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We're currently in Los Angeles and looking for a house, but as anyone knows, the market is expensive and the flippers keep scooping up anything in our price range. We're thinking of simply moving somewhere where we can pay cash for a house and eliminate our mortgage. Our criteria:
-artsy, young community with coffee shops, restaurants, etc - we like Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, South Pasadena in L.A., Williamsburg (Brooklyn), Wrigleyville...but all these urban locales are way too pricey. Any cities in the US with this vibe without the high COL?
-3 BR house for <150K ideally, 100K preferably, in safe-ish area - we're used to city living so we don't have high standards when it comes to crime, but we do have 2 kids, so we're more concerned with them becoming friends with gangbangers than we are with being robbed (a true concern in our current neighborhood)
-30 mins from wealthier area - I own a high-priced tutoring company and am looking to expand but I need the price base to do so
-60-90 mins from major airport - I need to travel for work
-preferably somewhere near major university so I can recruit tutors for my company
Philadelphia. I bought and rehabbed my 3 Bedroom rowhome for less than $100,000 in the West Germantown neighborhood of Northwest Philly. The huge neighborhood of Germantown has parts that are poor and high crime but my immediate area has dedicated and very diverse neighbors and is pretty safe for a large city. It also borders the very nice East Falls and Mount Airy neighborhoods as well as the expansive Wissahickon Park. The community is very artsy/counter culture but not exactly the youngest area of the city and restaurants/high end retail are lacking. It's location could be great for your tutoring as there are several private schools right in the neighborhood. Penn Charter, Germantown Friends School, Greene Street Friends, etc. It also sits between the much wealthier Chestnut Hill neighborhood, Montgomery County and Center City Philadelphia.
Parts of South Philly/Fishtown/West Philly sound like a great fit and they are much younger and happening although you'd be getting closer to $150,000-$200,000 and the houses are usually smaller with smaller yards/no porch. These areas closer to Center City are also becoming more expensive by the day it seems. Some rowhomes are only 2 Bedrooms but most are 3.
Philly has it's own major INTL airport but is also within 2 Hours of Newark INTL, JFK, La Guardia, BWI.
Southeastern Rochester, North Side/Elmwood Village/Allentown in Buffalo, Ithaca and maybe Westcott in Syracuse and Delaware Ave in Albany in Upstate NY. Maybe Ann Arbor and the East Side of Lansing/East Lansing in MI.
Sounds like Buffalo NY (as well as Rochester, NY and Syracuse NY, maybe even Ithaca, NY) would be a match.
Here's a potential home in Buffalo Buffalo Real Estate - 21 Pelham Dr., Buffalo, NY, 14214
It's very, very close to the South Campus of the University at Buffalo. It's also a stones throw from Amherst, which is one of the higher income suburbs of Buffalo. Added benefit is a couple min walk and you're at the light rail station to go to Allentown / UB Medical Campus, as well as downtown theatre district, First Niagara Center (Sabres games, concerts, large events) and the waterfront
The only thing I'm not sure about is the "vibe" in that exact area. It's near the college but it's no Wrigleyville for sure, but again with the train station so close, you have quick, cheap and easy access to so much of the attractions of the city.
It's about 15 min to the airport from there. Additionally, there are other colleges within 5 min drive (Canisius and Daemen)
Buffalo is obviously a lot different than LA but keep an open mind and research it a bit. You might like what you find!
Pittsburgh. All of these neighborhoods aren't of equal weight in terms of the hip factor, but they're all appreciating, redveloping, and non-ghetto at this point.
Ann Arbor, Michigan fits all of the above criteria: hipster-friendly with coffee shops, cafes, music venues, farmers markets, etc. up the giggy, lots of wealth, a world class university, and less than an hour from Detroit Metro Airport. Finding a three bedroom right in AA for $100,000 might be a little difficult unless you were willing to put some sweat equity into it, but AA is surrounded by safe, smaller communities where this would be a possibility. AA itself doesn't really have a "bad" area, but the east side adjacent to Ypsilanti is the roughest part of town. Ypsilanti itself would fit the bill as well, as it is close to the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and also home to Eastern Michigan University, and homes there are much more affordable than in AA, but Ypsi has some sketchy areas that AA proper lacks and AA schools are supposed to be top notch while Ypsi schools would be hit or miss.
Last edited by canudigit; 04-16-2013 at 02:32 PM..
Wow! Didn't think I'd get so many replies so soon- I've heard good things about Durham, NC, Knoxville, TN, Lexington, KY, Virginia Beach and Austin (though I think the areas we'd like are no longer in our price range). Any thoughts on these? And keep the other ideas coming, please!
Wow! Didn't think I'd get so many replies so soon- I've heard good things about Durham, NC, Knoxville, TN, Lexington, KY, Virginia Beach and Austin (though I think the areas we'd like are no longer in our price range). Any thoughts on these?
Those all seem to be more suburban places than you would like, judging by what you've told us. Of course, as a West Coaster, you might be used to calling detached SFH neighborhoods urban, but they're nothing like places like Williamsburg or Wrigleyville.
Charlotte, North Carolina - Yes we have affordable housing.....However visit first. You just might be jumping into the frying pan.
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