Thinking of buying a home in Port Aransas, Ingleside or Corpus Christi areas and then renting it?

[Chickrae]

Originally Posted by escantrell

Yep! From OKC, but grew up in a teeny-tiny town.

Depends upon what type of home you are looking for. We do live on the Island now (for 3 months), but have voraciously been attending Open Houses, etc, so have a pretty good idea of the market. Do you want a single family dwelling or condo? On the water or interior? How large?

single family dwelling, not on the water, 1400-1500 square feet. What are the price range of homes on the island? I guess we will drive around the areas Thursday when we get there. What made you move from Oklahoma. We live in Tulsa right now.

[escantrell]

Originally Posted by Chickrae

single family dwelling, not on the water, 1400-1500 square feet. What are the price range of homes on the island? I guess we will drive around the areas Thursday when we get there. What made you move from Oklahoma. We live in Tulsa right now.

We moved for my husband's job. His company said "go," and since they're paying the bills....we did! There is a very large range of prices and they're pretty economical since you don't want to be on the water. Anywhere from $125k and up. The lower range will need some updating...probably original to the structure built in the late '80's. Something that cheap will def. need cosmetic updating at the least. Most of the interior lot homes are in the $190 - $250k range. Right now you can start on small waterfront homes for $275 and up! The small homes (1500 sf) on the water are really affordable.... I've seen them in the $250 range. Just drive around a bit.... stop @ Coastline (on SPID) and pick up one of their Island maps. They're a great help! Let me know if you have any questions.

[Chickrae]

Originally Posted by escantrell

We moved for my husband's job. His company said "go," and since they're paying the bills....we did! There is a very large range of prices and they're pretty economical since you don't want to be on the water. Anywhere from $125k and up. The lower range will need some updating...probably original to the structure built in the late '80's. Something that cheap will def. need cosmetic updating at the least. Most of the interior lot homes are in the $190 - $250k range. Right now you can start on small waterfront homes for $275 and up! The small homes (1500 sf) on the water are really affordable.... I've seen them in the $250 range. Just drive around a bit.... stop @ Coastline (on SPID) and pick up one of their Island maps. They're a great help! Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for your information. We are leaving tomorrow to drive down to the area and are looking at about 18 homes in the 150ish price range. I would like to be able to afford higher but until we sell the home here we can't. I sold a home in Utah and in 3 years we will sell the one here when we move.
I will definetly get one of the Island maps.
So you moved before or after the ice storm...ha ha. That was in our area and we have had a lot of flooding since, oh and then there was that tornado in Picher..."lovely" weather here since I moved here in September

[escantrell]

Moved right after the ice storm. Was just "lucky" enough to have the in-laws come and stay 'til their electricity came back on! Lucky us...we never lost power.

[Chickrae]

Originally Posted by escantrell

Moved right after the ice storm. Was just "lucky" enough to have the in-laws come and stay 'til their electricity came back on! Lucky us...we never lost power.

You are lucky you never lost power. Do you like Texas better then OKC so far. I know you wrote this a while back but just read it. We liked our trip there but we might wait to buy till after that naval base closes in 2009.

[RelocatingMama]

Chickrae - Hi, I moved to Corpus Christi 6 months ago from CA. I can recommend the city. I would not want to move to Portland or any of the other area you mention since they are super small towns or bedroom communities. I personally would not want to live on Padre Island fulltime, most of the homes are 2nd homes - not much of a community or neighborhood. Also many of the other towns are a drive to (any other than Walmart or Radio Shack!) shopping, not that Corpus has great shopping, but at least you don't have to drive 60 miles round trip! We did do a lot of looking and research, so my thoughts are current!!!!

If you do pick Corpus, be sure to find a great local real estate agent, or you could wind up in a questionable area. You will know when you are in a crime area - it's obvious, but the south side of Corpus was once know as the "hot" spot, new homes, good prices...but what we saw was that "trashier" types moved to the new areas and don't keep up the home and the landscaping. The result - still a nice home, but a neighborhood transitioning (IMHO). The older more established areas are probably your best bet. I personally like the areas near the coast (Del Mar, Lamar Park, etc). The yuppies and the millions of lawyers seem to agree, we have a couple on the block and even a federal judge. If you look up homes you'll see you get more home with new amenities on the south side of town, but you pay for the lower prices in "life quality". I personally don't like it when my neighbors quit caring for their home.

You were asked about rents- It looks like houses in the area are renting for 1600-1800. You can pick up a pretty reasonable house from 150K to 215K and get something awesome for 600K.