Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

We have 2 options . . .

1) Very small one bedroom co-op in Middle Island. Beautiful, Meticulous. Efficiency kitchen, room for dining table right outside the kitchen. Bedroom is very tight but lovely. One tiny bathroom. This would be a purchase, but again, many factors can make this an investment or a "dud". We can end up stuck with this place and there is literally NO room to work with if in fact we end up having kids - LITERALLY NO ROOM. Anything else that we would be able to afford right now would be pretty unliveable and would need tons of work. Heat, water, Gas cooking, maintenance included CAC- responsible for electric. Laundry room must be payed for. Use of pool and tennis courts. Patio Deck.


2) Rent for about $200 more a month than our mortgage would be, HUGE- two bedrooms, two bathrooms- basically a two story condo but for rent. Community fees are included. We just have to pay for our electric. Cooking is electric. Can hook-up for washing machine and dryer. CAC, maintenance, hot water heater and heat included. Use of gym, clubhouse, pool, tennis courts.
attached is the link of the layout of the rental, don't have one for the co-op.





Which would you choose:

http://www.brookwoodtownhouses.com/prod03.htm

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Well I guess it depends on a number of things:

-Do you plan on having children soon, if so you will need the space

-Will you be able to save $$ when you rent the apartment for a future home purchase

-Will the $$ you gain in equity from a co-op help to one day buy something bigger...owning can help build equity you wouldn't get from renting.

-Check out the co-op communities around you, can you afford a two bedroom somewhere else?

Good luck with whatever you decide

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

My fear is that we won't be able to get rid of the co-op when and if we need to . . .

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

I don't know how much you can afford right now, but I would keep looking for a 2-bedroom co-op to buy.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

I would say to buy if you can because its an investment and your value will go up when the time comes to sell and you will have made money toward a down payment on something bigger.
Tiny isn't the end of the world when you're starting out. I don't think you would regret owning something of your own.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

BUY!

This are my thoughts:

1. you WILL get your money back...most likely get much more. No you will not get the doubling that some of us saw. But your home will be valuable since buying a 1 bedroom by me is now 250K! PLUS lets face it....YOURS will be more desirable as opposed to a two br since you are not in the best of SD's. Since usually a 2 br or more would more likely be someone who is intending on starting a family.
Also you will have lower taxes, another factor that is key to a single person or a NW who is looking to start out and INVEST like yourselves

2. As i am realizing now...without the money i have made on my condo...i would NOT be able to put such a hefty DP on a new home.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Normally I would say buy, but we looked in Middle Island and I know those co-ops do not sell as quickly as many others since there are so many complexes in that area and honestly I was not a fan of Middle Island. It was not centrally located to any major roads, and the town itself just wasn't as nice as many others. If renting is $200 more than the mortgage, you will still be saving much more money renting (common charges are usually $600 or $700 for co-ops, plus your mortgage). My suggestion would actually be to rent something maybe not so nice, for cheaper, and save until you can afford a 2-bedroom co-op or a co-op or condo in a more desirable area. Good luck!

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Can't you look somewhere else? I am in a co-op now and just like Red the equity I am earning will allow me to put a hefty down payment on a house.


Also, co-ops are pretty easy to get rid of nowadays, no one by me has had any trouble

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

I say keep looking and BUY!!! It is such a great investment. It will only go up in value.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Message edited 5/22/2005 9:33:39 PM.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

The space isn't an issue right now- we definitely don't plan on having kids for about 4 years . . . . I don't know . . . It is just so gorgeous. I have been looking at co-ops all weekend and this one co-op is just gorgeous- it was like walking into a picture of what I imagined our place to look like. . . .

