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For what you get, I agree that it is a good deal. I guess I'm just picky with regards to where I want/can live. 300k is about the rock bottom for the stuff I'm looking at, and much of it is not spectacular.
Don't worry socketz, I'm right there w/ ya. And we are not alone either. If you look at what price range sells rather well around Dallas it seems most people are cautious about their money and want quality over quantity. The only homes in the lower price ranges I'd look at or even consider nowadays are pre-existing in more established neighborhoods. My own parents are looking at anything from $175-230 and in our neck of the woods those are only going to be found in already established neighborhoods. Having looked w/ them I would rather spend my money on one of these homes that might need some minor updating and sprucing up than buy a new home in the $150K price range. But that is just me . Even my first home that we purchased for around $90k that recently resold for right around $140K is better quality and in a better neighborhood than the new ones in that price range. Pretty sad. And to help it also is in a neighborhood that has seen less foreclosures than these newer ones in that price range. Guess that is why I tell people to look in those pre-existing areas first to get a house in a more stable market.
$300k is expensive in Texas. Youll get a nice big solid house in an upscale neighboorhood for that kinda money. I can get a newly developed house for half the price in a slightly less desirable location. Not many people can afford $300k, especially not me. Oil city, PA is on top of my list of considerations, they have much better prices as well as much lower crime, safety comes first.
$300k is expensive in Texas. Youll get a nice big solid house in an upscale neighboorhood for that kinda money. I can get a newly developed house for half the price in a slightly less desirable location. Not many people can afford $300k, especially not me. Oil city, PA is on top of my list of considerations, they have much better prices as well as much lower crime, safety comes first.
I take it you have never been to Texas or Dallas? A $300K home is not "big solid" nor in what is an "upscale neighborhood". Well, not in the more metro areas, you will have to go more into the FAR outlying suburbs or small towns to get a $300K home that is in an "upscale neighborhood". Now in the closer in areas a $300K home may be in a "nice" area.
I do know that much of Texas has a median house price of $150k-175k, this compared to $360k in my neck of the woods. Our prices are more than double what its in Texas! We have houses in bad areas here for $200k, you can get the same in a bad area in Texas for $50k to $100k! But it does seem in upscale areas, the premium jumps big time and catches up fairly close behind Florida. There is a huge disparity between cheap and expensive in Texas. Georgia, Ohio, WV, PA and other cheap areas. I can get a house in those areas for as little as $10k-$20k! Lots of houses around $50k! Yet they have very expensive houses for $300k, $400k, $500k, even a million! We dont really have houses cheaper than $125k-$150 even in the worst areas for a tiny shack.
I am not saying those are nice houses, they arent! But the point is if you dont make alot of money, you are SOL in south Florida, its almost impossible to find any house for under $150k. Yet in Dallas there are 241 houses for $50k or less to choose from and some dont look half bad like this one:
That exact same house, lot and location in West Palm Beach would be anywhere from $160k to $225k! There is a very, very, very big gap between cheap houses in Texas and Florida! The gap is still there, but much smaller between expensive houses in those two states. I do not have money for an expensive house in Texas and someone like me would be forced to buy one of those $50k houses if he chooses to relocate to Dallas and gets a computer technician job. I would need a very, very high paying job to get a nice house in a nice area anywhere. But ill be self employeed and just go live in a semi rural area where theres no jobs so nice houses in nice areas are cheap.
An ugly undesirable house in WPB costs $150-200k while a nice desirable house can be had for just 3 times the price(about $400k to $600k). The same house in Dallas costs only $25k-$50k, yet a nice house can cost 7 to 10 times the price!($175k to $350k+)
I hear ya "need affordable home"...there are great deals to be found here...we're in Denton county..suburbs north of Flower Mound/Highland Village...10 year old golf course community with hills and trees and a social membership to the country club; 3 swimming pools, tennis courts, great new schools opening all around us, etc etc. Our house is over 2000 sq ft but not quite 180K in price (we're in the lower end of the development!) and it has a ton of upgrades and was built by a reputable builder. My other half's parents live in Orlando and they have a plain box in a non-descript neighborhood built in the mid 80s with about 1300 sq ft and no upgrades to speak of..their house is worth about 250K compared to ours! You can find good deals in the DFW area and also in the other large metros of Houston and San Antonio. Austin is just a bit pricier but still a good deal in relation to Florida.
I know I about feel over when my family members were having their new house built in Florida and were spending right at $400k and only 2200 sq ft, not ocean front or view. It only had laminate countertops & cabinets (cheap apartment stuff basically) I could not believe it. No granite or anything like custom wood cabinets were allowed . It was strange and this was in a VERY nice area of Florida. They sold earlier this year just before the bottom fell out for over $600K
They came back to Dallas and bought a pre-existing home on a top golf course that is 2400 sq feet for right at $300K. Totally gutted the place and put in granite countertops, handscraped hardwood floors, custom paint (ya have to see it, pretty though), all new cabinets throughout and lighting fixtures, appliances, bathrooms gutted, all new furniture, etc. And they are much happier.
If you guys think Florida is bad, you would be stunned at Socal. Here, 350k gets you a decent 2Bdr Apartment conversion, nothing more.
As for "$300k is expensive in Texas. Youll get a nice big solid house in an upscale neighboorhood for that kinda money."
At this point, I advise you visit the area you want to live and refrain from surfing the web. I surfed the web for months and thought everything was very reasonable, then, once I arrived, it was a whole different world. Take my word....unless you are a first time buyer just looking to buy something (be careful doing this in TX), you are not going to be happy in the North Central area unless you break the 275-300k barrier. And by the way, 300k is not that upscale. 500k moves you into upscale, but not 300k.
