House under 200K

[jobert]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

It depends on what you're looking for. The OP said starter home. The homes in Wells Branch are mostly 1200-1500 sqft and built in the early 80's. If you were looking for something larger and newer than that, then you would have to go further east... or Cedar Park, Round Rock, Buda, or Kyle...

Sorry for the tangent. It just seems as though houses in some areas that are considered well established - like Wells Branch - are now being considered "starter homes". I know someone who lives there, and they are planning on asking around 190K for their ~1800sf house. I haven't seen anything smaller than that, but I don't know the area that well. The price for new construction does not seem to be slipping, though and in some areas such as Rancho Alto, they seem to have risen recently - from 170K in 2008 to 190K today. Are people getting burned out on existing homes in the middle ring suburbs in this town? Are people in these areas in denial, or unwilling to perform the upgrades needed because they think 20 years old is still new enough? Are the middle-of-the-road existing homes turning back into "starter homes" in the Austin area as a result of this attitude? I'm curious.

The prices for new housing in Austin seem to be gravitating upwards towards the 200~250K range as if by some magnetic force and we're not seeing the wild extremes as much as we once did. The cheapest houses in places like Del Valle or Manor are now breaking the 100K mark, and a lot of the higher priced existing middle-class housing stock is gravitating towards the 250K mark. Just purely an observation of mine. You're a realtor, so you would have more hard information.

[FalconheadWest]

The cost of construction has gone up, hence the price of new homes are still going up. Prices also tend to go up when there are natural disasters as the supply starts going to those areas, and it's more expensive to bring the supplies to areas not in distress. Happened BIG time after Katrina and Ike.

The homes in Wells Branch around the streets of Cervin, Dowd, Robert Walker, Tracy, Donald, Surrender, Weldon, etc... are much smaller than 1800 sqft. When running comps for my new listing, the average sold comp for the past 6 months is 1418 sqft, built in 1984, and selling for $158k. That's averaging 17 solds.

There are currently 18 on the market averaging 1414 sqft, built in 1984, and asking $151k. The difference in current asking price verse recently sold prices? Days on the market have doubled so people are lowering their prices to get them sold.

And yes, I personally feel people are flocking to the new or newer homes faster than wanting old or older homes. When strapped for time and money, they rather spend more time with their families than spend the time fixing things in older homes and spending the money to fix them... but even new homes have to resale at some point.

[Creedmoor_Mom]

This may be a silly question, but what IS a starter home? I've heard of these but have never been able to figure out the definition... are these homes bought by first-time buyers??

[sinking]

Originally Posted by Creedmoor_Mom

This may be a silly question, but what IS a starter home? I've heard of these but have never been able to figure out the definition... are these homes bought by first-time buyers??

I bought my first house recently from a couple that died of old age. Does that help?

[Creedmoor_Mom]

Originally Posted by sinking

I bought my first house recently from a couple that died of old age. Does that help?

Nope ... sorry! Still don't understand what a starter home is ...

[jobert]

Originally Posted by sinking

I bought my first house recently from a couple that died of old age. Does that help?

That sounds about right. A lot of starter homes are usually in neighborhoods full of "Newlyweds and Nearly-Deads"

If one had to define it, the "starter home" is the type of house a first-time homebuyer would purchase, but they wouldn't necessarily be the first owner of the house, per se. This term applies to houses that the average 25-30 year old could afford, and is usually in the 100K-200K range. I think the term is more semantic though, like the foolishly named "forever house" that others my age are now trapped in.

"forever house"....how ironic.

[Creedmoor_Mom]

I think I understand now ...

Thanks y'all!!

[jobert]

There are two reasons people purchase "starter homes" The first reason is they don't need all the room. A 1500 sf 3/2 house is fine, when they have kids, they may trade up for a 4/2 with a gameroom in a better schools district..whatever.

The second reason people purchase 'starter homes' is because they plan on buying a better house want more home and don't have the means to "keep up with the Joneses" like they want like to, so they do the second best thing, and save up money while paying the minimum on their "starter homes". People who skip the first step of buying a starter home and head straight to the "forever home" usually bite off more than they can chew under the false promise that they will get yearly raises and bonuses, won't get laid off, their house will always go up in value, the local schools will always be good, gas prices won't go up, blah,blah..what have you. The sad part is that a lot of them end up not being able to afford children because of that decision, or the at least have to postpone/reduce their family plans. We compromised somewhere in between..
To compound the problem, earlier this decade - lenders were throwing "forever house" sized mortgage offers to anyone with a pulse, which is why we are in our current predicament.

[ROY DUBOSE]

one of my personal favs is Anderson Mill - truly great schools, prices usually top out at $100/sqft with few homes more than 2000 sqft in space, easy access to most commutes, well established community