Buying a co-op in Queens or LI? or a house on LI? (Hempstead: apartment, foreclosure)

[Rachael84]

Ok, so here's the deal. My fiance and I are in our mid 20s and we're getting married July '09. We make about 110,000 together. We figured out that we can't go any higher than 270,000 for a house. We want to live in Nassau county since he teaches in Queens and I teach in the Bronx (but hopefully not much longer--looking to transfer to Brooklyn or Queens). Thing is, we don't want to be stuck in certain areas (like Hempstead, Uniondale, Roosevelt), but also don't want a house that isn't livable.

We figured it might be better to buy a 2 bedroom co-op on Long Island or Queens, then wait about 5-6 years and then buy a house. By then we'll save a lot and be making maybe 140,000 together. The co-ops in both Queens and LI seem to be the same price. The thing is, on LI, would we have to pay the school taxes separately from the maintenance?

What is your suggestion? We thought about foreclosure auctions, but heard that's too risky. We would like to buy something between May-July of next year, but no later than July.

By the way, I'm from Long Island so I know most of the areas pretty well, so you don't have to explain about certain areas. Thanks in advance

[fitdude7]

I'm in the same situation but may I ask how come you can only afford something in the 270 k range?

[Rachael84]

I'm not totally sure, but we did a few different mortgage calculators. We'll probably only be able to put like 10k towards the down payment.

[akaroutsos]

I did a quick search on MLS to see the coops in LI since I'm not familiar with them. I noticed that the maintenance fees are much higher than Queens. I think its due to the higher taxes on LI. I own a coop in Queens and my taxes are in my maintenance.

If I was planning on having children while living in the 2 bed coop, I would probably get the coop in LI in a good school district. You're paying the higher maintenance, but at least you have a kid that benefits from it.

If I wasn't planning on having kids while living in the coop, I would stay in Queens. You can find coops that are close to all, so there wouldn't be a need for a car (save on gas). Your commute time wouldn't be terrible even if you got transferred. Plus you would be saving more money towards your house because the maintenance is less. Parking does suck though in Queens and you'll also be paying city tax.

How hard will it be to sell a coop in LI. Is there a huge market of people looking for coops in LI? We are in the process of selling our coop in Queens. It took about a month to accept an offer.

Also, if its just going to be you and your fiance, why not a 1 bedroom. Even less $, so you can save more later on . . .

One more thing. . . . Many coop boards require a 20% downpayment.

[fitdude7]

I've been looking in West Hempstead / Franklin Square . We make about the same (110 k total) From what I've seen I don't think that there will be any houses available for under 350k that don't need a lot of work. If we can't find anything we will most likely get a co-op in Bayside. I wish the prices for homes in Queens was lower

[Rachael84]

We plan on having kids, but not until I'm 29 or 30. I'm 24 right now, so not for a little while. We would hopefully move once I'm pregnant, but if push comes to shove and that doesn't happen, we would move when they're about 2-3 years old approaching school age. We definitely don't want to send them to city public schools (we both teach in the city, so we know what goes on in the department of ed lol).

It was suggested that we buy a 2 bedroom co-op; that way it's easier to sell once we want to. We heard that one bedrooms are harder to sell. What is your advice as far as that?

[akaroutsos]

I heard the same thing, but in my own experience it wasn't hard to sell. We live in a 1 bedroom coop in North Flushing. The location is great because its walking distance (1-2 blocks) to supermarkets, restaurants, the post office, the library. Main Street is only 1 mile away and there are a couple of buses that will take you there too.

We had singles come to see the apartment, couples that were starting out and couples that will be retiring and looking to downsize. I think location is probably far more important than amount of bedrooms.

However if you do think you might have kids in your coop, I would get the 2 bed. The main reason we decided to sell is because we want to start a family soon and don't have much room left in our 1 bed. Its perfect for 2 adults, but any additions would make it very cramped. Also we didn't want to wait until after I got pregnant because we didn't know how the market would be then and we didn't want to feel forced to buy.

Hope this helps. . .

[OhBeeHave]

Rachael84,

A 2 bedroom is more desirable because it allows for extra storage, a child's room, a guest room, an office, etc. It gives the owner more flexibility that a 1 br unit would not.

A 1 br is like buying jeans which are snug in the store but look great. One round through the dryer and they are too tight.

Akaroutsos summed it up:
1)...don't have much room left in our 1 bed. Its perfect for 2 adults, but any additions would make it very cramped.
2)...we didn't want to wait until after I got pregnant because we didn't know how the market would be then and we didn't want to feel forced to buy.

[AlexisT]

Having owned a 1 bed in the past (not in NYC) get the 2 if budget allows. You'll appreciate the extra space and not having to move in a hurry when you start a family.

[Rachael84]

We're a little worried about the 20% down payment that most co-ops require. Where on earth would we get $40,000? Is there any place that would give us a loan? The most we'll have saved up might be something like 20,000. There must be people who don't have the 40,000 for a down payment and get it some other way. Can anyone give advice? Renting a place would be pointless since we'd be wasting $1000 a month anyway.