First Home Style

Initially when I started my home search I was looking for a two-bedroom coop apartment in Brooklyn.  However, for the last few weeks I’ve been looking at houses.  I had no desire to own a house before. I always thought that house ownership would be too much work to maintain and that I was not mentally or physically prepared to deal with all of the responsibilities of house ownership.  Even now, typing this, I’m feeling rather overwhelmed by the idea of shoveling snow.  But I can’t deny that there are a ton of perks of having a house that are simply not available with a coop. For one, there isn’t a coop board to snoop around my finances, ask about my further plans for the property and hurl intrusive questions at me about why I had student loan debt. I guess my shift in thinking began late last year as I started attending more open houses.  I fell in like with the idea of having more space and possible having a tenant to assist me with paying my mortgage each...

Realtor.com So, I guess I’m really doing this now. After hemming and hawing for the last few months, I’m finally ready to begin the mortgage/home search. And what better way to start than getting pre-approved.  Last week, I spoke to a mortgage consultant and after submitting W2, pay stubs, banks statements, etc, I got pre-approved for a mortgage. The mortgage approval amount is pretty much what I expected if not too aggressive for my liking. I’d liked to find a lower priced property than the pre-approval amount.  Also, I’m not opposed to buying a property that needs a little work, I’m just not into doing any major renovation work.  I’m moving cautiously but the bottom line is, I’m once again looking at properties.  I’m really excited. I feel more comfortable, confident this time around. I'm a lot calmer. Maybe because I've been through this process before. I know what I want. I know what I need. I know where I want to be. I'm not intimidated by cost or...

While surfing StreetEasy, I noticed that there was a new two-bedroom apartment listed in my ideal neighborhood. The price is absolutely ridiculously overpriced though I was curious and wanted to see the apartment in person. I knew from past experience that the apartment looks much larger usually in person than they appear on line. I clicked the call the agent feature on StreetEasy and I was connected to a Broker name Owen. Owen isn’t the listing agent however he would meet with me at the property and offer me guidance, realtor services if I needed to make an offer.  I wasn’t going to make an offer.  Firstly, the property was ridiculously overpriced.  Secondly, it was small.  The apartment opens into a small foyer where you can see the living/dining area. Left of the foyer was a retro pink bathroom, then a master bedroom with two nice closets (one of them a walk in).  The second bedroom is actually I half bedroom right off the kitchen. Owen made a point of telli...

I have a confession. I’m a stalker. http://shrink4men.com/2011/02/16/female-stalkers-part-2-checklist-of-stalking-and-harassment-behaviors/ For the past two months, I have been stalking this perfect two-bedroom cooperative apartment online. Almost daily I view pictures on Streeteasy.com and Zillow.com and breathe a sigh of relief when I see that someone has not yet snapped it up. It’s not a huge place. It’s a two-bedroom apartment with a small kitchen and living/dining area. I have imagined hosting Christmas and dinner parties here. And boy do I let my imagination run wild with design ideas. I have painted the living room a nice grey and hung flowy white curtains to the windows where currently there are blinds. In the kitchen, I have stained the cabinets, modernized the hardware and changed the backsplash to glass tiles that I found at home depot. Despite the imaginary home decor ideas, the apartment is otherwise perfect and in move in ready condition. Except of course tha...

The other day I met up with my good friend, Tracey. These days we always seem to talk more about our careers and financial matters.  Tracey and I are in the same career field but have different kinds of responsibility. My job, for a large government agency, requires spending long hours on my feet and travel to many locations. Glamorous it’s not but it allows me a lot of autonomy. Tracey works on a yearly contract for a university in Manhattan. I live in Brooklyn with a roommate. Tracey lives in Manhattan with a roommate. Tracey complained about her lack of autonomy and job security.  Tracey, like many people, feels that she is underpaid for the lifestyle that she wants to live. I mentioned several times in this blog how totally uncool I am. I don’t hang out in trendy coffee shops and don’t spend long hours queuing to get into the hottest new restaurants. I don’t have a gym membership. Instead I take great pleasure in finding free and inexpensive things to do around the ci...

I know it's been a while since I posted last, but the last few months have been so crazy. Lets just say that buying property hasn't been my top priority. I bought a used car (more out of necessity to help with work) I have also been searching for higher paying positions  and have sent out quiet a few resumes and cover letters. I just wanted to be in the best financial situation possible before buying my first home.I haven't been to a open house in over two months and instead I have been focused on saving more money for a down-payment. I mentioned several post ago that the real estate market here in Brooklyn has become so competitive especially with the low inventory, coop boards are now looking for cash buyers or someone who can put more than twenty percent down payment. I have always been frugal with money but in the last months I have decided to become more so. It doesn't appear that I will purchase that first apartment this year and that is quiet disappointing to wri...

