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So we decided given the market is bad for both buyers and sellers, we are gonna hold off on the house thing for a bit. It was really a stress maker too with all the wedding stuff going on, we were feeling totally rushed. And when making a big decision like that we just could not push through it. So after some discussion we are gonna go ahead and rent somewhere right in the downtown section of where I live, good 'ol Milford. We are going hunting with a realtor of the apartments on Saturday. They have this place called Spinnacker who owns a bunch of buildings with new apartments in downtown. Ranging from $1195 to $1495 a month for rent. A little more than we first thought to spend, but we are literally a few steps to the hot bars here and the water. Plus I can take the train to work saving $106 a month since I won't be using so much gas and mileage as well on the Trix. The fiance may be driving it to work and parking the Jeep for awhile given gas prices. Who knows.Here are what some of the places look like that we are going to, along with the night life! Whoop!! Might as well enjoy being young.http://www.spinnakerapartments.com/Second view with Cancun Charlies in the foregroundUpstairs over businessesNightlifeStonebridge Restaurant (huge outside patio bar and fine inside dining)Cancun Charlies (mexican restaurant with large outside deck), right next to the apartments shown on topArchie Moores(wings, outside deck, around corner from apts.)7 Seas(good local bar with great food)Cafe Atlantique(wine, panini's, live music, outside seating)Daniel Street(owned by Stonebridge, more club atmosphere, big dance floor)Citrus(fine dining with a nice martini bar and outside patio), again next to the second set of apts. shown (no picture)SBC (Southport Brewing Company)(few locations around CT, outdoor patio with glass divides for winter, inside dining with bar and dance floor)

Sorry to hear. It will work out though.

Quote, originally posted by Whelan » Ranging from $1195 to $1495 a month for rent. holy crap!!!

Is that expensive? It's pretty reasonable around here figuring some places go for above 2k a month and if you head closer to where I work $1600 is the avg. price.$700 a month will get you a shed in someones back yard and 900 will get you a nice place out of the 70s with green countertops and a yellow stove.These places all have granite counters, stainless appliances, W/D in each unit and a gym with 24 hour maintenance available.Oh and P.S. here is a little map I made of the downtown area in relation to where we are going to live. The Yellow bar at the bottom represents 200ft. so you can get an idea of how close things are.

Quote, originally posted by scherry2 » holy crap!!!x2. That's a mortgage payment around here.

mortgages around here are gonna be from 1700 and up for an ok house.

Time to move.

Quote, originally posted by scherry2 » holy crap!!!That's not that bad. Years ago around here it was like $1200 for a two bedroom downtown apartment with only two appliances (no dishwasher, no washer, no dryer). No idea what it is now, but I bet its like $1500.

around here you can get a pretty nice house for 600-800/month. A decent house for 400/month. Sometimes less depending on the situation.Rent is going to be the same... sometimes more.In Indianapolis my boss got a pretty cool house for like 145k. I'm an hour away and i could get a pretty cool house for 60k.My fiance and I are trying to figure out if we want to rent or buy. working on getting pre approved right now for a loan to see what we can get. That will help us make our decision too. I dont mind living in a crap apartment for a couple years while we save. I also dont mind buying a house that needs a little work.Since being in a fun area is importnat to you it sounds like you are makign a good decision. It's not like you will never be able to buy a house. You will just be able to experience something different for a while.

shoot i'm paying 2700 a month for my 1100 sq ft condo...not a decent house.

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »mortgages around here are gonna be from 1700 and up for an ok house. i wish my Kiosk space was only $1700, let alone my mortgage! LOLThen again, our market here is still doing quite well so I suppose it's a trade off. And I definitely agree it's better to rent for now while you figure things out. buying a house is a very large purchase and something that you should not just rush into unless you find "the one" like we did. houses are expensive!

Buying a home is always a huge deal and you should never feel rushed into it by anyone!!Hopefully you will be able to save a bit while you are renting and increase any downpayment you will make in the future.Good Luck to you and yours!I pray that you will be blessed in all that you do as you have blessed all of us here with your car care expertise.

