Citizenship and DILEMMA about purchasing a condo

[gigant 0]

I filed for N400 on Sept and the interview appointment interview date is approaching;

Me and my wife live in Queens NY and have put an offer to buy a condo located in Union City-NJ; the offer was accepted and mortgage approved and maybe next week we are supposed to close;

The unit is a 2 small bedroom of about 650SF very close to bus transportation and 20 min from Manhattan; in a spanish area that is up and coming

The problem is that we realized NY is not for us, we feel sometimes "trapped",

Stressed out,

And at times isolated and quite depressed

We often think of a place with beaches, more green and a different lifestyle; we do not have a plan yet on where to go; we lso thought to live out of the country for a period of time

Should we withdraw our offer (I don't know if we can an this point, we fear the seller can sue us)?

We though of keeping the condo as an investment but we are having nightmres of making a mistake:

What if we can't rent it?

What if the management will be too expensive?

On the other hand we fear that one we day we may want. To come back in NY and have a plce where to stay will be important

Please advise we need your advice and

Opinion

Thank you

Edited December 15, 2008 by gigant

[NigerLA 1]

Hi Gigant,

As a New Yorker myself, I understand the difficulty of living in the city. I am not sure how this affects your citizenship application. The only potential problem I see for you is that if you move to NJ before your interview, it might delay your interview. You now have residency in NJ and you have to notify USCIS as per their regulations.

I am not sure you can back out of your closing agreement, I would suggest you speak to an attorney about that.

All the best with your other decisions, buying a home is a very important decision and you want to make sure that you are absolutely comfortable with the purchase.

[akdiver 3]

I filed for N400 on Sept and the interview appointment interview date is approaching;

Me and my wife live in Queens NY and have put an offer to buy a condo located in Union City-NJ; the offer was accepted and mortgage approved and maybe next week we are supposed to close;

The unit is a 2 small bedroom of about 650SF very close to bus transportation and 20 min from Manhattan; in a spanish area that is up and coming

The problem is that we realized NY is not for us, we feel sometimes "trapped",

Stressed out,

And at times isolated and quite depressed

We often think of a place with beaches, more green and a different lifestyle; we do not have a plan yet on where to go; we lso thought to live out of the country for a period of time

Should we withdraw our offer (I don't know if we can an this point, we fear the seller can sue us)?

We though of keeping the condo as an investment but we are having nightmres of making a mistake:

What if we can't rent it?

What if the management will be too expensive?

On the other hand we fear that one we day we may want. To come back in NY and have a plce where to stay will be important

Please advise we need your advice and

Opinion

Thank you

What does this POSSIBLY have to do with citizenship?

Anyway - answer is don't buy the place.

[KyngSilva 0]

IF you havent signed the mortgage at a closing and collected the deed to the condo with an attorney,you can back out. Like akdiver stated " Don't Buy The Place.' The only possible thing that you might lose is your earnest money that you initial gave your realtor. You might also want to check your purchase agreement to see if there are any other clauses in there that might stop you from backing out.

On the other hand if you do decide to keep it, it depends on what the market is for rental units in that area. Since you did state that it is an up and coming Spanish neighbourhood, chances are you will find a renter really quick. Always keep 3 months worth of payments ready, just incase your tenants don;t pay. Here in MN it takes about that long to get them out and find somebody new. Rental units are an investment, but also a pain the ###. Most tenants don;t really care about what they do to the house/condo, because they don;t own it.

PS Congrats on getting the interview and all, but what exactly does this have to do with your Naturalization process.

[NickD 203]

IF you havent signed the mortgage at a closing and collected the deed to the condo with an attorney,you can back out. Like akdiver stated " Don't Buy The Place.' The only possible thing that you might lose is your earnest money that you initial gave your realtor. You might also want to check your purchase agreement to see if there are any other clauses in there that might stop you from backing out.

