Monthly Archive for June, 2009

A First-Time Homebuyer in 2009 Part 2: The Five Stages of Grief

Published
by
Editor
on June 29, 2009
in Home Buying
. 8 Comments

If only New York didn’t have to be so special. If only the rent-versus-buy calculator gave me a more concrete answer — I wouldn’t have jumped off the Renter ship so quickly. And so, I mourn a little.

Okay, a lot.

When the sponsor of my future potential condo accepted my offer, I was shocked. Shocked because I got an answer within two hours. Shocked because — for all I know — buying property in New York could be a secret, terrible money pit of which I am completely unaware. “No,” I thought. “There must be something wrong. There has to be a catch.” Renting is something I know. I don’t have any first-hand experience with owning. Which led to…

Anger! Renting is so easy. Real estate people make me mad. You’re telling me I have to stay in one place for more than five years? That makes my young, restless heart tremble.

And so I bargained with myself (before I’d have to bargain with my landlord). I understand that I could have a nice hedge against inflation and an $8,000 gift from the government, but my heat and hot water is currently included in my rent. Can I take that with me to my new place? Can I?

Nah. I have to leave my tolerable, slightly annoying rented apartment, just slightly too far from public transportation and amenities. I have to give up the cockroaches. I have to leave my quirky Sicilian landlord. I must abandon my cheap rent and carefree lifestyle for one that’s slightly more you’ll-thank-yourself-later.

And so, I accepted it. I am no longer a renter; I am, as some friends have called me, an “adult”. I am crossing the threshold into an unknown world at the signing of a contract and a down-payment check. And now: real estate lawyers.

A First-Time Homebuyer in 2009: Part 1

Published
by
Editor
on June 22, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

I gave them a lowball offer they could refuse. I got an acceptance two hours later.

And that’s the story of a first-time homebuyer in 2009.

As I’ve been a militant renter for my adult life so far, I didn’t exactly plan on buying a home, even with Obama’s $8,000 late Christmas gift for first-timers. But slowly, surprisingly, every roadblock that made renting better than owning began to come down. Like the Berlin wall, but way less revolutionary.

The first step was overcoming my fear and loathing of new construction condominiums. With a slower rate of appreciation, an uncomfortable feeling of being obnoxious and a bad taste in my mouth from a bad purchase on the South Shore of Boston (not mine, personally), I really didn’t like condos. Your beautiful personal property was oddly managed by a mysterious Other who could raise your fees at the drop of a hat, you’ve got that weird feeling of faux-luxury that could all fall apart at any moment, and you still have very, very close neighbors.

On the flip side, you have equity, laundry, security and no Sicilian landlords from Queens.

Doing the math a few months back, I decided that excessive New York property taxes, common fees, a ridiculous mortgage and closing costs did not make buying any better than renting my utilities-included railroad apartment just a little too far away from everywhere I need to go.

That’s when a 15-unit condo a couple of train stops closer to Manhattan decided they actually wanted to sell the units they developed at the cusp of the bubble burst. After my borderline obnoxious skepticism, I realized exactly what that meant: I can finally buy a place for the cost of renting. Granted, it takes a little up-front cash; but if you got it, use it.

And so the process begins – I will continue to write about my triumphs and travails as a first-time homebuyer in the post-bubble apocalypse. Will it be worth it? Time will tell.

I Want My Artificially Low Interest Rate!

Published
by
Editor
on June 11, 2009
in Market Conditions
. 4 Comments

In spite of efforts to buy up securities to keep mortgage rates low, those rates are a-climbin’ up to 5.59 percent this week.

Is this promising? Not very much.

Here’s One Way to Get Ahead in the Real Estate Market

Published
by
Editor
on June 9, 2009
in Online Resources and Progressive Trends
. 11 Comments

A friend of mine over at Blommit.com (a hilarious blog, by the way) made a, ahem, modest proposal to get ahead in real estate. Check out their blog this week for a humorous take on our very subject at hand: Real Estate.

Editor’s Confession: I’m A Buyer

Published
by
Editor
on June 8, 2009
in Home Buying
. 3 Comments

We all make mistakes.

I simply forgot the three things that could turn my die-hard renting self into a motivated buyer:

1) No closing costs.
2) Local 25 year tax abatements.
3) Defeated developers making fire-sales.
4) $8k tax credit for first-time buyers this year.

When you put these three things together, my hypothetical mortgage and fee payment looks a lot more like my monthly rent. In other words, it’s finally happening — you know it’s the bottom when buying makes sense again.

Rapidly gentrifying, YUPPIE misgivings aside, I am completely enthralled by a particular new development. Right in the center of my favorite neighborhood in Brooklyn (not for the faint of heart, by the way) and 3 blocks from a superior subway line, the local amenities make it a no-brainer. After putting in an honest effort to find anything structurally wrong with the place, I’ve found myself defeated. Defeated in my stubbornness not not to buy a place while the getting’s good.

Thoughts on the False Bottom

Published
by
preynolds
on June 2, 2009
in Market Conditions
. 147 Comments

 In many parts of the country, there’s a palpable sense of relief these days. In places like Los Angeles and San Diego, home sales activity is on the rise, and prices, while maybe not on the increase, are not dropping like a stone .

So have we hit bottom yet?

The answer may be yes. But after the first bottom, according to Zillow, there may be other bottoms to come. That’s because an awful lot of us have been holding off on putting our homes on the market. But the moment there is a glimmer of light, almost one-third of homeowners (31 percent) told Zillow that they would throw their homes on the market within a year.  In short, quite a few of us are itching to move and the only thing holding us back is the prospect of having to pay the bank tens of thousands of dollars at closing.

However, there’s something the Zillow survey seems to have missed. Almost 70 percent of homeowners said they were NOT likely to sell their homes within a year if the market were to improve. Add to this the fact that many of the home sellers will also be home buyers. Like it or not, homeowning will always have a special allure to most Americans. Call me optimistic, but I think the idea of a “shadow inventory” may be more of a fear than a reality. Many of us in a slower economy may have fewer places to go these days, and fewer reasons to move.

Which means to me that the bottom we may be hitting in many areas is the actual  bottom. Now wouldn’t that be a relief