Sounds like CT is somewhat like parts of CA.I pay ~$1400/month rent for a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment, 830sq ft in a medium quality neighborhood. Dishwasher, but no W/D.Prices are brutal in CA. Once I graduate, I'm going to get outta here.

Quote, originally posted by futureviber »around here you can get a pretty nice house for 600-800/month. A decent house for 400/month. Sometimes less depending on the situation. I pay 600 for a 4 bedroom house in Indiana. If I may ask. if you pay 1700.00 a month for rent or house payment, how much do you make an hour? I've always heard that your house payment should be 1 to 2 weeks wages after taxes.

Holy crap it's expensive to live up there... We're paying $509 for a 1000 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment. It's dirt cheap living in this area.I couldn't afford to live on the east coast!

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Holy crap it's expensive to live up there... We're paying $509 for a 1000 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment. It's dirt cheap living in this area.I couldn't afford to live on the east coast!LOL or WEST COAST and if that's expensive, certainly not Alaska! Avg home for 3 br, 2 ba, 2 car in Anchorage is about $260K. My folks home in Puyallup, WA cost just about the same as our house up here 2 yrs ago, however, where their housing market has fallen this past year, ours remains solid and strong and evening out (about a 10-15% appreciation vs 20-30% in previous years). $500 rent will get you a one room studio in the crappiest run down parts of town next to the crack houses.

Quote, originally posted by scherry2 » I pay 600 for a 4 bedroom house in Indiana. If I may ask. if you pay 1700.00 a month for rent or house payment, how much do you make an hour? I've always heard that your house payment should be 1 to 2 weeks wages after taxes.exactly, the cost of living (in most cases) should also reflect your income and also the avg income/wages of the area you live in. Our housing market costs more, cost of food/groceries a little more than Seattle, however in general, the average wage earner probably makes more too. $30K salary in the midwest (where your avg housing is $600-$800/mo) would be enough to live off or be a good pay/earning but be very low in a place like AK where your avg cost of a house is going to be closer to $1400-2000/mo depending on size of home/apartment and your avg earner makes $55K salary or more. Granted, you will have the lower income areas that fall under the $30K or less however up here, I'd say most are at least $55K or more. And if you have dual income, then you are looking in most cases an avg of $100K per family but usually more (at least that I see).

Sorry maybe I missed something... how exactly is the current market bad for buyers? It seems like the perfect time to buy.

i think the market is at the perfect time to buy and get into. It's not gonna get too much lower that i can see.

Quote, originally posted by Fingers »Sorry maybe I missed something... how exactly is the current market bad for buyers? It seems like the perfect time to buy.yep, buy low vs high. that way when the market improves, your house appreciates at leaps and bounds!

What a charming looking place! I was considering using the equity in my house to buy a smaller, older one but was told to wait until after the election to either buy or sell (?)

I think you did the right thing! Way too hard to get married and get into a house at the same time. My wife and I got married then lived in my apartment for a few months before getting a house.Those appts look real nice and many nice things around them!

Quote, originally posted by Fingers »Sorry maybe I missed something... how exactly is the current market bad for buyers? It seems like the perfect time to buy.It depends on where you are at in the country. Here in Southern Utah, prices are still dropping like crazy. I have seen some houses drop from 179,000 to 139,000 in the past month. The housing marked isn't supposed to be at its low here for another 8-10 months.

Not that this topic is relevant to my ex relationship anymore. But here is why.In our area, we are distressed meaning there are too many homes for sale and not enough buyers. But banks now want you to put down 15-20% to avoid PMI and such to own a home. So you pay PMI which is like throwing money away and your interest rates here are at around 6.5%. It may not sound like much but instead of putting 10% down on a 300k house (30,000 down), you now have to put 45,-60k down to get it. About one month ago it was 5%-10%. So they are not making it easy in my area for buyers right now.