On the other hand if you do decide to keep it, it depends on what the market is for rental units in that area. Since you did state that it is an up and coming Spanish neighbourhood, chances are you will find a renter really quick. Always keep 3 months worth of payments ready, just incase your tenants don;t pay. Here in MN it takes about that long to get them out and find somebody new. Rental units are an investment, but also a pain the ###. Most tenants don;t really care about what they do to the house/condo, because they don;t own it.

PS Congrats on getting the interview and all, but what exactly does this have to do with your Naturalization process.

Was going to suggest the same thing, talk to the seller or the realtor, I backed out of offers before due to unforeseen circumstances, was just told okay, and even got my deposit back. Wouldn't talk to an attorney until you talked first with the seller/realtor. Then an attorney if necessary, but bringing in an attorney creates annimosity, not a good move on your part. Regarding where to live, no opinion on that.

Did you even read your offer contract before you signed it?

[KyngSilva 0]

An attorney is used for closing on home mortgages in the grand state of New York. Mostly in the midwest we have title companies that close on homes. Doesn't work the same out there.

[KyngSilva 0]

Don't talk to the sellers, they'll have a cow. Talk to your realtor.

Nick, I actually did not sugguest using an attorney to solve the problem . Mortgage files need to be closed in the presence of an attorney in New York. I was just making sure he did not already close on his mortgage.

[gigant 0]

IF you havent signed the mortgage at a closing and collected the deed to the condo with an attorney,you can back out. Like akdiver stated " Don't Buy The Place.' The only possible thing that you might lose is your earnest money that you initial gave your realtor. You might also want to check your purchase agreement to see if there are any other clauses in there that might stop you from backing out.

On the other hand if you do decide to keep it, it depends on what the market is for rental units in that area. Since you did state that it is an up and coming Spanish neighbourhood, chances are you will find a renter really quick. Always keep 3 months worth of payments ready, just incase your tenants don;t pay. Here in MN it takes about that long to get them out and find somebody new. Rental units are an investment, but also a pain the ###. Most tenants don;t really care about what they do to the house/condo, because they don;t own it.

PS Congrats on getting the interview and all, but what exactly does this have to do with your Naturalization process.

Was going to suggest the same thing, talk to the seller or the realtor, I backed out of offers before due to unforeseen circumstances, was just told okay, and even got my deposit back. Wouldn't talk to an attorney until you talked first with the seller/realtor. Then an attorney if necessary, but bringing in an attorney creates annimosity, not a good move on your part. Regarding where to live, no opinion on that.

Did you even read your offer contract before you signed it?

Thank you ALL for your responses, i know this has nothing to do do with Citizenship and we do apologize about that;

to reply to some of the questions:

the attorney: told me I CANNOT back out as there is a contract in place;

if I do they may keep the deposit and SUE me for the purchase price

or the difference between the purchase price and a new offer from a

new buyer (HE ADDED

Edited December 16, 2008 by gigant

[KyngSilva 0]

Yeah NY is weird like that. I use to deal with a lot of attorneys in NY and they were usually hot heads and sue happy. That attorney is correct as you do have a binding contract, however if you do not qualify for a loan the contract becomes void as the contract was based on you getting approved for a loan to purchase the home. I suggest you read every line in that contract to see what your escape clause is. I also suggest speak with a realtor, they know the rules in and out. Realtors are a dime a dozen, everybody knows somebody who is a realtor and a family friend. You should ask them.

I know a lot of the real estate laws have changed since I dealt with NY in 05, so the above is just my opinion, and it's just that an opinion.

[gigant 0]

Yeah NY is weird like that. I use to deal with a lot of attorneys in NY and they were usually hot heads and sue happy. That attorney is correct as you do have a binding contract, however if you do not qualify for a loan the contract becomes void as the contract was based on you getting approved for a loan to purchase the home. I suggest you read every line in that contract to see what your escape clause is. I also suggest speak with a realtor, they know the rules in and out. Realtors are a dime a dozen, everybody knows somebody who is a realtor and a family friend. You should ask them.