Last weekend, my agent took me to see a two bedroom top floor apartment here in Brooklyn.  The apartment had been on the market for a few weeks and was in a quiet building on a tree lined block and close to transportation.  Almost immediately I was taken aback by the size of the unit. As we entered,  there was this huge window over looking the rest of Brooklyn and allowing an amorous about of natural light into the apartment.  It had a nice layout, adequate closet space, updated kitchen, hard wood floors and it was practically move in ready condition. I immediately made what I thought was a fair offer and the sellers countered at almost $10,000 more. I'm a girl on a budget and though I liked the apartment, I wasn't going to overextend myself. I made a counter offer. After several days and numerous telephone calls, we didn't hear back from the sellers agent. On Thursday my agency received a call from the sellers agent stating that they are having an ope...

As if I needed any more convincing that there is an entity or higher being that doesn't want me to purchase my first apartment. Last week while at work, I got two missed calls from my real estate agent, each a minute apart. On the second call she left a voice-mail message asking me to get in touch. I didn't immediately think that there were any concerns as the day prior we were talking about me signing the contract and completing my coop board application. I was super excited about the process now and my previous anxiety were beginning to fade away. I called the real estate agent back but I was not at all prepared for what she had to say.   “Are you at work?” she asked.  “Yes”, I responded.  “I wanted to talk to you when you're home,” “What's going on?” I asked finally coming to the realization that all was not well.  “I don't think you're going to be able to move forward on the property.” “What? Why?” “Well, the Sellers’s attorney informed me th...

This week my agent and I went to look at two new coop apartments. The first apartment was a one bedroom in need of a updated kitchen and bathroom and it also lacked storage space. The second apartment was a two bedroom in the same complex with less amount of work and with great potential. I could image myself living there. It had the right amount of space and while it needed some minor work such as staining the kitchen cabinets and the floors (both of which I can probably do myself), there was a recently renovated bathroom and the kitchen offered a nice amount of counter space. And as an added bonus, there is a balcony. Here are some of the pictures I took with my cellphone. Floor Master bedroom Kitchen

A few days ago, I met with my attorney and we had a discussion about the two bedroom property that I made an offer on in October.  While he agreed that the space was good and the price was not bad, he was concern that the coop was being mismanaged. I have had some of the same concerns as well. I had been doing some reach online and the feedback has not been positive. I observed documents on Trulia, Zillow and Streeteasy that shows that in 2008 and 2009, at the height of the economic downturn, the property values on the cooperative started to nose dive. Then banks started to refuse mortgage applications for the building. The coops has yet to recover and the prices have continued their downward slide. Another pressing concern was that the coop has not properly budgeted for needed repairs and expenses. In 2012, The building had a operating cost of $6.4 million dollars but had only budgeted for $6 million. That means that the cooperative is operating at a loss. My attorney said that fo...

I wanted to quickly update about the status of my housing search. If you’re a frequent reader to this blog, you shouldn’t be too surprise that there are still more obstacles to overcome.   Barriers are a constant presence in this home buying process. My current mortgage company has concerns about the cooperative and may not approve the mortgage. Why me? I first thought. But after I spoke to my loan officer and received a copy of the building’s financials, I too became alarmed. My loan officer was concerned that the last two mortgage applications for the building were denied. The loan officer contacted the underwriter on both properties and found that there were concerns about how the cooperative was spending the monthly maintenance. Let’s just say 2011 was a dire year for this cooperative. 2012 was a lot better; however 2013 was not yet available for us to view. We all want to be reassured that this apartment purchase would be a wise investment. The loan officer has requeste...

The last few days have been so busy that I'm not quite sure where to begin. Firstly, I have been apartment shopping again and this weekend, my friend Dominique and I went to three open houses. Dominique has a great eye and was able to catch problems and expenses that I didn't notice at first sight. The first place we saw was on a quiet block of homes and close to transportation. It appealed to me because of its location. It’s a quiet tree-line block, surrounded by residential homes and in a borough like booming gentrified Brooklyn, that’s a rarity. The apartment was a two bedroom that had a nice layout. The owner had a very interesting design style and a color palette. Crown molding in all the rooms.  The kitchen was a small galley with cherry wood cabinets, stainless steel appliances and dark Formica counter tops that mimicked the look of granite. There were some other updates as well, like the custom book shelves and custom wood cover for the radiator and AC units.  What c...

  I have been looking at coop apartments again but I find myself comparing them to the place with the balcony and skyline view of Manhattan. I just want this apartment search to be over already. When I wrote my apartment must have list, I wrote that I wanted a two bedroom cooperative or condominium with a updated kitchen, close to public transportation. That was it really, a small list. I never dream of a balcony, then. Now of course I'm looking for a balcony. Over the weekend I saw a two bedroom apartment in walking distance to the contracted apartment. It was ok, I guess. it had decent amount of space and natural light from every room. The kitchen cabinets were outdated and dark but they were wood and the appliances were white. The price was reasonable too. I should have been excited but I wasn't. It just didn't have that wow factor that the first place had. I couldn't picture myself living there.