bostonbubble.com

hard-scrabble · Guest

What if someone told you. You could buy a house - right now. In a beautiful neighborhood. In an area with great schools and your commute would be less than thirty minutes. It would be all you could want, and you would be able to save for your children's college, your retirement, you'll cut your living expenses and might even get a raise!

Imagine that?
How much longer are you willing to wait?

I would be willing to bet, that every single person who is reading this post, can find a higher paying job, in a great town, but instead of waiting, you're going to have to work. Finding a new job and moving to a new town is a lot of work, but the alternate, is to wait.

Imagine. Maybe this time next year, you could be sitting in a new house, with a new job, and looking back and thinking - what a great move. On the other hand, maybe this time next year, you're still waiting.

Hank · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 37

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

A man stumbles on a genie's lamp in the desert, rubs it….

A genie comes out, poof, appears from the cloud and grants the man two wishes.

The man, being thirsty, wishes for an ice cold frosted mug of beer. The man drinks the beer and it magically fills back up. He drinks and drinks and drinks and it continues to always be full. The genie tells him that he gave him a magical mug and it will never go dry and it will always be cold and refreshing.

The man drinks and drinks.

The genie gets tired and asks "Hey I'm getting a little tired and would like to get back into the lamp, How about your second wish?"

The man say's "Hell that's easy, I'll have another one of these!"

That's my game plan. Laughing

I'll take the Pepsi Challenge with that Japanese guy any day. We'll face off in an air guitar challenge; I'm neat, and sweet and I'll rock him like a hurricane.

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

Oh, it was a woman, my apologies.

Divadkire · Guest

I used to own but was lucky and sold my house. Now I will wait until the ticking bombs knows as ARMs start to go off and people have to sell which will force down prices.
It only takes a couple of houses to go on the cheap for a whole market to begin the slow slide back towards reality.

My bet is that the original poster is trying to sell a house either his/her own or works in the industry selling others homes.

Play on emotion and imply that pink floyd message from the song time " No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" to cause potential buyers to re-evaluate why they are sitting on the sidelines. If we only get in the game and purchase a house all of our troubles will be solved and people will look at us as adults.

Guess what? Renting in a town for far less than buying is a no brainer, wait for this storm to pass and be stongly situated to buy the house you truly want for much less than todays pricetag.

admin · Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 2:17 pm GMT Post subject: Re: As long as it takes

Divadkire · Guest

Moving out to the sticks for a less expensive cost of living does sound appealing. Although the great job and salary might not always be an option.
What if the job does not work out and you are stuck in that Goliath house that is not marketable to the majority of the folks in the sticks.
You could easily purchase a smaller house that is more appropriate for re-sale. An even better idea would be to move to the sticks and rent. If things go south with the new job or your spouse or you become miserable you can always move back and wont be forced to to sell your new diggs in a flat economy.

Moving away from your comfort zone of friends and family is never a slam dunk. If you can make it to the 4th year you will probably stick there. Most will return.

hard-scrabble · Guest

There's nothing fun about moving to a new place.
1.) Moving is no fun
2.) Finding a new job is no fun
3.) Being surrounded by strangers is no fun

The pain of this is a sharp sting, versus a dull persistant ache - and you're waiting (for years) for that ache to disappear.

There's such a huge pool of talent in Boston. The best schools in the country and the graduates keep coming out. Everyday you're competing with top talent. There are cities that are starved for talent, and if you're not looking around, you could be selling yourself short.

Both my wife and I left Boston over a year ago. Our salaries jumped 30% and on a relative, cost-of-living basis, it doubled. We're starting to make friends, one of our best friends left Boston about the same time. My greatest concern was that we would not make friends and we would feel like outsiders. We have a two year-old daughter, and she's been a great networking agent. Our calendar is packed with play dates and dinners. After years of fighting (with my wife) about leaving Boston, my wife said to me, "I really like it here."

The job is not over for us. We're both still new at our new jobs, and there's still a lot to learn and adjust. I think the tough part is behind us.

