by ball. 37 Replies latest jw friends
Does the cost vary much within the same state?
Extremely! A house in the San Francisco Bay area, can be 3 to 4 times the amount in a town an hour away. Coastal properties basically can generally be viewed the same........an ocean view will cost you.
Areas all differ in prices. Im my town, a 3 bed, two bath house that sold for 100,000 3 years ago, can now go for 200,000. Some towns boom while others have no growth which makes a big difference.
Gumby
Property is pretty expensive here in Seattle. You'd be extremely hard-pressed to find a house for below 200K. My tiny, boxy, 60-year-old war-house is worth about 210K. Newer houses on my street are going for a third of a million.
In nicer neighborhoods, and especially closer to downtown, the starting price for houses looks to be around half a million. A friend of mine bought a one-bedroom condo downtown - probably 500 square feet - a steal at 170K.
I still consider moving to some holy grail city where you can get a house for 100K, but I just love Seattle too much!
SNG
$499,000 will buy you a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhouse(condo) in beautiful Mountian View, California. (southern part of the San Fransico Bay Area...no ocean view, btw!)
I heard on the news the other night that a "starter" home in our area (North of Seattle) is about $300,000. I have seen them for less, but they are not desirable places, or they are gone practically before they hit the market. Our youngest son and his wife bought a really nice condo in Everett two years ago for about $150,000. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and large rooms. Lousy location though, unless you work at Paine Field (Boeing).
$300, 000 will get you 3 bedrooms, 1 or 2 bathrooms, a medium to small lot, maybe a garage. Definitely not a pool.
You could probably get a "fixer upper" for $200,000 but they don't last on the market very long either, and are money pits anyway.
Here in Northern Virginia, the cost of housing is extremely high. Townhouses are going for $250,000. and up. Single family homes on 1/4 acre go for $350,000. and up. This is for a relatively smaller home. Larger homes with 3-4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths are going new at nearly $450,000.
The market has just gone absolutely crazy. Our home was bought new in '99, and it has already doubled in price as far as the market goes. I don't know how people are managing even with very low interest. The thing about low interest is that at year end, you have no interest to deduct from your taxes.
We do have a serious problem here with affordable secured senior housing. It seems that these smaller places are starting at $300,000. This is obviously housing for the wealthy retirees out of DC, etc. In the next ten years, this could be a big problem for the general public, entering retirement and facing considerably lower income to work with.
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Well, most everyone else has already posted on this topic... so I may not have much else to add to it.
Here is a little place in Central Texas - near what is called The Highland Lakes Area - just Northwest of Austin, TX that I found recently for sale.
If I had the income to support it - you KNOW I would be here...
http://www.texashillcountryland.com/
As it is - I have a smallish 2/3-acre plot of land that I plan to build on someday, near Lake Medina. Just the land cost around $10,000. The home will be another $80,000 or so.
Regards,
Jim TX
I moved from the SF Bay Area...in a very popular east bay location near public trans, great shopping .... in between the city and traditional suburbs....North Oakland, one of the lower priced but still attractive areas.
A home of approx 2000 sq. feet, very small yard, 3 BR, 2BA craftsman style cottage, no garage or off street parking sells for at least $600K. 2BRs go for over $400K.
In my move to Portland I thought things would be less, but I selected a fairly trendy neighborhood (Pearl) where condos/flats which are very small (800-1200 sq feet) sell for between $400-600K. I am told you can find nice homes for much less. Needless to say I will look carefully before deciding to buy!
Of course, SF is one of the most expensive areas to live with prices holding very strong even with the roller coaster ride going on in Calif.
It varies drastically! The average med home has gone up just in the past year to about 350,000.00 that would be 3bd, 21/2 bath average 12 to 1400 sf. But that is an "overall" average. The average changes from city to city and the citites are piled on top of each other.
The average where I lived a few months ago is 750,000.00 and the average where I live right now is 225,000.00 only 55 miles away. For the same house.
edited to add the areaduh
LA