The other thing to consider about California real estate is that we have been able to treat our homes as investment vehicles, which I don’t think we’d be able to do elsewhere. We made a large profit on our last house and we are looking to do a major renovation on our current house and hopefully get a quite a bit of money from that too when we eventually sell.
I just did a Zillow search for my town (Boston suburb) because I was curious. It came up with about 4 houses in the $600K - $700K range. The inventory is so low right now though, the ones in decent condition probably go over asking. My town used to be one of the cheaper (relatively) suburbs because it is not the easiest for commuting in to the city, but it has increased a lot in recent years as the inventory everywhere is low. If the ability to WFH sticks, I'm curious how that will affect where people choose to live.
Charlotte, NC many price points for that square footage in the city. My area about 15 minutes north of downtown approx. $275-375k. South of downtown about 5-10 minutes $1 million. You can find less expensive areas as well. Very diverse city, culture is up and coming, decent pro sports atmosphere. Food and breweries have exploded here in the last 10 years. 16th largest city in the US. Good banking and tech jobs. Lower taxes.
In Portland, Maine that would be $350K-$1.5M, depending on location. There's really no bad location, but "on the peninsula," near the ocean, is $$$.
Portland is really similar to the Bay Area, IMO. Definitely much colder in the winter, but beautiful in the summer, as opposed to walking around in a winter coat in July in SF. And we have quick commutes. And more equitable schools (which are now about 40% non-white).
You can get a total fixer upper (let's be fair - dump) for just under 500k. Decent - 700k. Really nice 1million and up. City of Chicago.
I am not in a super nice neighborhood, fwiw. And this is why I'm moving to the burbs. How is it possible that so many people have so much money? It boggles my mind. ETA: I can get a NICE newly remodeled house - 3000sf, possibly 1 acre lot for between 500-600 in some of the far burbs.
We just bought a 2300 sq. ft. for $440k but we probably paid a bit more because it has a pool and it's walking distance to the elementary school and lots of hiking trails.
In Houston it depends. For 2,000 sf in the suburbs I'd say $280,000 for no frills and up to $400,000 for nicer upgrades and a pool. In the city itself it would be more like $600,000 and up.
Based on this poll I can clearly never move. Gosh.
$400k in rural Washington. These numbers make me cry. Housing is so out of whack here for average incomes due to vacation homes and it's gotten so much worse this year.
250-400K depending on the specific suburb. I can get a house with an indoor pool for 650k.
We have culture, and diversity, (blue, purple, or red depending on suburb). Everything that CA has, but we have winter and snow which I’m not a fan of winter.
Where is this??
I am in the suburbs of Chicago. There are obviously houses in the 700K-1/2 million range around here as well, but those would be much larger than in the 2000 sq. ft area or in a fancy suburb. My suburb is not one of the super fancy ones. Diversity and politics differ by suburb.
Since I hate winter, I am totally tempted to get a house with an indoor pool except I don't want to be house poor, and I don't love that suburb. But otherwise, I am there!
I live across the river in one of the "nicer" (read that as "mostly white") towns and our prices are around $75-100K less than the Missouri side for equivalent homes. Our house would easily be $400K and up in West County, but we paid $300K. Property taxes are higher, though.
Yeah, there are definitely pockets in STL Country that are nutty - Webster comes to mind. I’m just across the *other* river in STCC, which definitely improved our bang-for-the-buck. But, it’s a purple-to-red area, so that was a shitty tradeoff.
My county is red, so I feel your pain. I like to think that I'm helping to turn it.
Post by litebright on Oct 28, 2020 12:32:53 GMT -5
I'm in northern VA and it looks like those types of houses run around $500-$600K in my county, although it's possible to find some both above and below that range (but not much below $400K).
$400k for nothing fancy, but livable (think 1970 build homes) in Northern Colorado. New homes are $600k, but there is no way I'd buy a new home here.
ETA: I'm adding this because it's specific regional tidbit, new home developers are having a hard time getting water rights for their developments. So what's happening is people are paying $400k for the older homes and scraping and rebuilding with bigger monstrosities that don't fit into the neighborhoods.
Random question, but I'm guessing the water rights have a limited amount of water they can pull? Do you know if there are times when people rebuild homes that are have a bigger water use than what they're allocated in their water right? Or are the rights usually big enough to accommodate the much bigger homes?
It feels like half our town is moving. Three immediate neighbors have jumped ship for greener pastures in the last two months. And they get snapped up above last year's prices by those fleeing the city. It's insane.
I know. I KNOW.
But we are paying for a combination of factors that I'm not sure exists anywhere else.
Blue. Diversity. Weather*. Culture.
What are we willing to give up? If you find this magic place where they have these things and for cheaper, let me know.
*Except fires
Seattle. The weather is not as bad as people think it is. Home are marginally less expensive. And no fires! Except lots of smoke.
Yeah, there are definitely pockets in STL Country that are nutty - Webster comes to mind. I’m just across the *other* river in STCC, which definitely improved our bang-for-the-buck. But, it’s a purple-to-red area, so that was a shitty tradeoff.
My county is red, so I feel your pain. I like to think that I'm helping to turn it.
West STL County checking in. Even here there is a huge variance. There are for sure houses "far" west that would go for a million or millions more closer to the 40 corridor. I wish I'd gotten in on Webster and Kirkwood when we moved to STL. That market is insane (and IMO, unsustainable.) Anyway, I did a search and for that square footage in my zip and, there isn't much on the market but $350 to $650K is the range. (ETA: Good condition would be the higher part of that bracket. The lower ones looked rough.)
$400k for nothing fancy, but livable (think 1970 build homes) in Northern Colorado. New homes are $600k, but there is no way I'd buy a new home here.
ETA: I'm adding this because it's specific regional tidbit, new home developers are having a hard time getting water rights for their developments. So what's happening is people are paying $400k for the older homes and scraping and rebuilding with bigger monstrosities that don't fit into the neighborhoods.
Random question, but I'm guessing the water rights have a limited amount of water they can pull? Do you know if there are times when people rebuild homes that are have a bigger water use than what they're allocated in their water right? Or are the rights usually big enough to accommodate the much bigger homes?
Colorado is probably different, but in the Great Lakes region water rights would be more about what watershed area the new development is in. A lot of areas that are being developed are much closer to Lake Michigan than the Mississippi River, but are in the Mississippi watershed and get fresh water from Lake Michigan
$400k for nothing fancy, but livable (think 1970 build homes) in Northern Colorado. New homes are $600k, but there is no way I'd buy a new home here.
ETA: I'm adding this because it's specific regional tidbit, new home developers are having a hard time getting water rights for their developments. So what's happening is people are paying $400k for the older homes and scraping and rebuilding with bigger monstrosities that don't fit into the neighborhoods.
Random question, but I'm guessing the water rights have a limited amount of water they can pull? Do you know if there are times when people rebuild homes that are have a bigger water use than what they're allocated in their water right? Or are the rights usually big enough to accommodate the much bigger homes?
Good question, I don't know.
RE: the other comment about watershed, I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's all one big thing here. I live in northern Colorado. Areas more in the Denver area are being developed with water rights purchased from farms from north-east Colorado.