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

If you and the wife are happy, it's most likely the best thing for the child too. It sucks to hear that nice folks are moving away; it's nice to have them sharing our neighborhoods.

showgunx · Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 60

As long as the rent is half of what the mortgage will be, I will wait! Cool

Relaxed Renter · Guest

I can wait forever. If buying remains far more expensive than renting I can rent a bigger, nicer house as my income grows but never catches up with the inflated housing prices.

This is the option the perpetual growth touts don't recognize.

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

It's after July 4th and the Spring selling season is over. Now is a good time to get out there and low-ball.

I rented for a long time and 5-10 years can go by pretty quickly. Think about the exit strategy, if you wait 5 years, prices might not go down that much and there is a good probability that things will stay flat. Interest might go up which will have the effect of raising the price. In the end you might have to be paying an extra 5-10 years of mortgage than if you got the meter going and started on the 30 years now. If you can save and bite a big chunk into a house, that might be better, but you really need to be disciplined and save.

Prices can't go down if people don't low-ball. It's kind of like if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it does it make a sound?

Dorchester grandma · Guest

I have made a low ball offer on a condo of 155 which has been accepted by the seller who paid 169. She had been asking 175 for it. Their bank is willing to do a short sale to avoid foreclosure. $20,000 makes a big difference in that price range so I got a pretty good deal. This seller will be losing money of course.

Interest rates are now 6.125 % (already up from last week) even with the soft second mortgage for first time homebuyers. Although I am glad that my offer was accepted, I am concerned about the higher interest rate considering that a year ago it was a whole point lower. I am hoping that the tax deduction will, in part, make the place more affordable for me. The condo fee is $150 and taxes are $1800 so even with the soft second mortgage I will be paying over a thousand a month. I am too old to do any more waiting.

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

That interest rate sounds low. Check out this page, it seems to be the closest I've come to the most accurate. Are you paying any points? What are the closing costs? Is the rate fixed or variable? What is the length of the term? Is there a "baloon payment" associated with it? If you could somehow pdf and post your "good faith estimate" I'd like to take a look at it. Also, you need to get a "HUD Statement" filled out. This will outline your closing costs. You need to pin down the financial folks who are preparing your closing so you know what the closing costs are i.e. origination fee's, processing fees, whatever. You also want to know what your lawyer's fee will be. They make a lot of money on the Title Insurance (which is actually the lionshare of the lawyer's compensation) so they will push this hard. Listen to the pros and cons of having it, i.e. the Mortgage Company will have title insurance anyway etc. Get at least 4 loan companies going and have them all give you Good Faith Estimates and include every fee and closing cost. Do the usual suspects, GMAC Financing, Wells Fargo, Loansnap is good, and if you are in a Credit Union that might be an option. Tell all of them that you are getting Good Faith Estimates from a handful of other companies so they don't take advantage of you. If your offer was contingent on any home inspection try to negotiate things like window treatments or anything else that would naturally fit the place. Make sure if any smoke detectors are required for inspection that the seller has them in place.

http://www.loansnap.com/loantools/index.aspx?mode=rates

I'm psyched for you; give me a heads up if you need a hand moving...

Dorchester grandma · Guest

The interest rate is for first time homebuyers who have taken the homebuyer 101 class, which I took at the Allston Brighton CDC. They gave me the name of a loan officer to contact at Bank of America. As low as it is, it was only 6.0 last week. Closing costs will be about $3000, I believe, though I am not yet certain about that. I will be getting a 30 year fixed with a soft second mortgage which is specifically for first time homebuyers. Unfortunately, I cannot afford a lawyer unless I find a really cheap one however I am getting help from the CDC. Thank you for your concern. Buying sure is causing me a lot of anxiety. And I keep wondering whether I have waited long enough.

I will be paying less than I am currently paying for for rent though I will be living in a smaller place (790 sq feet). I will miss my dining room. built in hutch, pantry, and radiators. This new condo will be the entire first floor of a house but not as big as a triple decker. However the new place is in perfect shape, with a yard, near the train and best yet a short bus ride to Trader Joes
Smile

http://www.mass.gov/dhcd/components/housdev/want/soft2nd.htm