Should I buy a house, and if so how much should I spend?

[KrazyHorse]

house is way too big - 4700 sqf, 4 br, 4.5 bath

would prefer slightly smaller, but it's a difficult size to find in a nice place around here

[Kidlicious]

[pchang]

You get a lot more house for your money there than where I live.

[dannubis]

It seems like a nice house.

[KrazyHorse]

You get a lot more house for your money there than where I live.

Yeah, I'm almost 40 miles outside the city. This place has the river, but if I wanted a Sound facing property it would be 4X the price for the same thing.

[KrazyHorse]

Also, housing prices are still down 20-25% from peaks around here. They've been close to flat from bottoming about 3 years ago, with no recovery to speak of. So in inflation adjusted terms, you're talking close to 40% off of 2007 prices. Discounts

[pchang]

Tennis court over pool? What are property taxes like there? In CA, you can expect to pay about $16700 a year on a 1.3 mill assessment.

[PLATO]

flood insurance listed at 1500/yr - no house flooding even during sandy. lot's 2.4 acres, and house is near to the middle of the property - and on an incline, which is what saves it from floods

a bit more than a creek; about 25 feet wide at that point (turns into an estuary of the long island sound about 1/4 mile wide a few miles south)

edit: lot's not far from square (except for a bend in the river) - probably around 350 ft of frontage

might have enough room for a tennis court

If the elevation of the house is above the flood plain then getting an elevation certificate could save you the flood insurance. Many times a parcel is in a flood zone, but the actual elevation of the structure is above the flood plain. Very seldomly do people take advantage of the fact that it is the house you are insuring. If it is above the flood plain, then your lender will not require flood insurance. It is rather easy to do as well. Your lrnder's flood certification company will probably do the reseach for little of no cost. If they do not have elevation information in their database, then you would need to obtain the elevation certificate.

[KrazyHorse]

Tennis court over pool? What are property taxes like there? In CA, you can expect to pay about $16700 a year on a 1.3 mill assessment.

I would take tennis court for sure. Remember the climate here. Taxes are 23k/yr - this town has a particularly high tax rate.

[pchang]

Prop tax is deductible so not too bad and at least you don't pay NYC income tax any more.

[KrazyHorse]

Under amt prop tax is not deductible.

[KrazyHorse]

If I make a bit more money then I will emerge from amt and it will become deductible again

[pchang]

AMT is a really a strange bizarro world thing. I really wish they would just adjust the regular tax schedules to make it revenue neutral. It essentially makes me do my taxes twice every year.

[KrazyHorse]

Latest proposal out of white house is to limit 401k deductibility to 28% tax rate. What a ****ing surprise...

[PLATO]

Latest proposal out of white house is to limit 401k deductibility to 28% tax rate. What a ****ing surprise...

Having a problem with paying your unfair share?