I know a lot of the real estate laws have changed since I dealt with NY in 05, so the above is just my opinion, and it's just that an opinion.

Thank you ALL for your responses, i know this has nothing to do do with Citizenship and we do apologize about that;

to reply to some of the questions:

the attorney:

told me I CANNOT back out as there is a contract in place;

if I do they may keep the deposit and SUE me for the purchase price or the difference between the purchase price and a new offer from a new buyer (HE ADDED the case may go to court and legal fees are high)

One solution would be

- as someone suggested - to speak with the seller or realtor and beg him to understand the situation...but we are imbarassed to ask as we have been chasing this place for about 2 months (ONE MONTH only to get mortgage commitment...)

Another would be

if my company fires me and the lender will cancel the loan but in this case the seller may keep the deposit ($6.000.00), ; we will also lose aprox $4.000.00 to the lender fees for appraisal and title search

I guess tonight we are not going to sleep..

instead of losing so much money and take also the risk to get SUED we will try to sell i

We probably deserve this situation as we had time to think about it.....

[KyngSilva 0]

I suggest you keep the place and figure out how the rental market is, if you and your wife really really don't want to live there. Property rentals are not bad. Just don''t look to make a killing on it for income. Cheer up mate, rental markets are hot right now. People can't afford to buy homes.

[akdiver 3]

$4000 for an appraisal and title search?? Good lord! Boy, did they see YOU coming!!

Odds are extremely strong that no one is going to sue you. Generally, people have better things to do. They sell the house to a new buyer, make an extra $6K on the side from your deposit, and forget all about you.

Now - based on what you said, if you back out, you're out $10K. That sounds like a lot of money. And maybe it is. But what is it worth to NOT be trapped in a place you don't want and may not be able to get rid of? How much is the hassle of being a landlord worth to you?

I wouldn't buy it just because of the $10K, unless it's a $100K or less place or something - and being NY, I kinda doubt it.

[NickD 203]

$4000 for an appraisal and title search?? Good lord! Boy, did they see YOU coming!!

Odds are extremely strong that no one is going to sue you. Generally, people have better things to do. They sell the house to a new buyer, make an extra $6K on the side from your deposit, and forget all about you.

Now - based on what you said, if you back out, you're out $10K. That sounds like a lot of money. And maybe it is. But what is it worth to NOT be trapped in a place you don't want and may not be able to get rid of? How much is the hassle of being a landlord worth to you?

I wouldn't buy it just because of the $10K, unless it's a $100K or less place or something - and being NY, I kinda doubt it.

300 bucks for an appraisal here and the seller is responsible for providing a clear title, abstract, or deed to the place, but that's on a private home. With a condo where you have a zillion condos identical, bank will just look that up and get the average selling price. They knew my home when I purchased it so I didn't pay a cent.

Wife's apartment in Caracas is valued at $160K USD, only 540 sq feet, would get lost in my garage, she wants to sell it, but we can't until we get rid of the tenant, paid $5K already to get rid of that non-paying witch in there. Just as bad here, no judge will toss jerks out in the cold without mercy on the owner as you still have to pay your property taxes of the state will foreclose on you, even the utility companies put a lean on the property, so the owner is responsible for that as well. Bad in Caracas, just as bad here, have friends here working two jobs, both husband and wife just trying to keep their property from being foreclosed upon, what kind of justice is that?

And why don't renters just buy the property themselves? Because they don't have the down payment is the key reason, screw owning property for an investment, the law is against you.. Our property tax has gone up 7.9% this year, state ain't getting enough money from sales tax, so they screw the homeowner, and you have to pay it or lose it, what a phuched up country we live in. State college tuition also went up $6K a year due to lack of federal funds, don't fear getting robbed on the streets, can only get a couple of bucks, but the state can sure rob you. Legally.