Seriously how do people afford buying a house?

amother

Wed, Sep 25 2019, 7:58 pm

Currently living in tiny rental in bp. Were looking into staten island. How do you afford buying a house. If I were to move now into another rental it would cost me approximately 2500-3000+ might as well pay that for my own mortgage. But prices are so expensive. Were looking into 2 family house and have a tenant. My issue is that if I were to have problems with the tenant I cant afford the mortgage without it. On the other hand if I go into a smaller size apartment without a tenant the monthly cost is more then how much I would be paying for the larger house with a tenant. How do all these young couples afford houses??

amother

Khaki

Wed, Sep 25 2019, 8:18 pm

amother [ Amethyst ] wrote:

Some make lots of money.
Some get married late and were able to save.
Most get enormous help, without which it would be impossible to buy the house.

And some borrow for the down payment and live extremely frugally. We thought of saving rather than borrowing, but we couldn’t save up enough to keep up with the rising costs of homes in our area.

We do have wealthy parents/grandparents on both sides so everyone thinks (“knows”) our parents either bought it for us or gave us our down payment.

MiracleMama

Wed, Sep 25 2019, 8:45 pm

I'm sure there are many ways people manage it but I'd guess most people fall into one of three groups:
1. Make a lot of money.
2. Lived below their means for several years and saved up.
3. Parents helped with downpayment.

amother

Blue

Wed, Sep 25 2019, 9:02 pm

Some people borrow
Some get help
Some have good jobs
Some buy far out and get. A better deal

Personally my family is in real estate and I bought far out and got a pretty nice sized house for a pretty good deal. It was very far out but bh the neighborhood grew and is really nice a big now

amother

Ruby

Wed, Sep 25 2019, 10:19 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

You can buy a beautiful mansion surrounded by stunning views for 1.6 in Pomona-- https://www.zillow.com/homedet.....zpid/

Or you can buy a one family house with no views for 1.6 in Brooklyn-- https://www.zillow.com/homedet.....zpid/

You can always buy a builder upper and fix it up while living there if you/your husband are the handymen type. Or take a risk and buy at an action. If you can move somewhere out of town then you can get more value for your money. There are first time home buyers loans you can look into to see if you qualify for any of them-- https://thelendersnetwork.com/.....rams/

https://www.nerdwallet.com/art.....uyers

amother

Burlywood

Thu, Sep 26 2019, 7:51 am

OP, I am always wondering the same thing. Even fixer-uppers (which I am totally willing to do) are WAY out of our price range in NYC.

Unfortunately, we don't make enough money, even scrimping and saving, we couldn't make enough money, and our parents aren't able to help us. So, there is NO WAY that we could ever afford to buy in NYC. Which is a big reason why I would like to move to Philly.

amother

Cerise

Thu, Sep 26 2019, 8:17 am

Either you make money or you take money (from family or friends).

To buy a house in an expensive market, you have to have a lot of cash on hand.

I suppose that some people are not a hundred percent honest with the bank, but I hope not.

meme6

Thu, Sep 26 2019, 9:01 am

amother [ Ruby ] wrote:

Moving out is not always cheaper and Rockland taxes are one of the highest!!

amother

Saddlebrown

Thu, Sep 26 2019, 9:03 am

Just putting it out there, my parents still live in the apartment they started renting in 1976. In 1993, 10 years after the building went co-op, and the price went down, they bought their apartment. There is nothing wrong with that. We all turned out fine. This idea that we all need large new homes with sprawling lawns, is a nice dream, but come on. There is a HUGE sense of entitlement or at least perceived need, with the younger generation.

meme6

Thu, Sep 26 2019, 9:05 am

amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:

Very true!! I also feel like a condos being built all are upgraded verses keeping it basic and cheaper!

amother

Beige

Thu, Sep 26 2019, 10:55 am

amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:

As someone who just moved away from my fully attached small house in Brooklyn I respectfully disagree.
We don't NEED but it makes a HUGE difference! It's heathy for kids to run and play and breathe fresh air. Weve all lost some weight since we moved (my teenager included) since we do so much more walking and stairs when we need to get from one end of the house to the other LOL

.
It's not like you're paying cheap for a condo in Brooklyn. It's waaay cheaper to buy an older house with a huge lot in NJ than to buy a small condo in Brooklyn.

amother

Beige

Thu, Sep 26 2019, 11:02 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

We originally bought in BP with a partner. So we weren't relying on a tenant to cover our mortgage, we had an equally invested partner 50/50.
It's very scary to buy with the cheshbon of having a tenant. It's a risk. Many do it anyway.

(Like I said in my previous post we've moved on to bigger and better in NJ. It's been a game changer! )