$399.9k: Doylestown 4BR w/barn
$439.9k: Erwinna 1865 brick w/barn & stream
That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the rental until prices further drop
Or risk losing an outrageous fortune,
To take a chance on buying a sea of troubles
Or by opposing, bring prices down?
To buy; To wait…..
A friend of mine is looking for a house and he’s getting cold feet. All of his buddies are telling him to hold off. There’s a recession a comin’. Prices will drop. He asked for my opinion.
After I told him that I’m not a friggen mind reader (although I sometimes claim to be), I advised him to look at the big picture. Too many people only think about the price of the house. Well, my friends, mortgage rates and taxes are every bit as important. Think of it this way: You pay for the house once. You will be stuck with those interest rates for 30 years. Same with the taxes. And they keep going up.
You have to do the math. If you wait, you may save an extra $50k on a home, but it’s not worth anything if the interest rates are at 8%. Right now they are below 6% and may drop even more at the end of the month.
The market has already softened. It could go down even more and it certainly won’t be going up any time soon.
My opinion? I’d hold off and see if the feds announce some good news at the end of the month and then cautiously hit the pavement.
PS: I should give a shout out to the ever so fabulous mortgage broker who alerted me to the fact that it might be refinance time for me if rates drop any more. Give a big hand to Jonathan Meadors of Preferred Empire Mortgage! He kicks ass! jmeadorsATpemconlineDOTcom
I check the Uncommon Goods online store all the time, but I’ve never written about it because it’s not some fresh new thing that I’ve just discovered. Well, let me just do this for myself so I can move on….
Some of my favorite handmade recycled items:
Stave Back Storage Bench: $400
Trees vs. Solar Panels: Groovy Green
Top 10 Secret Kitchen Tips: Kitchen Designer
Material & Product Roundup: Materialicious
Making Dark Rooms Glow: NY Times
Brownstone Books Takes Over BAM Books: Bed Stuy
Select Salvage Warehouse Liquidation:
Saturday, January 26th from 11am-5pm.
341 West John St. Hicksville, NY 11801 exit 41 off LIE south. 516-470-1960
1885 Barn coming down in Greenwich, CT. Weathered beams, lumber and flooring. Listening to offers.
Deep Discount Demolition
Moving sale now though January 31:
Bathroom cabinet manufacturer, LIC.
All display cabinets sold as is: $100.
Call Andres to schedule appt: (718)361-5918
Author: Brett
We have not been out house hunting since we lost the last one. It’s not that we can’t bring ourselves to look even though we are practically in mourning. While buyers all over the country seems to be getting great deals on homes, we have yet to see any houses we want to buy come down in price enough to be in our reach.
We have narrowed our search to two towns: Port Washington, NY, in Nassau County, Long Island, and Westfield, NJ, in Union county. Nothing new seems to be coming on the market since the end of last year (ok, last month if you’re an optimist). We flip between listings in each town. My MIL ponders whether the “new” listing in the New York Times is actually new to the market, or if it’s just new to The Times (every week I tell her that I think that it is new to the paper, but she still asks me anyway). She gives me scraps of paper with MLS numbers scribbled on them. It may or may not have a basement. I am to check it out if I feel like it. Later, she will ask me, did I find out about that house, the one she told me about a mere 6 hours ago? I think back to the last 6 blurry hours of solitary poopy diaper changes and sweeping far-flung cheerios from the recesses of the kitchen, cleaning running noses, rinsing dropped pacifiers, laundry washing, naptime orchestrating, clapping hands to “This Old Man” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Huh? Listing? Which listing? (more…)
Uhuru was founded in 2004 by Rhode Island School of Design grads Bill Hilgendorf and Jason Horvath.
The two honor the Shaker belief that “beauty rests on utility”. Most of the pieces they fabricate in their Red Hook, Brooklyn shop are from salvaged materials.
The “Beam Table” pictured above is made from reclaimed timber from early 1900′s buildings in NYC that were being demolished.
The Stoolen side table/stool is crafted from strips of wood saved from local Brooklyn area shops. See the rim around the piece? Bike rim.
The “Fenced In” coffee table is made from repurposed cast iron fence pieces and 1/2″ tempered glass.
Uhuru is currently working on some deals with local showrooms. For the moment contact them directly via their website for all inquiries.
Ok, if these are legitimate rentals, they’ll probably be gone by the end of the day, but here goes….
$800: 1BR, University Ave, Bronx
$1000: studio Brooklyn Heights
Showing tonight, Thursday, January 24th between 5:30PM and 8:00PM
$299k: Accord, NY Earth Sheltered Dome
$550k: Peggy Atwood’s Monolithic Dome, Kerhonkson
$565k: Landmarked in Staten Island
$700k: Circa 1760 Home in Newburgh
In doing a search for recycled wallpaper I came upon Graham & Brown. The paper isn’t 100% recycled but I prefer their collections to some of the “greener” stuff out there.
Approximately 50% of an average roll of Graham & Brown wallpaper is made from renewable resources. If not recycled, the paper comes from FSC managed forests.
Recycled rainwater and a state-of-the-art drainage system is used in production. The company also uses non-acidic inks & coatings. Pollution is burned off on site and used for energy to run the plant.
Prices seem to average about $40 per roll. Retailers include Lowes and Janovic.
Join the mailing list for updates!
I do believe I will be going into refinance mode soon too. I was at a fixed 4.87% for 5 years and then it goes adjustable. Five years (holy crap!) is up this April.
Comment by iloveupstate.com — January 25, 2008 @ 10:26 am
Girl! You better get your ass in gear! You are very lucky we’re going into recession or you’d be in trouble!
Best upstate mortgage broker: Liz Moeller at Centennial in Kingston.
http://cmloans.com
Comment by RH — January 25, 2008 @ 11:29 am
Terrible terrible time to be buying. There’s a reason prices are dropping and sales are stagnating, and its not soley due to subprime like the MSM lazily claim. Housing prices flat out just do not align with actual income any more.
You also go from saying that you are stuck with an initial interest rate for 30 years, to mentioning that it might be time to refi – aren’t those conflicting statements??
Comment by kevin — January 25, 2008 @ 11:10 pm
Ok, I guess I should’ve said “You will be stuck with interest for the next 30 years. It’s anyone’s guess whether rates will come down so you can refinance.” Something like that? My point is: if the rate is at an all time low, that’s a huge factor.
How much lower do you think home prices will fall? I don’t know. If you can look into your crystal ball, let me know. I’ll start saving my pennies so I can buy my next Brooklyn Heights brownstone for $300k with an interest rate of 2%.
At the end of the day, here’s me, personally: I have no patience. And I’m an optimist. If I needed a place to live, I wouldn’t put it off. I’d make it work. If others can put off plans, good for them. Either way is a gamble.
Comment by RH — January 26, 2008 @ 7:43 am