Llobet Photography wrote:
I haven't looked in here or posted in a very long while and now I read this.
Quick thoughts...
I'm looking for a house now because yes, renting is like a mortgage around here.
I've always been a saver so I have a bit of a stash but yet it's not good enough given today's prices.
Been saving for a very long time.
I've been divorced so it set me back.
I've had other family issues that set me back.
I live alone.  I make a halfway decent salary.
House prices here in the NE are astronomical.
They wanted 360K for what I think is a shack.
They can go f* themselves.

I could go on but will keep it short here.

I feel you!

I'm trying to save myself and hard.  I don't want my life to go by renting forever either.
It's such a HUGE commitment to buy a house these days, yes, esp. in the Northeast.

Just WOW!

WisconsinArt wrote:
It's not just being a saver but you have to live beneath your means. If you live on $1000/month then you learn to live on $800/month and save the $200.

Credit cards are for emergencies only. If you don't have the cash you don't buy it. That's how you stay out of debt.

You do it one day at a time.

That's the basic equation for sure.  Did you buy your own house this way?
How long did it take you to 'save'?
What did you put down for a down payment?  20%?

I used to underwrite mortgage loans, prime and subprime.  Anyone can get a house, you'll just be paying interest through the nose if you don't do it right.

Honestly the Truth In Lending on ANY property scared me YEARS ago!
... and I wasn't even the one buying the properties!

Jerry Nemeth wrote:
I did.
We took over an existing loan and now the house is paid for.

We?
I'm honestly asking for one person.  I would love an example of one person that accomplished this and how they did it.

Connor Photography wrote:
Me or us (me and wife) purchased our first house without any help from government and family in Buffalo near University at Buffalo. It was a two family home. We rented the downstairs to three dental students and we lived there for free all these years.  The house was cheap then we paid $45K and sold it 65K in a few years.  We kept moving up over years.

I was not very hard at all.  Things are more difficult now, but opportunity is there.  Good education, smart, work hard, focused and less whining are all you need to claim what is your in the society. 

45K these days in CT wouldn't even get your a trailer.
Maybe a horse trailer!

I don't think people whine these days.  I think people are realizing that it's not as easy to buy a house and land then years ago. 

Land was cheap YEARS ago.
So was everything else.

Yesterday at work, someone told me how the company paid for their Master's... full ride at Fairfield University.  I was in awe.  Well, same company, wildly different benefits.  8K towards education a year.  Fairfield University is 60K a year these days.



P.S. Buffalo is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up North.  Less expensive than most places even now.

G Reese wrote:
Well,  yes.  Not what I would call easy. Mom signed for my brothers several times, but I got something they didn't. :-)
Did with out more times than I can count. If I bought a new toy, more than likely I had to sell it to make a house payment.
Like the pair of Photogenic P750s I had once. Damn they were nice, that hurt.
       Then too, I learned to piece a bunch of junk together and make it work. Looking back, that means more to me than the house.

G Reese

Did you do it all on your own?

Jules NYC wrote:

We?
I'm honestly asking for one person.  I would love an example of one person that accomplished this and how they did it.

Some of us are married.

Jules NYC wrote:
45K these days in CT wouldn't even get your a trailer.
Maybe a horse trailer!

I don't think people whine these days.  I think people are realizing that it's not as easy to buy a house and land then years ago. 

Land was cheap YEARS ago.
So was everything else.

Yesterday at work, someone told me how the company paid for their Master's... full ride at Fairfield University.  I was in awe.  Well, same company, wildly different benefits.  8K towards education a year.  Fairfield University is 60K a year these days.



P.S. Buffalo is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up North.  Less expensive than most places even now.

I agree that land was cheap.  I bought 10 acres of wooded land in northern MI 40 years ago, cheap.

Jules NYC wrote:
45K these days in CT wouldn't even get your a trailer.
Maybe a horse trailer!

I don't think people whine these days.  I think people are realizing that it's not as easy to buy a house and land then years ago. 

Land was cheap YEARS ago.
So was everything else.

Yesterday at work, someone told me how the company paid for their Master's... full ride at Fairfield University.  I was in awe.  Well, same company, wildly different benefits.  8K towards education a year.  Fairfield University is 60K a year these days.



