OT - Buying a House | Page 4 | The Boneyard

OT - Buying a House

awfuldan said:
I'm in the process of buying my first house too. Similar age (I'm 26) and budget ( < $250k). I live and work in New Haven though, so I'm looking in a completely different area.

Looking like I'm gonna end up in North Haven, which I'm happy enough about. This whole process has been a real pain though.
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You can find decent sized houses in Bridgeport for 70k and I heard on the Yard that the city is up and coming.
 
methodology said:
On a different note an acquaintance of mine who's an estate lawyer for super wealthy people told me to expect property values to rise in this area (new England) as wealthy Asian are going to start investing in the area as they view it as the new silicon valley because of all the top universities, wealth, and nyc/ Boston dynamic
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Check out Medford/Malden, MA real estate over the past ~3 years. Malden is up ~30% in 2 years from mid 300s average to almost 500k. Nothing changed except the rest of Boston surroundings got more expensive so everything is moving outward. At least Somerville is supposed to be getting the MBTA. God help the prices if Amazon picks Boston.
 
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uconnfan68 said:
But you live in Indiana.
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I mean you are right, but slower pace of living, lower cost of living, and pretty much no traffic. I live 20-25 minutes from Notre Dame and about 2-3 hours away from most of what I need or will want to catch (games, shows, etc.).

My county has 0% unemployment now. Will change when economy slows and will return to 20%+, but for now it is good.
 
Courant April 9th.

Home sale prices across Connecticut jumped for the second month in a row in February, but the sales volume was weak, a new report Monday showed, and some experts said it it still too early in the year to declare the start of a trend.

The statewide median sale price of a single-family house — where half the sales are above, half below — rose 7.2 percent in February, to $237,000, from $221,000 for the same month a year ago, according to the report from The Warren Group, the publisher of The Commercial Record.
 
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CTBasketball said:
In CT. I want to stay under $250 because I want this to be more of a starter home...taxes scare me.

So far I’ve been looking in Newington, West Hartford, Southington, Farmingtom, and Berlin. Wanna stay close but the market has been dry.

Does anyone live in Wolcott, Plainville, Meriden, or Bristol? What’s it like there I may expand my search by a few more towns.
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If you are looking for mortgage financing I work for a great bank (not a big national bank) in the Newington area and we have some really neat mortgage financing plans that include built-in improvement financing (if you are looking for a bit of a fixer-upper or just plain regular improvements) for purchases PM me if you want to discuss
Good Luck
 
MattMang23 said:
So the good times are great and the bad times are Depression-era bad...
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Yup. For all the factory workers, they are good. County is the leading county in RV manufacturing in the country. Those employees are making $70k+ per year right now, but I don't think they are saving any of that money, instead blowing it on vehicles which the local dealerships can't keep in stock. I'm a high school math teacher so I will still have a job, but parents of students will be screwed when economy slows.
 
how's the overall CT housing market. After GE blew town, the market (at least in Fairfield) was over-saturated with supply.. Couldn't sell a house, but pleanty to choose from if a buyer.
 
I agree about going the condo route. I bought my one bedroom condo in ‘09 (Norwalk), moved in with my then fiancé (now wife) in 2015 and rented it to a little old lady (who was bat shit crazy, but kept it up and paid on time) for two years.

Sold it in July this past year, took a hit, but the $500 profit I was banking a month off of her made up the $8K I lost on the sale price (actually ended up $4K ahead bc I banked $12k off of her bc the place was fully renovated before she moved in so very little was needed when she lived there), and then my wife and I bought our first house in Monroe in Sept, and the sale of the condo allowed me to do all of the renovations needed while we stayed in our apartment.

Only part that sucked was my condo was too small for two people, so we rented after we got engaged in an Avalon (never again).

That’s being said, you’ll get more bang for your buck as a first time buyer with a condo at that price range. Also it will most likely need less work, and it’ll allow you to learn how to be a homeowner with a lot of the major issues not a concern (roof, property, etc). You will learn though how to manage inside issues (electric, plumbing, etc). Then when you are older, you can upgrade to a house and either rent your place or sell it.

Worked great for me, and while I love my house, I miss the convenience of my condo and the comfort of it.
 
CTBasketball said:
@Deepster

Goal is to stay there for 4-5 years minimum. The hard part is finding a house that needs a little bit of work (floors, paint, roof), but not too much to where they price it outrageously high.
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Remember, you're not staying in it for life and will be moving again in your early thirties. worry about the potential value of the house rather personal amenities; leave that for the next one. And buy the cheapest house on the block, not the most expensive.
 
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Minicoop69 said:
After reading through all of these posts, it makes me glad that I moved to Indiana back in 05. Granted I'm from Waterbury and that is a crap fest in terms of taxes, but seeing how much a house costs back in CT through this thread is ridiculous. I don't know how you all can afford those prices along with taxes and upkeep and everything else that goes a long with owning a home. My home is 3200sq ft 4 bed, 2.5 bath on an acre and bought for $130. Glad I don't live there anymore.
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Haha, I bought a $180K former crack house in NE Portland OR back in 2001; now I got me a half million dollar + house with only $60K additional invested in it. 1400 sf with only a bath and a half. 7 years into a 10 year refinanced mortgage - dumb Californians will pay almost anything.

