OT - Buying a House

[UConn_Top_Dog]

As a single young adult with no kids, DO NOT BUY A SINGLE FAMILY HOME, especially in CT. You will screw yourself. Your best bet is turn it into an investment move and buy a 2 family and rent out the other unit. By the time you marry and have kids (maybe 5 years) you will be close to paying off the entire thing if you have at least 20% down payment and pay the monthly mortgage payment plus putting extra toward the mortgage principle using your rental income. But go into the investment based on the home always being vacant so you are positive you can carry your own weight. Obviously it will be rented most of the time depending on the location, but its a good safety measure. Also make sure to have money saved up for unexpected repairs. If you are handy, go for a fixer upper, you will save a lot of money if you put the work in. Also, if you plan on moving from the area in less than 5 years, don't buy a house. I majored in Real Estate and Urban Economics at UConn and learned a lot from mistakes some of my family made if that has any baring.

 

[ctchamps]

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.

3.5 miles north (18 minute drive) is where I grew up.

 

[uconnfan68]

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.

And you gave the world Mike Pence and Dan Quayle.

 

[Bezzz]

Wolcott guy here. You can get into a solid starter for that money here. Depending on your work commute you might want to target on side of town or the other. Theres actually a pretty nice one in my neighborhood on the market right now. Im on the waterbury / souhtington / cheshire side. Id guess taxes on $250k would be between $4500 and $5000 a year. Pm if you want to talk further about the town.

I grew up in Wolcott 50+ years ago, Beach Road. Have a real soft spot in my heart for that town. But driving down RT 69 recently it looks like it's stuck in 1972.

 

[superjohn]

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.

Is she going with you?

 

[whaler11]

East of East Hampton is Hampton, zip code 06247... small town with affordable houses and lower taxes, great place to grow up IMO

And only 75 minutes from any place of employment.

 

[August_West]

I lived in Fairhaven on Quinnipiac Ave back in the 80's for a bit. Is the Barge still there?

nope

 

[superjohn]

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

They are all expensive as hell except for Canaan and Windham.

 

[whaler11]

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.

That’s a brutal work commute. Thoughts and prayers.

 

[August_West]

That’s a brutal work commute. Thoughts and prayers.

The Train, brah. The train.

 

[whaler11]

The Train, brah. The train.

I didn’t know they extended Thomas the Tank to both New Haven and East Haddam.

East Haddam - now that’s a scene. You’ve got the theatre people AND high density Eastern CT hillbillies.

Love La Vita.

 

[August_West]

I didn’t know they extended Thomas the Tank to both New Haven and East Haddam.

Shoreline east ride between New Haven and Westbrook puts me 3 miles from work

 

[whaler11]

Shoreline east ride between New Haven and Westbrook puts me 3 miles from work

I thought you worked by the bridge in East Haddam. Westbrook is nice place to be Labor Day - Memorial Day.

 

[August_West]

I thought you worked by the bridge in East Haddam. Westbrook is nice place to be Labor Day - Memorial Day.

Nope I work in Essex.

I can throw a rock and hit that stupid Thomas the tank engine from my office.

it was running last weekend. Got caught in traffic again. What a beat down.

 

[methodology]

Nope I work in Essex

How's the place that replaced Oliver's tavern?

 

[Husky25]

And only 75 minutes from any place of employment.

I 1/2 wonder (The other half does give a sheete) if he was trying to be 1/2 pithy, based on the name of the town. The funny thing in that case is Hampton would be west of East Hampton.

 

[August_West]

How's the place that replaced Oliver's tavern?

It blows.

 

[August_West]

East Haddam - now that’s a scene. You’ve got the theatre people AND high density Eastern CT hillbillies.

East Haddam is actually one of my favorite towns that side of the River, ALONG the river is my caveat though. Some absolutely stunning pieces of property in that town.

 

[August_West]

Is she going with you?

one day at a time my friend.

 

[whaler11]

East Haddam is actually one of my favorite towns that side of the River, ALONG the river is my caveat though. Some absolutely stunning pieces of property in that town.

I joined the board that runs Old Home Days just to have your band unplugged during your set.

 

[August_West]

I joined the board that runs Old Home Days just to have your band unplugged during your set.

thats fine dude. I get paid either way. We have a gig immediately after our old home days set in downtown Norwich, so the sooner you unplug us the easier you make it on us.

 

[whaler11]

thats fine dude. I get paid either way. We have a gig immediately after our old home days set in downtown Norwich, so the sooner you unplug us the easier you make it on us.

You didn’t get Friday night? Consider a motion raised at the next board meeting.

 

[MadDogRevival]

Lol, so I'm reading through this thinking this is pretty good stuff, until I got to this. Really Frank? Really? And here I thought that I take it pretty easy on you.

Thanks for the laugh.

Dude! I didn't mean you! I meant the other guy, but I screwed up his handle. It's the guy with the flowery profile of a head looking to the left, as I recall.
A while back I posted I often did "mostly pro bono" work and he busted my butt for the "mostly" part.
I was trying for him when I posted this.
Sorry! Lol. I'll look at any contract you have for a house.

 

[MadDogRevival]

Why put as little down as possible? Waiving PMI is a good thing, but it’s not a back breaker?

Put as little down on the offer to buy with the Seller when you present the Contract (agreement) offer to the Seller.
When you go to finance the house, the amount of the down payment you should put down depends on multiple factors. If you can axe PMI with a larger down payment, that works.
In today's economy, however, cash is king - I'd put down as little as possible on the loan after the PMI drops off, unless you have scads of money. You can always pay off your loan early - tougher to get the money back out after you've made the payment. Particularly true of cars and such.