P.S. Buffalo is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up North.  Less expensive than most places even now.

It is all relative.  If you think the current property is expensive now, wait for another 20 years.  You need to get in the game as early as possible.  You start small and inch up as you go.  I don't feel a shame being poor in this county in the 70''s and 80's.  I could only be able to afford a cheap house, but it was near the University and awesome rental properly.  Despite a humble beginning, look at me now!!!

With such high property value in CT, my niece and her hubby bought a homestead in New Canaan CT for $2 mm and put another MM to renovate the house.  They are just turn 30's.  Having graduated from MIT and Brown university, they worked in a standup company in Manhattan, later purchased  by CitiCorp.  He became their Vice president.  Before living in CT, they had an meager apartment flat in Harem,.  They made a killing on their humle apartment in Harem when they moved to CT.  They started small; there is no shame.  No one laughing at them now. 

You need to do whoever you need to do to strength your finance outlook.  You can't buy a mansion when you are starting up.  You buy whatever you can afford, even it is a horse trailer if you know the price will go up.  Who cares about the noise, just focus where you need to go. 

It is often people talk about how easy it was in the old days, and things were cheap.  But as matter of fact, I think today society offers much more opportunities than ever before.  You just have to look and create your own luck and wealth.  It is the hardship and competition that make us strong.  Survival of the fittest, natural selection is a necessary evil.

Jerry Nemeth wrote:
Some of us are married.

That's nice.
Some of us have boyfriends/girlfriends.

I posed the question whether you're in a relationship of not (of any kind) if someone did it on their own.  I asked because when you do it ALL ON YOUR OWN, it's not easy, hence the question.

Not everyone's position in life, credit, financial savings or none are in the position to be on a mortgage note, even if they're married. 

I've done this before... left a married person off of the loan application with their consent.  Sometimes it can hurt an interest rate.

Connor Photography wrote:

It is all relative.  If you think the current property is expensive now, wait for another 20 years.  You need to get in the game as early as possible.  You start small and inch up as you go.  I don't feel a shame being poor in this county in the 70''s and 80's.  I could only be able to afford a cheap house, but it was near the University and awesome rental properly.  Despite a humble beginning, look at me now!!!

With such high property value in CT, my niece and her hubby bought a homestead in New Canaan CT for $2 mm and put another MM to renovate the house.  They are just turn 30's.  Having graduated from MIT and Brown university, they worked in a standup company in Manhattan, later purchased  by CitiCorp.  He became their Vice president.  Before living in CT, they had an meager apartment flat in Harem,.  They made a killing on their humle apartment in Harem when they moved to CT.  They started small; there is no shame.  No one laughing at them now. 

You need to do whoever you need to do to strength your finance outlook.  You can't buy a mansion when you are starting up.  You buy whatever you can afford, even it is a horse trailer if you know the price will go up.  Who cares about the noise, just focus where you need to go. 

It is often people talk about how easy it was in the old days, and things were cheap.  But as matter of fact, I think today society offers much more opportunities than ever before.  You just have to look and create your own luck and wealth.  It is the hardship and competition that make us strong.  Survival of the fittest, natural selection is a necessary evil.

You probably mean Harlem?

I agree, no shame in humble beginnings.  I don't need a mansion.  It's funny though how much a teeny box with no architectural ambiance/style can run you easily 300K here.

I'm not even talking about Colonials with New England is known for.  I'm talking about a box, a basic ranch.

Two houses were built up the road from where I live, both over a mil.
I live in a very humble, small place but great neighborhood.

Got to move though!  Landlord died!

Looknsee Photography wrote:
My parents paid for my undergraduate degree, but I paid my own way when I got my graduate degree.

My parents helped with the down payment for my first house -- it was a good chunk of the down payment.  They contributed to the down payment of the second house, but it was a far smaller percentage of the down payment.

Since then, I paid my own way.  This includes not only the purchase of 5 properties but also the significant remodeling of 2.

