Affordable Westchester Towns: An Impossible Feat?

We currently live in Astoria and are looking to move out of NYC proper to a suburb. We are looking for a single-family home with 3 bedrooms for under $450k and the kicker is, we want to have a 45 minute or so commute to Grand Central Terminal via public transportation.

 For those of you that know anything about the housing market near NYC, you might think this sounds impossible. Don't get me wrong, I know this is going to be a major challenge, but I've done some research and I think it might be feasible, as long as we are realistic on what we are going to get for our money. As I said in another post, we are most likely going to be doing some renovations, but this just means we get to customize our home.

If you are just starting your research into areas around NYC, here is a list of places we have looked into so far and some general thoughts. Disclaimer: All of these places are in Westchester County, and they are also cities, not towns, but I still consider these places a suburb of NYC, because compared to the very urban neighborhoods found in NYC, lets face it, any city in Westchester is going to feel more like a suburb. We are also not considering school districts as a super high priority in our search because we are at least 8-10 years away from having school age children and by then we will likely have outgrown our "starter" house.  

First on the list: New Rochelle, NY. This city is going to be a bit of a stretch for our budget. There are some options in our budget of under $450k. New Rochelle seems to have a great vibe. It is near the water, has quick train service into Grand Central (about 30 minutes), and the newly built New Roc City, with a great movie theater and some solid chain restaurants. The parks in New Rochelle seem nice, many of them by the water. There is also good access to roads which is also important to us because I work in Queens. But, in order to make New Rochelle work, we are going to have to find a home that has property taxes on the lower end.

Next up: White Plains, NY. This is one of the more urban areas we are considering. But the appeal of White Plains comes in the form of convenience. It is a developed and thriving city with some semblance of night life and restaurants within a very quick commute to Grand Central due to the
express trains that run frequently. But it would be a further drive for me to Queens, and the traffic can be horrendous. The housing stock in White Plains does offer us some affordable options. White Plains also offers a good real estate tax advantage over many areas in Westchester. 

A little further down the list: Yonkers, NY. Our biggest reservation about Yonkers is the additional city income tax that residents pay. One of the reasons we are moving out of NYC is to avoid the additional city income tax which is astronomical. Granted the Yonkers tax is far less than NYC,

however it is still an additional expense. Yonkers does have some things we really like. For one, it is a very quick commute to Grand Central via the Metro North and in off peak traffic I can get to Queens in about 15-20 minutes. Yonkers is also home to three of our favorite stores, REI, Stew Leonards, and Costco. We'd probably be making trips to Yonkers shopping areas no matter where we live. Our other consideration is that even though Yonkers has an income tax, property taxes are much lower than other parts of Westchester. I should note that Southeast Yonkers and parts of Southwest Yonkers that border the Bronx are generally considered to be a bit sketchy. Our home search would likely be focused in Northwest Yonkers in the areas bordering Bronxville, and Tuckahoe.

For the right house: Port Chester, NY. This village seems to present housing prices right in our budget, and a cool, younger vibe. Not to mention, it seems as if we would get a little more house for the money. Port Chester has a little bit longer commute to Grand Central than the other areas, but because it is still in Southeast Westchester and a reasonable commute to Queens by car, we are keeping it on our list. Despite the "iffy" reputation, Port Chester has gotten a bit of a face lift in recent years. It has attracted several big box stores like Costco and Whole Foods, and the food scene is great with ethnic and upscale options like Tarry Market, owned by Mario Batali and Joe Basianich, a staple of Main Street. Not to mention the owner of the Brooklyn Bowl just restored and reopened the Capitol Theater, a great and historic music venue that has seen the likes of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. Our biggest concern is potential resale value, but if things continue in Port Chester how they have in the last couple years, it might be a better investment than any of the other areas we are considering.

We are definitely keeping our options open to the other areas as well, but these are the towns that we are primarily searching for listings on the internet. Anyone have any advice or more insight into these towns or how you are searching for the right place to buy a house for your family? Please share in the comments!

Mid-Century Furniture Finds in Home Listing Photos

I have a very eclectic style when it comes to room design. But lately I have been really drawn to mid-century modern pieces. We recently moved into a new apartment and we had to come up with some creative storage and furniture solutions. I had been itching to try out some DIY pinterest projects, so I set to work. I built my own coffee table using a pre-cut piece of wood from Home Depot that I stained and some hairpin legs I bought on Etsy. I also did a couple more Ikea hack projects with that mid-century modern flare. Now I feel like my eye is constantly drawn towards authentic mid-century pieces that I see in pictures.

While browsing listings on Zillow and Trulia, I have seen some truly interesting (read: outdated) furniture. But every once in a while I'll spot a great mid-century piece in the background that I would love to revamp. I'm tempted to contact the homeowners to see if they'd be willing to sell me the piece.