 

[SubbaBub]

A friend recently was talking to me about the idea of being "house poor", where essentially all of your money goes into the mortgage, taxes, utilities, insurance and upkeep. But, obviously the trade off is equity in a home.

I've read a line of thought that advocates to renting and put the difference in expenditures (between home owning costs and rent) straight into the market and that at the end of the day the market return would be comparable to what your houses value would end up being. I haven't ran all the numbers, but I intend to take a look into this.

While I completely understand the idea of home ownership, I think the idea that you are completely wasting money renting isn't entirely true; if you're making sound decisions with your cash.

Any thoughts?

This is an increasingly accepted view. Similar to what I posted earlier. My parents house appreciated 1000% in 30 years, it was worth 10x what they paid. It was an investment that paid for every car they ever owned and expensive college educations for two kids plus a good chunk of their retirement. I've been in my current house for 15 years and it is worth about 5% more than I paid for it. It is the biggest difference in financial terms between baby boomers and everyone else. Unless your area becomes the next hot market, your primary home is not going to be a good investment in terms of return. It may end up being cheaper than renting if you are there long enough but not if you are moving. Put it this way, the interest on a 300k mortgage at 4% is $515K over 30 years. Your rent would need to be triple your mortgage payment if you exclude appreciation. If you include appreciation of 3%/yr, after 30 years your house will be "worth" 728K - the 515K you paid in interest nets 213K or $591/month in rent equivalent after 30 years. Is your rent going to be $600 more than your mortgage P&I + taxes + PMI + maintenance?

Hard to see on a starter home and even worse for one you plan to spend 5 years in. Homes just aren't the investments they once were.

Build your emergency fund, fund your retirement accounts as much as possible, for the love of God take full advantage of your companies 401K match.

Meet or beat the 50/30/20 rule; Spend no more than 50% of your earnings on stuff you need (housing/food/transportation), 30% on stuff you want (everything else), and 20% on your savings/retirement fund. The last number is the most important if you ever want to be financially independent.

 

[whaler11]

Dude! I didn't mean you! I meant the other guy, but I screwed up his handle. It's the guy with the flowery profile of a head looking to the left, as I recall.
A while back I posted I often did "mostly pro bono" work and he busted my butt for the "mostly" part.
I was trying for him when I posted this.
Sorry! Lol. I'll look at any contract you have for a house.

@8893

 

[August_West]

You didn’t get Friday night? Consider a motion raised at the next board meeting.

Saturday late afternoon 430 -6 or something. Worked perfect for us. Double pay day. . My friends are playing Friday night though.

 

[whaler11]

This is an increasingly accepted view. Similar to what I posted earlier. My parents house appreciated 1000% in 30 years, it was worth 10x what they paid. It was an investment that paid for every car they ever owned and expensive college educations for two kids plus a good chunk of their retirement. I've been in my current house for 15 years and it is worth about 5% more than I paid for it. It is the biggest difference in financial terms between baby boomers and everyone else. Unless your area becomes the next hot market, your primary home is not going to be a good investment in terms of return. It may end up being cheaper than renting if you are there long enough but not if you are moving. Put it this way, the interest on a 300k mortgage at 4% is $515K over 30 years. Your rent would need to be triple your mortgage payment if you exclude appreciation. If you include appreciation of 3%/yr, after 30 years your house will be "worth" 728K - the 515K you paid in interest nets 213K or $591/month in rent equivalent after 30 years. Is your rent going to be $600 more than your mortgage P&I + taxes + PMI + maintenance?

Hard to see on a starter home and even worse for one you plan to spend 5 years in. Homes just aren't the investments they once were.

Build your emergency fund, fund your retirement accounts as much as possible, for the love of God take full advantage of your companies 401K match.

Meet or beat the 50/30/20 rule; Spend no more than 50% of your earnings on stuff you need (housing/food/transportation), 30% on stuff you want (everything else), and 20% on your savings/retirement fund. The last number is the most important if you ever want to be financially independent.

You even skipped the 5-6% you lose in the sale.

Essentially like many businesses people spend way too much time worrying about the expense side and not the revenue side.

You are much better off investing your time and efforts to grow your top line rather than minimizing expenses.

If you are young, you are much better off spending your time investing in your career than mowing your lawn or raking leaves.

Live in a condo and throw yourself into your job - the top line growth is virtually unlimited - what you can save mowing your own lawn is pennies.

 

[uconnphil2016]

East Haddam is actually one of my favorite towns that side of the River, ALONG the river is my caveat though. Some absolutely stunning pieces of property in that town.

It's no Hebron. That's for sure.

 

[MadDogRevival]

Not sure why no one else has mentioned this, but why not Manchester?

I lived in Manchester for 11 months in one of the Mills back in 1995 for 22 months. Ditched the lease early, with penalty, to GTFUDGEOUT.
Thought the place was a hole. Went there on a whim because it was rated highly in CT magazine and was between UConn and Hartford, where we studied and worked, respectively.
The day I wanted out was when I walked into a convenience store near the Mills and there were adult videos, with explicit cover scenes, by the front door on ready display.
That was the place where I bought my first handgun and started carrying it. Thought the schools were poor.
Long time ago and we really didn't spend much time out and about, so, granted, limited exposure, but I'd strongly recommend against - PM me if you want more details that would get this post deleted.