After 20 years of renting a life on the East Coast — that’s what you do out here because purchasing an apartment or a house is incredibly expensive because the AVERAGE price of a one-bedroom apartment in New York City is now a cool $1,000,000.00 USD — we are now thinking it might be best to look into buying our share of the American Dream instead of renting it away.
99.99% of the people we know rent. Where do we start to buy? Can you do it all with a bank loan or do you have to bring a chunk of your own saved money for a down payment to the table first? Do you find a real estate agent at the start of the process or only at the finish? Is now a good time to buy an apartment or a house?
Is there a New York neighborhood or town or village reachable by train near New York City that would be more affordable than Manhattan or Queens? I know there are books and magazines dedicated to this topic, but sometimes there are hidden self-interests in those publications.