All Forum Posts by: A. Berk Gokce

Do not buy an apartment right now in Jersey city or Hoboken with 10% down and a 75k (im assuming 58k take home after taxes) a year income. The numbers don't work and anything that cheap in Jersey city or Hoboken means something is wrong with it (usually co-ops with ridiculous HOA fees and bad management) It will be a nightmare trying to get rid of that thing in the future.

At your salary and a 7% interest rate you'll be stretching yourself reaaaally thin, its not worth it until you get your salary up or rates go down. You're going to be paying about $20,000 roughly in interest alone. Tack on HOA fees, taxes, etc. and you're probably at a stupid % payment to income ratio.

I appreciate the response by people above me but they are not in our market and don't understand the nuances as well. 

@A. Berk Gokce

Great question!  So I can't speak specifically about your market, but I can give you an idea of what is happening in a general scale nationally right now.

First off, interest rates.  We have seen rates continue to increase, with rates hitting a 23 year high last week at a national average of 7.49% for a 30 year fixed mortgage.  With that, buyer's affordability is taking a hit.  We've seen the luxury home market take a hit, and has been pushing buyers into the entry level home market more and more.  Whatever your entry level  home price is, there is likely going to be even more competition for those homes.

With that being said, prices have kept going up or stabilizing because we are dealing with such low inventory.  This is not good for both buyers and sellers.  Buyers in the fact their monthly mortgage will go up tremendously, but also sellers for those who want to trade up, don't want to because they become a buyer in this market.  Also, if they bought or refinanced during COVID, they likely have a very low rate they don't want to give up.  For those reasons, sellers are holding onto their homes until rates go below a certain percent.  Who knows what that number is, maybe between 5-6%?  

With all that said, now is a great time to buy.  Think about it like this, if you are on the sideline waiting for rates to drop, so is everyone else.  There is insane pent up demand right now, and when rates drop, everyone is going to get back into the market, and home prices will sky rocket again.  Especially with inventory going to continue to be a problem in the coming years.

If the rates keep going up, it is actually a good thing for investors and buyers.  This will scare a lot of buyers out of the market and they will wait to buy.  Those that are savvy can get it, negotiate a lower price on a home (especially in the offseason), and refinance the mortgage/rate if and when rates drop.

You can also negotiate into an offer what is called a temporary rate buy down paid by the seller.  That can help alleviate short term interest rates buying you time until they drop and you refinance permanently. 

I would recommend reaching out to a Realtor in your area to help guide you through this process.  If you don't have a Realtor in mind, I have a very large brokerage and would be happy to refer you to someone out there.  I'll shoot you a DM.

I hope this helps!

@A. Berk Gokce Yesterday was always the best time to buy and if you missed that then now is currently the best time to buy.

I’m not all that up to date on your markets but I imagine you may be limited as to where you can buy based on your down payment.

The first thing I would do is go to a bank and find out what you can get approved for to buy a house and then you will know your price point which may help define your location. A good loan officer can help explain the different loan options available to you and how much you may need for a down payment.

You probably shouldn’t buy at the top point available to you because you don’t want to be stretched too thin where you also can’t enjoy life a little bit.