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Hey Everyone, I am posting this for the family. I think I could really use this Forum's help and insight.Its giving me a headache because the type of housing market.
Looking for a place to live.
Criteria
A modest, move-in ready 1000-1600sqft Condo, Townhome Under $190,000.
Walkability. Not Manhattan or Boston Walkability. But the ability to go on walks, or be close to restaurants or something. Sidewalks a must. Town Centres close by??
Airport Access. Love to Travel. Airport Retirees. Have to be near an airport the size of Raleigh or Hartford/Bradley or larger. No small airports (ie, GSO, PWM, etc). Flights to BOS and EWR a plus.
Seasons. Doesnt have to be as drastic as Boston. But some seasonal change will be nice.
Places in the Draw:(As of 2/14/21, will update later)
-Raleigh-Durham-Apex-Cary, NC
-Springfield MA area
Places Previously Considering:
-Hartford/Central CT: But the homes go in a matter of hours, taxes are absurdly high as are HOAs. Homes are in the 100s, but HOAs are 400-600 month n taxes are more.. eats any advantage of moving to here.
-Providence: The market just exploded out of nowhere, out of budget.
-Greensboro NC: Not much here to do.. airport too small. The family doesn't vibe with it.
Restrictions
-No Florida. Lack of seasons and variability.
Are we skipping any areas, towns, cities? Appreciate all your insight. Open to anything in US. If there are somewhere in TX, WI, MI, CO, MA, GA.. please recommend. All areas considered (bar, FL).
But if you recommend a vague-place like, Detroit, for example.. give the specific area or suburb of Detroit (Preferably, a link too) of area in mention.
Last edited by masssachoicetts; 02-14-2021 at 09:46 AM..
How about we work by process of elimination. The airport requirement is a good way to take a lot of places off your list, since there are only so many airports in the US the size of Hartford or bigger. So below, I put all of them in a list. I took out metro areas known to be universally expensive (San Francisco, NYC, DC, etc). Also took out the places you already considered, all of Florida, and any place without obvious four seasons (Honolulu, San Diego, etc). Here's what's left:
Atlanta
Chicago
Dallas/Fort Worth
Denver
Charlotte
Houston
Minneapolis
Detroit
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Salt Lake City
Portland, Ore
Nashville
Austin
St. Louis
Raleigh
Kansas City
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Indianapolis
Cincinnati
Columbus
Milwaukee
Springfield, MA
Can you eliminate any of those places? Are any of them more appealing than the others, besides Raleigh and Springfield? I can't comment on all of them, but if you can at least work on a short list, then others might be able to offer more feedback.
If you're still considering Springfield, check out housing prices in Westfield, MA. It's a decent community that might have what you're looking for.
Condo prices in the Buffalo area are generally too high in walkable areas to meet your criteria, but I did see a couple condos in Niagara Falls near the State Park that may meet the price criteria. Although HOA fees are high the price may somewhat make up for it. BNIA has/had multiple daily flights to Newark and Boston, and falls somewhere between Raleigh and Hartford in airport size.
And another... https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...8_M73351-48033
Keep in mind property taxes in Missouri are quite reasonable compared to other areas, so HOA fees could be a little on the high side and still be cheaper than other places.
Honestly I’d give Grand Rapids a look. It hit’s almost all of those points. To be in the heart of the most walkable neighborhoods they would have to up their budget by about $40k(or look into sfh’s) but if they were ok living in periphery neighborhoods, they would still find good walking and trails within several areas, and quick access to the vibrant commercial districts.
The one concession would be airport. GRR is more than twice as busy as GSO or PWM, pre Covid it was growing about 20% a year and they are in the midst of doubling gates and adding a full international screening to get the int’l commercial flights back. It does have daily direct flights to both Logan and EWR, still not on the level of an RDU. It’s a 2 hour drive to the international multi-continent access of DTW.
If concessions had to be made since it’s hard to check every box Grand Rapids may be the best bang for the buck.
When I read walkable I think of a town with a courthouse square. So I would get out an old fashioned road atlas and search out county seats that are convenient to the airports listed above. Then you can do a real estate search to find ones that have new-ish townhome developments near the old part of town. I figure a town that is prosperous to support newer development will have some amenities.
But then your idea of walkable might mean sidewalks to a park and newer commercial developments. That will be easier to find and you can focus on states that have sidewalks beside the arterial roads.
