.nyc.gov/site/buil......page

You can look at acris to see when it was last sold and for how much and whether the house has a high turnover rate (which could indicate problems)-- https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/CP/.....nMenu

You can check hpd to see how or if its registered-- https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hpd/index.page

You can contact DHCR for rent history-- http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/

Beware that sellers may not always be honest and may not have registered the house properly and/or there may not be a rent history which is why you need to look at everything carefully before making any decisions. One way to know if there is something wrong would be that its advertised as a multi family and the records show that its a legal two family then know that there is a problem. Or if the owner says its empty/will be empty but its obvious that tenants live in the house then know that there is a problem. Either way, have a lawyer check all the records as well as the housing court to see if there were any court cases and what the outcome of the cases are as it will effect you since you are bound by these decisions even if you had nothing to do with it.

Remember that you can buy two houses in NJ for less than the price of buying a two family house in NY so if you just want an income or want to have a place for your family then buy two houses in NJ and you can still collect rent without have to live on top of your tenants or family whatever the case may be.

Good luck!
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