I worked at a Fortune 50 company is Silicon Valley, and my 2 purchases there (and the 5 up here) all occurred before the real estate prices went crazy.  I sold the 2 California properties when I moved up here, and I sold them for 3-4 times what I paid for them.  I've sold one property here, again for about 3 times what I paid for it.  The sale of the properties paid for the remodeling here.

Now, of the 4 properties I own, 3 have had their mortgages paid off, which does wonders for my cash flow.  In addition, all 4 properties bring in rental income (my home is a duplex).  So, life is good.

My words of wisdom:
...  Choose areas with good growth potential -- I was lucky to be investing in Silicon Valley & Portland, Oregon.
...  Choose good neighborhoods that have good stability -- good schools, clean, amenities, low crime rate, etc.
...  Bite the bullet -- your purchase (especially if it is the first) will seem scary & expensive.  In a good
     neighborhood, the value of the property will increase.
...  There is no shame getting financial help from family & spouses.
...  These are loooooooong term purchases -- you can't think of them as anything else.  Plan to keep them
     for a while.  You don't have to live in them (rental properties can be lucrative), but you shouldn't just sell
     them if/when you are ready for a change.
...  As you build your net worth, you'll have more options & flexibility when it come to financing future
     purchases.

Good luck.

Thank you for the advice.

Boy, wouldn't it be nice to get a down payment. 

Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
A snapshot in the family album
Daddy, what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what d'ya leave behind for me?

sospix wrote:
The scary part now is that the property taxes I pay on a yearly basis on the house I currently live in are more expensive per year than the total mortgage payments I had on the first house I bought  .  .  .  I may go back to living under a bridge  .  .  . 

SOS

Damn! 
Sounds like the pain of a lot of Student Debt carriers - same situation, different parameters.

Black Z Eddie wrote:
I bought my house in 2007.  It's a 4 bedroom.  I skipped the "starter house" thing because I hate moving. 

i did it  by:

--I built up my credit by paying my loans.  Haha.  I know right.  Having good credit opens up a lot of doors.  Back in the day, I used to be such a deadbeat when it came to paying back banks.  Nowadays, I owe it, I pay it. 

--I was with a company for 15 years and had a 401K with them.  When I was ready to buy, I took out $30K to put down.

That's the way to do it.
Have to have a kickass job, to save, to get that chunk.

Good job, you're just coasting by, paying bills, good credit score, etc.  Takes a GREAT job to save money.

Jules NYC wrote:
That's the way to do it.
Have to have a kickass job, to save, to get that chunk.

Good job, you're just coasting by, paying bills, good credit score, etc.  Takes a GREAT job to save money.

Yeppp.  I started out as a temp in 1990 sticking labels on manila folders.  In the end, they hired me and I end up writing programs and managing databases. 

I forgot to add I left the company in 2006 because I was offered a 25% increase from another company doing pretty much the same thing.  That was another motivator and made it possible to buy.

MoRina wrote:
I've bought many houses on my own.  First one in 1988 as a single mother of a 2 year old. You buy something affordable. In some areas that means tiny, in some areas that means old and needs a lot of work, or further out of the higher cost areas.

I lived beneath my income and made a lot of sacrifices. By 2001 I owned 8 properties and I lived in a swanky neighborhood so my son went to the very best schools. I bought homes that needed a lot of work... stuff I was willing and able to do myself.  And I busted my ass doing it.  I currently only have one house but I paid cash for it and am completely debt free.

The longer you wait to get into the housing market the more it costs.  You just have to bite the bullet and do it.

Impressive.

Black Z Eddie wrote:

Yeppp.  I started out as a temp in 1990 sticking labels on manila folders.  In the end, they hired me and I end up writing programs and managing databases. 

I forgot to add I left the company in 2006 because I was offered a 25% increase from another company doing pretty much the same thing.  That was another motivator and made it possible to buy.

What Fun Productions wrote:
There is no guarantee that home ownership will be a good financial idea going forward.

Are there any guarantees in life?

I don't want to live in fear but I'd figure no matter how good my gig is 'now', doesn't seem like a smart move to buy a house with not a chunk saved or a direct hire gig with benefits.

Why am I thinking of Yoda?
Do or do not.  There is no try.

Lots of wisdom in that little dude.

Jules NYC wrote:
How did you live while you were saving....?
Where did you live?
What job did you have?
What sacrifices did you make?