How about we work by process of elimination. The airport requirement is a good way to take a lot of places off your list, since there are only so many airports in the US the size of Hartford or bigger. So below, I put all of them in a list. I took out metro areas known to be universally expensive (San Francisco, NYC, DC, etc). Also took out the places you already considered, all of Florida, and any place without obvious four seasons (Honolulu, San Diego, etc). Here's what's left:
Atlanta
Chicago
Dallas/Fort Worth
Denver
Charlotte
Houston
Minneapolis
Detroit
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Salt Lake City
Portland, Ore
Nashville
Austin
St. Louis
Raleigh
Kansas City
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Indianapolis
Cincinnati
Columbus
Milwaukee
Springfield, MA
Can you eliminate any of those places? Are any of them more appealing than the others, besides Raleigh and Springfield? I can't comment on all of them, but if you can at least work on a short list, then others might be able to offer more feedback.
If you're still considering Springfield, check out housing prices in Westfield, MA. It's a decent community that might have what you're looking for.
Great Post. Im slowly going one by one on this list:
Atlanta: Person of Interest (POI) dont really like Atlanta. Not a lot of COndos in price range. Eliminated
Chicago: Entered the chat. LOTS of untis in safe areas on the market, walkable, great realtor they have there. Theres some neighborhoods that look absolutely astonishing for little price. Not AS compeititve as other markets. Top Choice at the moment.
Dallas/Fort Worth: The weather (Climate, hot summers) are a big downfall. Eliminated to that and DFW is a city they pass through 4-5 a year, not a place they would want to live
Denver: Too Expensive lol. A little far out from the East Coast, but its a great city.
Charlotte: They unanimously removed this one for personal reasons, unrelated to city.
Houston: This can be eliminated for same reasons as DFW and ATL.
Minneapolis: Is in draw. But cost? Seems a bit pricy.
Detroit: Havent approached the good areas. Michigan is great, DTW is huge, will probably lookm into it more.
Philadelphia: Seems like price wise, its about 50-80k more expensive than Chicago. Bummer. Looks like the ship sailed on PHL. Perfect area too. Condo are all north of 200k in good areas.
Baltimore: I dont mean to sound ignorant, but are there expansive good areas Downtown with vibrancy? Im not sure if Baltimore would be the bet option for them as of now.
Salt Lake City: Similar to Denver. Just a bit smaller.
Portland, Ore: Its very pricey.
Nashville: Condos are hefty in price.
Austin: Boom said the prices.
St. Louis: Very blighted. Not much left to this city. They worked for TWA, so are VERY familiar with STL. I think they just went back like 7 or 8 years ago for a day convention... did not like it much. Sad, because STL was an amazing city at one time. Its almost heartbreaking to talk about this city.
Raleigh: In th draw, however, act fast because prices are shooting up.Apex, Wake Forest, Brier Creek, Nroth Raleigh in draw. Cary is a bit pricey.
Kansas City: A bit desolute, ity probably i in the upswing, but not now, especially for able bodied 60 year olds who like grabbing drinks, doing day trips and having fun.
Cleveland: Eliminated. Not a fan of location.
Pittsburgh: Was a strong yes. Now it seems the same units in 2018 that were $159,900 are now $209,000.m
Indianapolis: Hmm... maybe. A bit flat? I need to do researching on these.
Cincinnati: Just a no. Not for them.
Columbus: Seems a bit pricey. Too small and desolute from other population center.
Milwaukee: Not going to shoot Milwaukee down at all. Dont know much about it, like Detroit.
Virginia Beach: #2. Very nice, good markets.. only negate is its a bit sprawly, but it look fine. Looks great.
Springfield, MA: Okay the market is dry. Its on hold... now that Chicago is in the picture, Springfield is a nice #3.
I say right now the top three are:
1. North of the Loop, Chicago, IL
2. Virginia Beach/Hampton Roads, VA
3. Raleigh, NC
4. Springfield Area, MA-CT
Areas that need a little more research
1. Milwaukee
2. Detroit
3. Indianapolis.
4. Minneapolis
Honestly I’d give Grand Rapids a look. It hit’s almost all of those points. To be in the heart of the most walkable neighborhoods they would have to up their budget by about $40k(or look into sfh’s) but if they were ok living in periphery neighborhoods, they would still find good walking and trails within several areas, and quick access to the vibrant commercial districts.
The one concession would be airport. GRR is more than twice as busy as GSO or PWM, pre Covid it was growing about 20% a year and they are in the midst of doubling gates and adding a full international screening to get the int’l commercial flights back. It does have daily direct flights to both Logan and EWR, still not on the level of an RDU. It’s a 2 hour drive to the international multi-continent access of DTW.
If concessions had to be made since it’s hard to check every box Grand Rapids may be the best bang for the buck.
I hear nothing but positive things about Michigan, especially Grand Rapids. It looks like a very nice city, Il do some digging on the real estate market there. I had a feeling GRR would be generally expensive and highly desirable.
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