 
Condo is a definitely something you must consider. If you aren't thinking schools or kids and it sounds like you aren't, why not get a condo in Middletown or Cromwell? Westlake, Cromwell Hills. You can easily rent it out in 5 years or sell it. I'm in Seattle, dealing with unruly neighbors like FriarJ, but those are my two cents.
 
nadav said:
Condo is a definitely something you must consider. If you aren't thinking schools or kids and it sounds like you aren't, why not get a condo in Middletown or Cromwell? Westlake, Cromwell Hills. You can easily rent it out in 5 years or sell it. I'm in Seattle, dealing with unruly neighbors like FriarJ, but those are my two cents.
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Not sure I agree with that part.
 
Samoo said:
Remember, you're not staying in it for life and will be moving again in your early thirties. worry about the potential value of the house rather personal amenities; leave that for the next one. And buy the cheapest house on the block, not the most expensive.
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Similar to when ordering wine by the glass, go for the 2nd cheapest house on the block.
 
August_West said:
I mean simply through attrition the sticks look inviting in certain spots. But I cant live among all the reds. Cant do it.
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Click this link. It shows town by town the percentage of voting for candidates. Looks like Salisbury, Sharon, Kent, Canaan, and Cornwall have sticks you can live with. Windham in the east or head to the southeast shore.

Connecticut Election Results 2016
 
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fleudslipcon said:
Click this link. It shows town by town the percentage of voting for candidates. Looks like Salisbury, Sharon, Kent, Canaan, and Cornwall have sticks you can live with. Windham in the east or head to the southeast shore.

Connecticut Election Results 2016
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I live on the Southeast shore. But thankfully just (by a mile or 2) on the west bank of the mighty and culturally divisive CT river.
 
Has anyone tried renting a house out?

I also thought about 2/3 family homes.
 
i recently bought a house as well. it is 32 hundred square feet and I copped it for 32k and was able to get a loan for a 32 year mortgage. I probably will stay here til I'm 32.

32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32
 
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CTBasketball said:
Has anyone tried renting a house out?

I also thought about 2/3 family homes.
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Know a couple people who bought multifamily homes and fixed them up then lived there and rented out the other units. When they had kid they bought a single family and continue to rent out the multifamily as an investment property. They basically lived for free and made a few extra $$ while in the multifamily and now they more or less pay half of their single family mortgage as the renters cover the multifamily plus 1/2 the single family mortgage.

Being a landlord isn't for everyone though and finding good renters can be difficult.
 
fleudslipcon said:
Where do you want to head that the wife vetoed?
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Oh , Ive already made up my mind. Im going to New Haven.

She just doesnt like that im narrowing my search to Fair Haven and the Hill (between Howard ave and Davenport) neighborhoods . I want to stretch my housing dollars for a bit.
 
August_West said:
LOL East of the River.
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West of the River is overrated.

East Hampton is nice because it is 20 minutes from everywhere. It svcked because it takes 20 minutes to get there. That, and the townie political cronies.

@CTBasketball As a 25 year old, I wouldn't think East Hampton is for you until you are looking to settle down and have kids. The taxes are not ridiculous (yet), but there isn't much (read: any) night life and as I stated above, you are 20 minutes from anywhere you would want to be. Much of the budget is funneled to Education (of course that is no different that any other town) and what is not seems to be funneled towards the Town Council's pet projects.

I lived in Manchester through my 20's. It isn't far from Hartford and going West is a lot easier than coming through the S curves or WeHa during rush hour (Coming home is a different story, but if you far enough West, Route 9 to 91 is an option). The interchange for 91 and Route 2 are on the East side of Hartford as well, so going South or East is a breeze.
 
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Husky25 said:
West of the River is overrated.

East Hampton is nice because it is 20 minutes from everywhere. It svcked because it takes 20 minutes to get there. That, and the townie political cronies.

@CTBasketball As a 25 year old, I wouldn't think East Hampton is for you until you are looking to settle down and have kids. The taxes are not ridiculous (yet), but there isn't night life and as I stated above, you are 20 minutes from anywhere you would want to be. Much of the budget is funneled to Education (of course that is no different that any other town) and what is not seems to be funneled towards the Town Council's pet projects.

I lived in Manchester through my 20's. It isn't far from Hartford and going West is a lot easier than coming through the S curves or WeHa during rush hour (Coming home is a different story, but if you far enough West, Route 9 to 91 is an option). The interchange for 91 and Route 2 are on the East side of Hartford as well, so going South or East is a breeze.
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East of East Hampton is Hampton, zip code 06247... small town with affordable houses and lower taxes, great place to grow up IMO
 
Corny2Amida said:
East of East Hampton is Hampton, zip code 06247... small town with affordable houses and lower taxes, great place to grow up IMO
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No it's not. East of East Hampton is Marlborough. Hampton is northeast of East Hampton. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay northeast (though more east than north). Like, three counties northeast.
 
August_West said:
Oh , Ive already made up my mind. Im going to New Haven.

She just doesnt like that im narrowing my search to Fair Haven and the Hill (between Howard ave and Davenport) neighborhoods . I want to stretch my housing dollars for a bit.
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I lived in Fairhaven on Quinnipiac Ave back in the 80's for a bit. Is the Barge still there?
 
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