is it really that cheap (Houston, Sugar Land: sale, real estate, houses)

[cheryjohns]

We have properties for sale here in Houston for $30K and less. Some are Inner Loop, even. You aren't going to want to live in them - just like you wouldn't want to live in those in Detroit. They are here, though.

jek74 is right - you have to compare apples to apples.

Some of it is also media. I notice that some people coming in from the west part of the US seems to have heard that the houses are almost free. For it to be that consistant - I am guessing the media is setting up unrealistic expectations.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by jek74

I grew up in St. Louis. Salt of the earth. Good place to live. Good luck finding a job there to "support your family". And the nice middle class suburbs in St. Louis are twice as expensive as the burbs in Houston. FACT! I'll be more then happy to take the Zillow challenge with you to prove it.

Since when does it cost $500-900k for a 'middle class' suburb in St. Louis??

[lostboii]

I have to say the west coast comparison does make more sense to my head because I am from the west coast. Good to see Houston is cheap. I have in my mind what I can afford within a certain salary on the west coast and was trying to paint the same picture for Houston. Wanted to make sure these savings were not exaggerated due to property and even renters will see the savings.

[jek74]

Originally Posted by Htown2013

Since when does it cost $500-900k for a 'middle class' suburb in St. Louis??

Are you serious? Have you lived in St. Louis? I grew up in Lake St. Louis, a FAR western burb. When my family moved out there it was just being built in the 1970's. By the 1980's we had homes in the 300k plus range and by the 90's we had homes in the 500k to 750k range. And by homes, I mean a majority of all new construction. The older homes were in the 150k to 250k range. This was the 1990's!!! By the late 1990's we were building million dollar plus homes all around the lake. This was 20 years ago! And Lake St. Louis was VERY middle class. Believe me, my family had very little money. Closer to St. Louis you have Chesterfield, almost all 500k plus homes. Again, this was back when I lived there in the 90's. Then you have your upper middle areas like Frontenac, Ladue, Town and Country, Manchester, etc. where a majority are over 750k and half of the homes are one million plus! This is St. Louis we are talking about. And these are suburbs pretty far from downtown. Granted in St. Louis, living near downtown was not really a good thing.

Do you want me to talk about home prices in Overland Park, KS? What about 500k to 750k homes in Omaha, NE? You guys have no idea how lucky you have it down here. Houston quite frankly is an economic anomaly. The only theory I can offer is that the midwest is older and it's neighborhoods and socio-economic areas are more well defined. I said on another thread that if you ever go to St. Louis, the only question they will ever ask you there is what high school you went to. The answer to this question will encapsulate your economic status. That's just how it is in the midwest.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by jek74

I grew up in St. Louis. Salt of the earth. Good place to live. Good luck finding a job there to "support your family". And the nice middle class suburbs in St. Louis are twice as expensive as the burbs in Houston. FACT! I'll be more then happy to take the Zillow challenge with you to prove it.

The face value of a house in St. Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, etc. suburbs may be slightly higher than a similar square foot Katy area home, but the Midwestern homes include huge family basements, so you don't need as big of a house there. Also, the property taxes are much lower there. But yes, the lack of state income taxes here does even it out somewhat.

The inner suburbs of Chicago are probably crazy expensive since that metro is huge, but I'm talking nice family-friendly outer suburbs vs. nice family-friendly outer suburb.

The rest of the Southern USA, except South Florida and the coastal areas, is hands down cheaper all around.

[winkosmosis]

Look at house listings inside loop 610-- Montrose, The Heights, West University. You'll see that it's as expensive as other cities. $600k for a little 2 bedroom house is not cheap. And because Texas has high property tax, around 3%, you pay about the whole value of your house over 33 years.

[jek74]

Originally Posted by Htown2013

Since when does it cost $500-900k for a 'middle class' suburb in St. Louis??