Saying, "Save money" is um, not really helpful!
lol

Good questions. 

For me, I worked in a big, big company that had lots of programs, like a Stock Purchase Plan, Profit Sharing, Stock Options, Deferred Profit Sharing, etc.  I max'd out my participation in these programs, and my costs were deducted from my paycheck, so the money was gone before I "saw" it.

So, my advice -- set your savings amount and arrange with your bank to auto-direct deposit that amount in a savings account that you review maybe 3-4 times a year and that you never touch.  That way, you aren't "sacrificing" anything.

Another suggestion:  I am a big, big believer in Quicken.  Note -- the entry level versions are a good way to start, and last year's version from the bargain bin is probably fine.  Then, track every penny.  It's not difficult, because you can download your transactions from your bank, and you can even pay bills from within Quicken.  It can grow with you -- for example, when/if you start buying stocks, you can track your stock portfolio.  And running reports at tax time saves tons of time.

I got more, but that'll get you started.

What Fun Productions wrote:
There is no guarantee that home ownership will be a good financial idea going forward.

Perhaps, but if you spend all you earn, you'll have to work until you die.

And in the meantime, if you rent, you are helping your landlord buy his properties, with no long term benefit to yourself.

What Fun Productions wrote:
There is no guarantee that home ownership will be a good financial idea going forward.

Location, location and location.  If you buy any property in a good location, you will almost certain you will come out way ahead of the game at the end.  But of course you don't buy a sh*tty house in a sh*tty neighborhood.  Don't blame Bush, Obama, or Trump, if you are not smart enough where to buy.   

Buying a house, you can have the interest write off or as an investment you can write off expenses and depreciation.  The beauty of buying a property (house) is that you are basically using other people's money (borrowed money) to make money.  This is the best deal in this country

Of course there are lots of people do not agree with me in purchasing a home, but do I really care?

Connor Photography wrote:
When you are poor and no rich family to help out for the down payment of the house, you must take baby steps to move up the ladder slowly. 

If you want to buy a moderator home of 500K. and you don't have enough down payment.  You can't just save and save until you have enough.  By the time your save enough, the 500K house is no longer 500K.  You will never reach your dreams.

You want a 500K house, buy a $150 k shed first.  Keep upgrading the shed and save.  Hopefully that the shed will have a similar price increase as the 500K house.  At least you are protected.  Next buy a 300K house. if you are smart and good credit, buy the new house without selling the shed.  You become the landlord.  The rest is history. 

It is not rocket science, but I didn't say it is easy. 

Truth.

The concepts of "starter house" and "sweat equity" seem to have disappeared in today's society.  At least I passed along good financial sense to my son.  He is 30, has money in his savings account and has been a homeowner for years, currently living in his second house in a very desirable neighborhood.  And he makes well under 50K/yr.

Jules NYC wrote:
How did you do it!!???!!!!

The old fashioned way... I saved up until I could finally afford the down payment and took a mortgage for the rest.

Back when I bought my first house we had no choice... at the time (1980's) banks made you show two years of financial records to prove that you didn't borrow the down from someone or in some other way have a windfall that might make them nervous as to your ability to meet your future obligations.

It took me until I was 30 to get to that point, but it was worth the wait. After the first house, it gets easier since there's usually equity, higher salary as time goes on, etc. and you can move forward with bigger purchases and accumulate more equity/wealth down the line.

Jules NYC wrote:
I used to underwrite mortgage loans, prime and subprime.  Anyone can get a house, you'll just be paying interest through the nose if you don't do it right.

Honestly the Truth In Lending on ANY property scared me YEARS ago!
... and I wasn't even the one buying the properties!

Interest rates have been at record lows for at least 7 years now... below 5% even.

My first mortgage was at around 13%... that makes a huge difference.

I can never understand how people can say its confusing, or there's something difficult about "truth in lending". Take a loan at a fixed rate (one would be a fool to take a variable rate out when rates are already at record lows... lock the thing in at the low rate while you can) for a fixed number of years. You know exactly to the penny what you'll be paying every month for the entire life of the loan.

It really doesn't get much simpler than that.