cheap houses!....what's wrong? (Charlotte, Henderson: rent, work, university)

[KThomas]

Are we dreaming? My husband and I want to buy a house and open a patisserie in Charlotte. so...we want to keep our house buying budget minimal. We are surfing the web and are finding beautiful houses for under $150,000, even under $130,000! Some of them are new constrution. so... we have two questions.....
#1. Are these prices all inclusive? Is there a catch somewhere?

#2. Is it the neighborhood that is the problem?

Here is a list of some of the neighborhoods...
Henderson Oaks, Oakdale Green, Stuarts Crossing, Susana Place, Thompson Brook...

There are many others...but can you give us some input on these areas, and why the prices are so low?

thx

[gilbertrule]

I live in Hemby Woods in University Area and you can find homes for 125 and under. i love having a small payment

[KThomas]

And are these area far from uptown? are they very remote, or are there areas nearby a person could open a successful patisserie

[XNYgirl]

What's this patisserie?

[gilbertrule]

I actually am less than 15 minutes from uptown in the derita area of charlottle.

[SunnyKayak]

Im puzzle why a home between 130k to 150k is consider cheap or why someone would think a new home should cost more than a resale home it not the same as buying a car.

[KThomas]

Originally Posted by XNYgirl

What's this patisserie?

my husband and i met in Arizona, but he is French (and a pastry chef), and we currently live in France. We want to open a french patisserie/boulangerie/brasserie with pastries, a few breads, a light breakfast menu, and some paninis and salads for lunch.

[KThomas]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

Im puzzle why a home between 130k to 150k is consider cheap or why someone would think a new home should cost more than a resale home it not the same as buying a car.

First, pardon our ignorance about the new house vs. old house thing....we are young and new at this Although we own a home in AZ, it was not new when purchased, and we have never looked at new homes. Also, our home in AZ is nothing fancy, and needs work even, but where our house is you cannot touch anything decent for under $190,000, and that wouldn't even be as nice as the homes we are seeing for under $150,000 here, so we were just trying not to get our hopes up just to have them quashed. We did not mean to offend anyone, we were just excited.

[KThomas]

Originally Posted by gilbertrule

I live in Hemby Woods in University Area and you can find homes for 125 and under. i love having a small payment

I just keep getting warned that anything under $150,000 is in a bad neighborhood. But you seem to be saying your neighborhood is clean and safe... we are so confused

We are in our late 20's and will be wanting to start a family soon so a family-friendly neighborhood is important. Also it would be nice not to end up in retirementville... we had that in AZ...safe, but not exactly the place to make any friends in our peer group

[saralee]

Originally Posted by KThomas

First, pardon our ignorance about the new house vs. old house thing....we are young and new at this Although we own a home in AZ, it was not new when purchased, and we have never looked at new homes. Also, our home in AZ is nothing fancy, and needs work even, but where our house is you cannot touch anything decent for under $190,000, and that wouldn't even be as nice as the homes we are seeing for under $150,000 here, so we were just trying not to get our hopes up just to have them quashed. We did not mean to offend anyone, we were just excited.

You didn't offend. Don't worry. It's all about a frame of reference. Since we relocated from the NYC-area, the prices you quoted are significanttly less than we are accustomed to for a home purchase. Currently, home prices in the Charlotte area are what we consider affordable and I'm glad I was able to convince my husband to take the plunge when we did (before prices became out of our reach).

Good luck in your search.

Sincerely,

SL