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I didn't move here because housing was less expensive than where I grew up, but I obviosuly enjoy the benefit of it. That being said I thought it would be interesting to see what if anything could I purchase back in NJ in the two towns where I grew up for what I paid for my house in Raleigh. I plugged my price range in Realtor*dot*com for a search of the three areas. (I bumped up my price range for the NJ searches beyond what I could afford just to try and level the playing field a bit)
Here is how things stacked up:
Raleigh, NC ~ Price Range $150K-$175K = 289 Single Family Homes For Sale
Wall Township (Monmouth County) NJ ~ Price Range $150-$225K = 0 Single Family Homes For Sale
Belmar (Monmouth County) NJ ~ Price Range $150-$225K = 0 Single Family Homes For Sale
Like I said, my motivation for moving here was not housing costs, but it sure has been a huge plus now that I am already here.
Here's a picture of my last house in Crofton, MD zip code 21114.
Last I heard this style is selling for about 700k!
I literally got priced out of my own neighborhood. Taxes became too high and Baltimore Gas & Electric (the local utility company) vowed to raise utility cost 70% in a 3 year period. That really hurts when you have to heat and cool 2,500 finished sq. ft.
Housing prices are quite a bit less where I came from back in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I tried not to think about it when we were house hunting. It took a few weeks to adjust & get my mind in line with prices in the Triangle.
I have a good friend who recently bought a new house in a very desireable part of Tulsa with excellent schools: +/-3000 square feet, brick & stone exterior, 5 bedrooms, 3 car garage, playroom/loft, formal living and dining, family room, breakfast nook, and a kitchen with all the upgrades (maple cabinets, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances). The only down side is that the lot is about .2 acres.
They paid about $225K. That's all! I think a similar house & location in Raleigh might go for $375K or more.
I have friends who have moved away to bigger cities - LA, Seattle, NYC, Chicago, Las Vegas - who have all decided to move back to the Tulsa area & take advantage of the cheaper housing & family-friendly environment.
I am breaking even. If I came a few years earlier before the RE market went down in MA that would be a different story! But I didn't just come for a cheaper house
I didn't move here because housing was less expensive than where I grew up, but I obviosuly enjoy the benefit of it. That being said I thought it would be interesting to see what if anything could I purchase back in NJ in the two towns where I grew up for what I paid for my house in Raleigh. I plugged my price range in Realtor*dot*com for a search of the three areas. (I bumped up my price range for the NJ searches beyond what I could afford just to try and level the playing field a bit)
Here is how things stacked up:
Raleigh, NC ~ Price Range $150K-$175K = 289 Single Family Homes For Sale
Wall Township (Monmouth County) NJ ~ Price Range $150-$225K = 0 Single Family Homes For Sale
Belmar (Monmouth County) NJ ~ Price Range $150-$225K = 0 Single Family Homes For Sale
Like I said, my motivation for moving here was not housing costs, but it sure has been a huge plus now that I am already here.
How do things compare to where you moved from?
Housing prices are MUCH cheaper where we came from unless you want fully lake frount property. We had to come to terms with that when we moved.
I guess it all depends on what city here in the Triangle you are comparing it to. We moved here from a city at the northern edge of the city of Dallas TX. Housing prices are cheaper in Dallas when compared most cities here, but they are REALLY cheap when compared to Cary.
We had some good friends in our Dallas neighborhood who moved here to Cary back in 2002 or so. They bought a nice house in Prestonwood. By the time we moved here 5 years later we were priced out of the market and had to look elsewhere.
Much cheaper then were I came from in Northern VA. The average housing cost in Leesburg, VA (Loudoun County) was $607k in 2006 and now it's $555k. That price includes condos, townhouses, and single family homes. So the prices have gone down, but if you've owned for a few years you would still have a ton of equity. Sold my 20 y/o 1,200 s.f. townhome for $345,000 and now it's in foreclosure and the bank is asking $249k That's still much more then a comparable townhouse in Raleigh would be, but 30% less then what I sold it for last year. What a difference 15 months make.
Last edited by Waterboy526; 09-19-2007 at 07:04 PM..
We sold our 3bdrm/1.5bath house outside of chicago for 430K and it was 60 years old with 1400sf. And needed work done (we had rehabbed the kitchen and bathroom (singular) but it still needed some more updating. 430K HERE buys you a helluva lot more, thats for sure. Plus the RE tax in skokie on that house was nearing 7K per year.
Crazzzzzyyyyy. We moved for a job xfer and to be closer to my family and for the weather, but the housing price was a bonus.
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50 percent lower