If you want cheap/nice in north central with some decent upside potential, take a look at an area called Melissa. Highland has some smaller homes there that are running a little under 300k, but are very nice. Hellish 75 traffic to contend with, but the growth is headed that direction, so 5-7 year resale should be excellent. I'd say the same for Prosper, but it already appears to be priced for the growth (already expensive in Prosper).
Yeah, SolCal is insane price-wise. It's a shame, too, because I absolutely love San Diego. (Apparently, so do a lot of other people.)
Anyway, I do know that one can get a VERY nice house in a good area for $300K in and around Houston. For example, Katy is a fantastic location west of Houston, and - at least by my standards - $300K there gets you quite a house. 3000 - 4000 square feet, quarter acre lot, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, granite countertops, terrific school district... you get the idea. From what I've seen, this is typical of most of Texas. Sure, there are dumps you wouldn't want to move into, and there are always the really ritzy areas that go for more, but all in all, I just can't believe how good of a deal Texas is.
I hear ya "need affordable home"...there are great deals to be found here...(snip)
Not everyone wants to spend $300k on a house, even in cheap Texas. You can get a very nice big newer house for between $130k and $200k in a little less desirable location than those upscale $300k+ houses. I showed pictures of comparsion between my city and Dallas. I have yet to see a house id consider "decent" for less than $250k in WPB. That $118k house is junk. Why pay $118k when you can get the same "junk" in Dallas for $25k? Not that id "settle" for a $25k house. That $42k house looks allright, your typical 3/2 starter house. The location isnt ideal but not everyone has 6 figures for a house! almost $180k for 2000 square feet is a pretty good deal, comes out to a little more than $80/foot. Is that total square feet? If so then you have about 1600 living square feet and it comes out to about $107/foot.
Theres cheaper houses that can be had for $50/foot(living square feet!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoPadge
And that's why the mantra of realtor's has always been, "Location, location, location."
always true, but not everyone has the money, others would rather have a much bigger nicer house in a cheaper location.
Quote:
Originally Posted by momof2dfw
LOL!!!
I know I about feel over when my family members were having their new house built in Florida and were spending right at $400k and only 2200 sq ft, not ocean front or view. It only had laminate countertops & cabinets (cheap apartment stuff basically) I could not believe it. No granite or anything like custom wood cabinets were allowed . It was strange and this was in a VERY nice area of Florida. They sold earlier this year just before the bottom fell out for over $600K
They came back to Dallas and bought a pre-existing home on a top golf course that is 2400 sq feet for right at $300K. Totally gutted the place and put in granite countertops, handscraped hardwood floors, custom paint (ya have to see it, pretty though), all new cabinets throughout and lighting fixtures, appliances, bathrooms gutted, all new furniture, etc. And they are much happier.
south Florida is insane! Dallas has some expensive areas but theres lots of areas where you can have a house for under $100k or even $50k! You already told me those arent very good locations, but not everyone is rich enough for a $300k house in a prime golf course location! Theres nothing good in south Florida for under $250k!
Quote:
Originally Posted by socketz
If you guys think Florida is bad, you would be stunned at Socal. Here, 350k gets you a decent 2Bdr Apartment conversion, nothing more.
As for "$300k is expensive in Texas. Youll get a nice big solid house in an upscale neighboorhood for that kinda money."
At this point, I advise you visit the area you want to live and refrain from surfing the web. I surfed the web for months and thought everything was very reasonable, then, once I arrived, it was a whole different world. Take my word....unless you are a first time buyer just looking to buy something (be careful doing this in TX), you are not going to be happy in the North Central area unless you break the 275-300k barrier. And by the way, 300k is not that upscale. 500k moves you into upscale, but not 300k.
If you want cheap/nice in north central with some decent upside potential, take a look at an area called Melissa. Highland has some smaller homes there that are running a little under 300k, but are very nice. Hellish 75 traffic to contend with, but the growth is headed that direction, so 5-7 year resale should be excellent. I'd say the same for Prosper, but it already appears to be priced for the growth (already expensive in Prosper).
I know CA is even more insane(although much higher wages, lower property taxes and insurance partially makes up for it) If I wont be happy with a house costing less than about $300k in Texas, I wont even bother going there. If I get offered a job there as a graphics designer, ill be able to afford up to about $100k of house. If I find nothing that takes my breath away, ill sadly have to decline the job and stick to freelance graphics designing which means I can live anywhere(Oil city is high on my list, almost no crime and amazing houses for $50k) At least you can get something in Texas for $50k even if its not what you exactly like. Here in south Florida, you are SOL with less than $150k and even single teachers cant afford $150k of house! Please tell me your story when you surfed the web. What supprises did reality differ from what you saw on the web?
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And we are not alone either. If you look at what price range sells rather well around Dallas it seems most people are cautious about their money and want quality over quantity. The only homes in the lower price ranges I'd look at or even consider nowadays are pre-existing in more established neighborhoods. My own parents are looking at anything from $175-230 and in our neck of the woods those are only going to be found in already established neighborhoods. Having looked w/ them I would rather spend my money on one of these homes that might need some minor updating and sprucing up than buy a new home in the $150K price range. But that is just me 
. Even my first home that we purchased for around $90k that recently resold for right around $140K is better quality and in a better neighborhood than the new ones in that price range. Pretty sad. And to help it also is in a neighborhood that has seen less foreclosures than these newer ones in that price range. Guess that is why I tell people to look in those pre-existing areas first to get a house in a more stable market.
We dont really have houses cheaper than $125k-$150 even in the worst areas for a tiny shack.
. It was strange and this was in a VERY nice area of Florida. They sold earlier this year just before the bottom fell out for over $600K 