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Thanks folks- keep the advice coming- I still don't know what to do, but every bit helps

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

We bought a co-op right before we got married and I have to say it sounds exactly like you're set-up. It is very small and we can't have many people over for entertaining (I think that's the only negative). Our fees and amenities sound the same as yours would be. We had considered renting, but my husband being the meticulous planner that he is, worked out what we would have spent in rent and couldn't see throwing all that money away. We ended up buying the co-op and it's a great feeling knowing that we own it. Any additions/new appliances we add will not go to waste...they'll just go toward the worth of the co-op. We got our co-op appraised since we purchased it just to see what it could go for and it already went up @ $25,000. I think purchasing is a great investment if you're able to do it!

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Buy!

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Keep looking and buy.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

I have to say to buy also, we were in a co-op from 1999-2003 and it went up $50,000 in 3 years, it was a one bedroom and considering it was small - it was just fine for the 2 of us. We then sold and use the money for the downpayment for our house - without that we would not of been able to get a house.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

BUY THE CO-OP!! We were actually looking in Middle Island and went with a co-op in Patchogue. Its only a 1 bedroom like the one you are looking at but it was the best investment we ever made. We bought it in Oct 2003 for $92,000 and now similar ones are going for $145,000. Even if it is smaller than what you are looking for, you can always sell it later and make a profit!

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Personally I wouldnt buy a 1bd unless it was a spacious. You may not plan on having kids for 4 years but you never know what hte future would bring. And as someone else said Middle Island is not hte most desirable location so you might have more of a problem selling this in the future. Plus for me I love entertaining and wouldnt liek some place where I couldnt have people over! If it were me I would look to rent something smaller the the townhouse you looked at this way I could save more, but keep looking just in case something more suitable popped up.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

I have to say, without reading all of the previous responses my initial reaction is to say BUY BUY BUY!

I can only offer up my own experience - when I was single and before I met DH , I bought a STUDIO apartment (i live in Scarsdale, westchester county) and only paid $30,000. I actually paid cash since I had saved up a lot of $$ over the years, and the maintenance was only $400 at the time. Even though it was truly a piece o crap and needed a LOT of work, I still only invested an additional 10K .. (to sort of break the apartment into a junior 1 bedroom) and give it more of my touches. And luckily my cousin did a lot of the work on my place and if I do say so myself it looks amazing.

Anyhow flash foward to now - about 5 years later. The place, as you can imagine, is incredibly small for Dh and I - but yet beween wedding expenses and trying to save, we sucked it up and stayed in the co-op. Our maintenance has increased to @$600, YET between the two of us we are able to save a lot. The biggest perk? Our apartment, which I only paid 30K for 5 years ago is now going for well OVER 130K! We are on the top floor in a great location, so we might even get more for it. And let me reiterate - this is for a STUDIO apartment! From what we've been told, even the studios are selling well in our complex, we are not truly worried about selling when the time comes

Since we are presently TTC , we def. need to find a house soon and yes its VERY discouraging. But my point is that with the money we've not only saved ON TOP OF the money will make off the sale of our co-op, we will def. have a nice chunk of $$ to put towards a home in the near future . And the benefit of us owning all these years as opposed to renting a perhaps bigger place was so worth it

My point - I would not worry about selling the apartment down the road when you outgrow it - and the benefits of owning in the meantime far outweight the cons.

GOOD LUCK!

Message edited 5/23/2005 1:20:08 PM.

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Posted by tourist

Posted by FeliciaDP


I can only offer up my own experience - when I was single and before I met DH , I bought a STUDIO apartment (i live in Scarsdale, westchester county) and only paid $30,000.

and that was only 5 years ago?

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

Have you decided what you are going to do?

Re: Help us choose our living arrangements. . . w/poll

I'd go with the 1BR. It's beautiful, it'll be a gorgeous palce to live for the next 4-5 years and I think you will be able to sell it. it will probably increase in equity and that will help you buy a house, and at least you'
ll be paying into something you OWN...and at least when you go to buy a house you can sell the co-op and use the $$ for DP on a house, if you rent, when ou leave you'll have nothing. You don't need a 2BR now.

I'm probably goign to do the same ting. I want to look for a nice co-op for the first 3-5 years we're married until we can save enough for a nice sized DP on a house. I HATE renting!