Comments on: Next Wednesday: Hipster Mortgage Night

By: BornOnWyckoffAve

BornOnWyckoffAve — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:22:11 +0000

OK, that answer was a bit flip, but now I’ll try to be helpful.

First of all, do you really need to move to Brooklyn now, or are you doing it just ’cause you want to? If it’s the latter, I suggest staying at Mom ‘n Dad’s another year or two, if possible, working your ass off, building your credit and socking away as much money as possible. (I would have done this myself, ‘cept the unwritten rule in my working-class family is that able-bodied males must leave the nest as soon as they get out of high school). By then, the recession will be in full swing and, with a sizable down payment in hand, and a good credit rating, you’ll be in a much better position to score a deal.

If you DO have to move to New York for whatever reason (e.g., you’ve got a good job lined up) consider living somewhere other than Brooklyn. The borough is really overpriced right now. Consider the Bronx or one of the less trendy neighborhoods in Queens, maybe even Jersey. It may be less convenient/fun than living in hipsterville, but you’ve gotta think long term. You’ll be glad for it later.

Unlike a lot of people on this site, I have no vested interest in your decision, since I’m not in real estate nor do I have anything to gain (directly or indirectly) from more college-educated suburbanites moving to Brooklyn. I left the city years ago.

Best of luck.

By: BornOnWyckoffAve

BornOnWyckoffAve — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:23:36 +0000

Ramen noodles.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:44:06 +0000

I have a question. I am a recent college graduate who is moving to Brooklyn in a few months. How can you properly afford rent and still save enough money to eventually put down a good chunk on a condo? I am going to be living with a friend of mine and it just seems to hard to save when you are spending so much on rent…

By: Dresden

Dresden — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 13:55:17 +0000

Thanks EvergreenGiant. I do have friends, but come on…. most marriages don’t work! It seems unrealistic, at best, to do this with “friends”. When do you sell? What do you buy someone out for? This sounds like a disaster to any set of close comrades.

By: EvergreenGiant

EvergreenGiant — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:29:30 +0000

Ha! Spoken like a true German.

By: Dresden

Dresden — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:37:53 +0000

I wouldn’t buy anything with “friends” because, frankly, I don’t believe in the concept. I have allies.

By: SteveB

SteveB — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 01:06:39 +0000

Very well said Jeremy!

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:31:36 +0000

SFer, thank you for explaining TIC, even though I linked directly to what it means in the original post that nobody cared enough to read but did care enough to ignorantly make fun of. You have more patience than I.

David, it’s absolutely not valid to blame brokers for the “inflated” price of real estate, just as it’s not valid to blame wheat traders for the current “inflated” price of wheat. Sellers cannot just set any random ass price and expect anyone to pay it. It seems to me you’re the last person to begin talking to people about the factors that pushed prices “sky-high,” since you seem to think that brokers have some kind of magical power over the price of various commodities. And then you state a truism, that brokers are in the business to make money, as if that was some sort of astute analysis by a seasoned observer. I mean, why do you do your job — for the sheer joy of it?

Amazing.

By: SFer

SFer — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:11:04 +0000

Hello,
This is an ex-New Yorker living in San Francisco and this is how TIC (tenancy in common) is done:
You find someone else (not necessarily friends) who is looking for a similar piece of real estate as you are. You go in on a 2- or 3- or 4- unit building together (you can always rent one unit out to help pay the mortgage). You live in one unit, they live in the others. You don’t actually all live together in a house! And you all sign a bunch of legal stuff promising to pay your mortgage or else your share in the building will be sold to someone else. There are always people looking for TIC opportunities here – a TIC is just as easy to find as a condo in SF. It’s like the poster above says – its just a small co-op.

By: david

david — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:44:10 +0000

mortgage night sponsored by a real estate brokerage? HMMMM…

You may or may not think it’s valid to blame inflated real estate prices on brokers but it’s not a stretch to say that a basic reason someone goes into selling real estate is to make as much money as possible.

Sure it would be great to see this as empowering residents of a neighborhood and get them into ownership and calling their own shots. But don’t ignore the factors that have pushed prices sky high.