Why is it so expensive to buy a home here on long island, ny? Will the prices every go down? It is so crazy?

Question

The homes are so overpriced for what is being sold. My husband and I would love to buy a home, but it is so expensive. For example: A two bedroom one bathroom home in a decent neigborhood goes for almost $400K. If were to go to a not so decent area the price of a similar house would be around $350K.

We are living in an apartment which is costing us $1600 per month (two bedroom in apt complex) and do not want to take out a hugh mortage to buy an overpriced home. We see our friends and family members suffering from buying homes with little money down and can not even make payments because the taxes are going up like crazy. What is going on? Why is this? Is Long Island turning into Beverly Hills, CA? Does anyone think the home prices will drop anytime soon? I keep hearing that homes are going to go down in price, so that is why my husband and I are holding off on taking out a hugh mortage to buy a home.

Answer 1

i work for a mortgage company, one of the largest lenders in the country. Long Island is expensive, period. Real estate IS dropping...but slowly. I bet if you wait a year or two, prices will drop to a decent price. Start saving now for a nice down payment.

Answer 2

I'm sure prices will come down a bit but interest rates may go up as well. I live in CA and home prices are way out of line here too. If you are buying a home for yourself and plan on staying there for a long time anytime is a good time to buy as long as you can afford the payments. Over the long run real estate prices will rise. Be cautious around "creative financing". You may have to move to a less expensive area close by to make it happen but just calculate how much you've spent on rent for the past year. That's money that is going to help pay someone elses mortgage.

Answer 3

Long Island's home prices are expected to drop by 4-6%. I have seen prices drop from 2005 to 2006. My fiance's cousin put her house on the market in 2005 and they were offered 480k they declined the offer and put the house back on the market in April 2006 and priced at 500k and are now at 469k still unsold. I am an appraiser and I warned them in 2005 to accept the offer but they were greedy and now are paying the price. In my opinion the house will sell for under 450k. The biggest pitfall in Long Island especially Nassau County is the taxes are easily 2% of the property value. They re-assess the property every year thus resulting in a major tax increase of 10-15% per year. The prices have come down and now is a great time to buy if you can afford the crazy property taxes. I definitely have come across alot of properties that are selling for much less than their appraised value; you just have to do some leg work and have a good agent on your side. You should look for handyman specials, foreclosures and estate sales (I saw a home in S. Merrick that was a foreclosure that sold for 450k and is worth at least 600k; it sold within five days and needed very little work)

Answer 4

You may do better to look in Jersey. Not only are Long Island homes expensive--but utility bills there are among the highest going. Nearly all NYC suburbs are very expensive--I understand there are some relatively decent areas left in Queens.

Answer 5

Lets face it. Population continues to grow and land doesn't.

Bottom line is supply and demand and even though housing sometimes "levels" off for a brief period, the price will continue to creep up, even in the slowest times of our economy.

Reminds me of something I once heard. "You snooze you loose".

Don't wait if you don't want to pay more.

Answer 6

the real estate market will fall pretty hard. and the loss of jobs from the real estate and mortgage sector will drive the economy into a recession. don't buy now..wait for about three more years and see.