The green vintage recliner is an awesome piece, it would need to be reupholstered obviously.

Love the hutch in the background.

An entire bedroom set, I would love to get my hands on this and make it magnificent.

I think I saw something on pinterest a while back about re-purposing an old tv cabinet. 

I think the call would go something like this: "Hello, I was looking at pictures of your house online, and I'm not interested in your house because it is honestly overpriced and badly staged, but I did notice a specific piece of furniture I would like to buy." Homeowner: "Is this a joke?"...Click.

Would any of you consider calling the homeowner to score that perfect piece of furniture?

Renovation is our option...

Every time I watch a house hunting show on HGTV, the buyers always say that they want something turn key or with only a small amount of work. I think this is probably the case for most homebuyers. I mean who wouldn't want to just open the door, drop their stuff in the room and go on living their life. But if you've ever watched an HGTV show from start to finish, then you know how rare it is that the buyer is able to find exactly what they want down to every detail. I think it would be safe to say that even though most buyers want turn key, the reality is they want it customized to them more.

The good news for Nicki and I is we don't have to stress over the decision of turn key versus renovation. Our budget and locations of choice are making that decision for us. At our price point, anything we see is going to need some renovations. My goal in our hunt is to find a house that has updated systems. Meaning, I would prefer only cosmetic updates versus having to replace a roof, plumbing, a furnace, or god forbid the electric. But even this might be a stretch for us.

The mantra that I'm going into this house hunt with is a house can be changed, but the location can not. That's not to say that I'm going to buy the worst house in the best location, I'd just like it to strike a happy medium between good location and good bones. We are almost certainly going to be updating a kitchen, which in truth kind of excites me. I love the thought of being able to make the kitchen my own. Lay it out exactly as we'd like it for function and beauty.

I love looking in a house and seeing that it would be possible to take a wall down and open the kitchen up into a living room or dining room. I'm not the type to use a formal dining room, so that space is just going to be wasted for me unless I can turn it into an expanded kitchen or family room extension. I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I look at house floor plans that would allow for that option.

But there is one room in the house that I don't want to have to touch, the bathroom. The idea of redoing a bathroom or both bathrooms is not something I'm looking forward to. I don't really know why the bathroom scares me so much. Maybe it's because I know I'm going to have to do some of the demo work myself and the idea of having to remove the toilet grosses me out. Or maybe because realistically you can live without a fully functioning kitchen for a few weeks, but a bathroom is not something you can live without. So I'm making a promise to myself (one that let's be honest, I will probably have to break), I will find a house with 2 bathrooms and at least one of them will not have to be renovated. Fingers crossed!

New Year's Resolutions

It is almost the New Year, and you know what that means...New Year's Resolutions. My normal resolutions usually comprise of things like workout more, eat healthier, get good grades (I just finished school forever, so this will no longer apply) but this year I have a real goal in mind. That is to buy a house so I have to have a household budget and stick to it.

As Nicki, my fiancé, and I enter the home buying process, we are working hard to save up enough money for our down payment, closing costs, and emergency fund. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I can't decide), we make too much money for any down payment assistance programs, so a strict budget is our only option. But thank god, Nicki is a Type A personality who loves to budget money. She researched budget spreadsheets online and came up with this beauty. We uploaded it to Google drive so we both have a copy.

We entered in our minimum monthly incomes, all of our expenses and devised a strict savings plan to get us on track for having the funds we need. We are also going to use an online money monitoring tool, like learnvest, to track all of our expenses. In order to save the money we need, we are devoting one of my full paychecks a month to savings. In addition, since I work on a salary plus commission basis, any commissions I make are going directly into our savings account.

We are not strangers to living on a budget, as law students we had to work within the realm of our student loans and we always managed. But now, we make more money, and it is very tempting to spend more money. I just keep reminding myself every time I see that shiny new gadget or shirt, or pair of shoes or beer or taxi, that I am saving for a house, and it is going to take some discipline. My plan is to just forget that I have the money. I think maybe if I pretend it doesn't exist, our savings plan will work.

Pinterest is a Home Buyers Best Friend

It has been about two weeks since I got bit by the house buying bug. Since then I've spent a lot of time doing research on the Internet. I've been perusing Zillow and Trulia, looking at home prices in various neighborhoods. I've visited blogs and government websites and company sites researching mortgage products and qualifications. I've spent time googling the phrase "tips for a first time home buyer". But the most fun I have had in my research is looking at renovated spaces (on a budget of course) on Pinterest.

