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I've been reading through some threads here and searching houses on mlsli and just wondering if it what im dreaming is realistic.. Now I pull in about 65 a year and my soon to be wife is making around right now 15-20 a year soon to be about 40-50.. She is just finishing up school but we have saved up about 110,000 as of right now.. We are going to be looking to buy a house pretty much anywhere in Nassau and western Suffolk as long as has it a good school district.. I work in Rockville Centre don't want to commute more then 40 minutes.. I have another year on the lease on my apartment just trying to get a feel for how much house we could afford.. I've been looking at some houses in Babylon for around 400,000.. Can we realistically afford this? The taxes scare me more then the mortgage... We are open to alot of places over the island.. Is it possible..? Or should we wait till we are both working full time? We both have cars that are already paid for.. Oh, We also have no kids or debt..
IslandersFan, in case you are unfamiliar with the local geography:
What people refer to colloquially as "towns" are actually villages and hamlets, which are within actual towns; and, because villages and hamlets are referred to as "towns", then, many times, the error is compounded when actual towns are referred to as "townships".
Also, many colloquially refer to a "downtown business district" in a hamlet as a "village".
You can get a fact sheet for any city, village or hamlet on Long Island by going here American FactFinder and input the name of the city, village or hamlet for "city/town" (leave out the ZIP Code) and New York for "State", and then click "GO".
You'll get a lot of demographic, and some economic, statistics for the city, village or hamlet you selected, and if you click on "Reference map" (it's on the right hand side), you'll get a map.
When you do find a house that you like, you can find out in which community (city, village or CDP) that house is actually located, which is oftentimes different from the community named in that house's mailing address, by using the Census Bureau's online address search function. (CDP or Census Designated Place is the Census Bureau equivalent for a hamlet in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.)
And, very importantly, among other things, the Census Bureau's online address search function also indicates in which school district an address is located.
If you guys have $100k saved and are looking at a combined $100k/year in income you can definitely afford a house that is going for $400k. I wouldn't go higher than that, but you are OK in that area.
Why don't you check out West Islip as well? I think it is a really nice area. You need to make a decision as to the kind of lifestyle you and your spouse enjoy living and make sure that after mortgage, taxes, bills, etc, that you will be able to still offer yourselves that lifestyle. Otherwise search for a lower priced home with lower taxes and have more money left over to live life. Make sure you don't live your life just paying for some house.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IslandersFan
I've been reading through some threads here and searching houses on mlsli and just wondering if it what im dreaming is realistic.. Now I pull in about 65 a year and my soon to be wife is making around right now 15-20 a year soon to be about 40-50.. She is just finishing up school but we have saved up about 110,000 as of right now.. We are going to be looking to buy a house pretty much anywhere in Nassau and western Suffolk as long as has it a good school district.. I work in Rockville Centre don't want to commute more then 40 minutes.. I have another year on the lease on my apartment just trying to get a feel for how much house we could afford.. I've been looking at some houses in Babylon for around 400,000.. Can we realistically afford this? The taxes scare me more then the mortgage... We are open to alot of places over the island.. Is it possible..? Or should we wait till we are both working full time? We both have cars that are already paid for.. Oh, We also have no kids or debt..
The 110K puts you over the top. No PMI, 20% down on a 400K house, you can do fine here.
Now granted, you can take that money to NC, VA, TX, etc, and buy a huge house there with a half acre of land and only have a thousand dollar mortgage a month to pay, where as here you're buying a 30 year old mildly updated house on 1/3rd an acre if you are lucky, and your mortgage will be twice that plus you taxes 3 times that. But I digress.
Given that you're not afraid of a 40 minute commute, that opens up a lot more doors.
You got the dough to do it, especially with no debt you should be fine.
Ton of great places within 40 minutes of RVC. The choices may actually be a little overwhelming, you need to really decide what you and the wife are looking for as far as the house and community.
The only thing I would do if I were you would be to change your screen name
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Understanding the geography of "Lawn Guyland"
