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Having lived in a rowhouse in Queens, where I had a basement and then lived in a high ranch (raised ranch) on Long Island which did not - I can tell you I greatly prefer a basement. The high ranch, despite being newer and larger then the old house in Queens, had a serious lack of good storage space.
It also bothered me that if we ever had a serious hurricane or tornado (unlikely), that there was no real place to go.
Even a dark, damp basement is a bonus, and yes - when a basement is expected, it's included in housing costs across the board.
Throw a dehumidifier in the basement and use it for storage. There isn't a basement in the world without utility.
Of course any storage space is better than no storage space. What you're missing is that in many homes - yes, homes without basements - there's plenty of storage space.
You keep talking about homes in Wisconsin. Homes in the midwest have both the lowest MEDIAN and the lowest AVERAGE square footage in the US. This translates into less storage - so I'm sure those basements come in handy. And that's great for you - but larger homes elsewhere generally have more storage.
I've only owned homes in two cities - Milwaukee, WI and Las Vegas, NV... Completely different home owning experiences.
My house in Milwaukee was in a neighborhood (Greendale) which was built during the late 1930's. Has a crazy story to it. The First Lady at the time had a project involving three new neighborhoods across the country. There were very identical except Wisconsin's Greendale neighborhood was supposed to all have basement. Well the plans somehow got switched and the entire area of homes was but with only tiny crawl spaces... Which is highly unusual in Milwaukee.
The houses in that neighborhood are pretty small and seriously lack in closet space.
In Vegas, none of the homes have basements but the houses themselves offer tons of closet space (true WALK IN closets) as well as being creative in the garages. My garage has about a 7 x 15 area that goes underneath the stairway in my house leading to the second floor.
Fun fact... The dirt pile under my house in Greendale frightened my wife. You had to go down a sketchy built in ladder and it was like a hobbit hole... So while most people have a Rec. Room, we used to call it the Wrecked Room haha
Of course any storage space is better than no storage space. What you're missing is that in many homes - yes, homes without basements - there's plenty of storage space.
You keep talking about homes in Wisconsin. Homes in the midwest have both the lowest MEDIAN and the lowest AVERAGE square footage in the US. This translates into less storage - so I'm sure those basements come in handy. And that's great for you - but larger homes elsewhere generally have more storage.
So not only do you pay over $100,000 more per home, you don't get the 1,000-2,000 additional square footage that's already incorporated into the Wisconsin home's cost.
And the property taxes in Texas are even higher than here!
I'm sure you'll spin all this into a "benefit,' however...
So not only do you pay over $100,000 more per home, you don't get the 1,000-2,000 additional square footage that's already incorporated into the Wisconsin home's cost.
And the property taxes in Texas are even higher than here!
I'm sure you'll spin all this into a "benefit,' however...
Actually:
The average home price in Texas is $10,000 more than in Wisconsin.
But the average price PER SQUARE FOOT is lower in the south than in the midwest (I'll get more specific about that, by state, when I have more time).
Our property taxes are higher but we have zero state income tax. Plus - you can control your amount of property tax by choosing where to live and what price range within a state and area. The only way to control income tax amounts within a state that has income tax is to make less money.
More later - I've got more interesting things to do than this right now.
I live in Birmingham, Alabama. I've had an F2 hit within a half-mile of my house. An F1 tapered out 100 yards from my backyard. And we've had F4s and F5s skip along within ten miles of my house over the past twenty years. I would not live in a house without a basement for all the tea in China.
Here's a great website that helps you assess your tornado risk. www.tornadohistoryproject.com. According to this site, a total of eight tornados of varying intensity have had paths within two miles of my house over the past thirty years.
Location: Bmore, The cursed land of -> Hotlanta -> Charlotte
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JMM64
When looking at all the places I've lived, here's which places had basements.
Detroit, MI - Yes
Dallas, TX - No
Denver, CO - Yes
Phoenix, AZ - No
Sacramento/Vacaville, CA - No
Willingboro, NJ - Yes
Oklahoma City, OK - No
I love basements, and I agree with the previous poster about how the lack of a basement in Dallas was somewhat annoying. I've learned though that the reason Dallas and most of Texas and Oklahoma don't have basements is because of the weak soil that makes up most of each state.
No basements in OK? Isnt that almost a Hazard with them getting 50 Tornadoes a year?!
No basements in OK? Isnt that almost a Hazard with them getting 50 Tornadoes a year?!
Frost levels, water levels, and soil composition are mainly what determine whether or not building a basement is practical.
Many homes in areas where a basement isn't practical have storm shelters or intentionally built small inner rooms that are fortified to withstand very high winds or tornadoes - if they happen to be in an area prone to that sort of thing. For instance, many homes in KS and OK have storm shelters. For that matter, so do lots of homes in Arkansas. When I lived in Georgia, our home had a root cellar that we used as a storm shelter occasionally.
I know most homes in Ohio and Colorado have basements. If I found myself living anywhere in basement country I would definitely like to have a home with a basement.
"Basements, Bluegrass, and Blue Spruce." Kentucky bluegrass that is.
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