I've come to appreciate Pinterest for what it really is, a home buyer and decorator's best friend. Granted, this is the obvious use of Pinterest, but what I discovered last night is that if you search for the phrase "first time home buyer" in Pinterest, it keys up a bunch of info graphics and on point blog posts that are perfect for someone like me. I was able to find a bunch of information, that google didn't pull up for me. So I've decided to create my own Nesting in New York Pinterest account. I'm pinning designs of my dream rooms and I will pin my blog posts as well. So in the spirit of creating an online community on Pinterest...please follow me and my boards.

I'm Dreaming of a White...Picket Fence

When I think back to growing up in the suburbs, one of my favorite things was running around in my backyard with my dog and playing on my swing set. Now that I've been living in the city for so long, I've begun to forget what having grass right outside your backdoor is like (or what a backdoor is for that matter). As a New Yorker, I've become accustomed to using the term "outdoor space". In NYC real estate outdoor space is usually some small balcony that is all concrete and there is barely enough space for a chair and a plant. But I've discovered this whole new world of backyards with fences right here in New York and as you may know, I'm obsessed. 

Photo Courtesy of rkramer62.

As of late we have been doing a lot of research into towns. We have been considering many factors in our town search. First, we know that we want to be in Westchester, within a 30-40 minute train commute to Grand Central Terminal and a 30 minute commute to Queens by car. This basically limits us to southeastern Westchester. The next important factor for us is affordability. We have a pretty tight budget for Westchester, so we need to focus our search in towns with a more affordable median home price. Areas we are currently considering include New Rochelle, White Plains, and Port Chester. 

Most people in the market for a house in Westchester place a lot of emphasis on school districts. As I would say is probably an important consideration in most of the country. But being a few years away from children, we aren't that concerned with school ratings right now. But we are concerned with the resale value of our house when it comes time to sell. The current thing we are debating include whether we should place a lot of emphasis on the schools in light of the fact that it will be 8-10 years before we have school age children. We are somewhat realistic about home ownership and the volatile "investment" that is real estate, we are not expecting to make a killing from the appreciation, but a modest rise in value would be fantastic. I think in reality, we will be thrilled if we could sell for at least what we paid. 

I know I am way early in trying to do town/neighborhood research since we will probably be saving up money for over a year, but I figured it won't hurt to do a little research now. Who knows, we might move out to one of the towns when our current lease is up and rent something just to get a feel for things. Anyone out there have any suggestions or input? What factors did you consider in your search for the perfect neighborhood?

Up Front Costs are a Killer

When I first thought about buying a house, my thoughts didn't immediately go to how much this was going to cost up front. I mean, I knew I would need the down payment, and that this was going to cost me anywhere from $15-20K minimum, but mostly I was preoccupied, and I still am for that matter, with how much house Nicki and I can afford. I have been on just about every mortgage affordability calculator I can find. Each time I type in our specific parameters and it spits out a number, and then I fiddle with the max debt-to-income ratio, and it spits out a bigger number, that I like a little more.

For those of you who don't know anything about debt-to-income ratios, and the other monthly costs I suggest you do some googling like I did. But to give you a rough overview, the debt-to-income ratio is the amount of money you spend each month on your debt compared with how much money you make pre-tax. When you get a mortgage loan for your house, lenders usually prefer that your monthly housing costs are less than 28-29% of your total pre-tax monthly income and that your total overall debt obligations (car, housing costs, student loans, credit cards etc.) are less than 36% to 41% (FHA allows for a slightly higher debt-to-income ratio than conventional financing). These are the main  numbers that a mortgage affordability calculator is using to compute how much house you can afford.

But one area where the mortgage affordability calculators, and the majority of the internet for that matter, is lacking in information, is how much buying a house truly costs up front at the closing. I'm not going to pretend that I know how much this is going to be either. Apparently, it varies by state, county, city, bank, and price of house. From estimates I've been able to scratch together from the various forums I've been obsessively reading, closing costs in my area are going to range anywhere from $15-25K. If you are an observant reader, you'll notice that this is the same amount of money that I was planning on using as a down payment. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper when I discovered that I will have to save up double that amount of money to pay in fees, taxes, and insurance at the closing.

The other "up front cost" is not really a cost so much as a safety net, but it still involves saving cash to have on hand, this is your emergency fund. According to the internet, smart financial people recommend having at least 6 months living expenses saved up in an emergency savings fund, so that if something goes terribly wrong, (read: you lose your job), you will still be able to pay your mortgage and expenses. Lets see, 6 months of living expenses that's another $30K or so.

 So, to sum this up, if you are looking at about a $350-$400k house in New York like we are, then you'll need at minimum $15k (this assumes an FHA loan down payment amount of 3.5%), add to that the potential $25k in closing costs, and the $30k emergency fund and that totals $70k cash to have on hand to buy a house. I don't know about you, but I'm a little terrified of that number. I have a feeling there is going to be some Ramen noodles in my future. Now let the budgeting begin...