St. Charles County Missouri Homes For Sale

Here are some listings from homes where I grew up as well as the much cheaper areas in St. Charles county. The fact they are building 1 million dollar plus homes in Wentzville is SHOCKING to me. I went to high school here. When I grew up, the area was very poor and very black. The highways 40 and 70 intersected between Lake St. Louis and Wentzville and it was the classic bad area on the other side of the tracks. Now there are tons of million dollar plus homes in Wentzville! This is 45 miles west of St. Louis. If you didn't grow up there you have no idea how ridiculous this is. There were homes in Wentzville selling for 20k when I was a kid. And the other areas listed on that site like O'Fallon, St. Peters, St. Charles were all very poor areas. I still can't get over how expensive these homes are. It would be like me telling you a majority of new construction in Sharpstown is going for 1.2 to 1.5 million. It's just mind boggling. But again, this is the new midwest.

[swopoe]

Originally Posted by jek74

Are you serious? Have you lived in St. Louis? I grew up in Lake St. Louis, a FAR western burb. When my family moved out there it was just being built in the 1970's. By the 1980's we had homes in the 300k plus range and by the 90's we had homes in the 500k to 750k range. And by homes, I mean a majority of all new construction. The older homes were in the 150k to 250k range. This was the 1990's!!! By the late 1990's we were building million dollar plus homes all around the lake. This was 20 years ago! And Lake St. Louis was VERY middle class. Believe me, my family had very little money. Closer to St. Louis you have Chesterfield, almost all 500k plus homes. Again, this was back when I lived there in the 90's. Then you have your upper middle areas like Frontenac, Ladue, Town and Country, Manchester, etc. where a majority are over 750k and half of the homes are one million plus! This is St. Louis we are talking about. And these are suburbs pretty far from downtown. Granted in St. Louis, living near downtown was not really a good thing.

Do you want me to talk about home prices in Overland Park, KS? What about 500k to 750k homes in Omaha, NE? You guys have no idea how lucky you have it down here. Houston quite frankly is an economic anomaly. The only theory I can offer is that the midwest is older and it's neighborhoods and socio-economic areas are more well defined. I said on another thread that if you ever go to St. Louis, the only question they will ever ask you there is what high school you went to. The answer to this question will encapsulate your economic status. That's just how it is in the midwest.

One of my cousins lives in Overland Park, and his house is smaller than ours and much more expensive. I grew up in Baltimore, and the high school question gets asked a lot there too. I am so glad I don't live there anymore. And for what it is worth, our new home here in Sugar Land would be at least $300k more back in Maryland (like a nice Baltimore County suburb or Howard County for example).

[jek74]

Originally Posted by Htown2013

The face value of a house in St. Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, etc. suburbs may be slightly higher than a similar square foot Katy area home, but the Midwestern homes include huge family basements, so you don't need as big of a house there. Also, the property taxes are much lower there. But yes, the lack of state income taxes here does even it out somewhat.

The inner suburbs of Chicago are probably crazy expensive since that metro is huge, but I'm talking nice family-friendly outer suburbs vs. nice family-friendly outer suburb.

The rest of the Southern USA, except South Florida and the coastal areas, is hands down cheaper all around.

Dude, you know not what you speak of. They are NOT slightly higher. You are not understanding me. They are SUBSTANTIALLY higher. And a basement? Jesus. Yes, my house in the midwest had a basement, it was called the downstairs. It was a 2 story home. Just like most of the homes here. Only in the midwest they built what they call split level homes where the bsaement is the downstairs and the upstairs is slightly above ground level. It's the SAME square footage!

I'm not saying there are not cheap neighborhoods in St. Louis. I'm saying you would not want to live there. The "nice" middle class areas are insanely expensive now. I'm serious man, my high school was a ghetto area. I was scared to leave the school area as a kid. We had huge project housing out there as well. The fact that there are countless 500k to million dollar plus homes there now is off the chart.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by jek74

St. Charles County Missouri Homes For Sale

Here are some listings from homes where I grew up as well as the much cheaper areas in St. Charles county. The fact they are building 1 million dollar plus homes in Wentzville is SHOCKING to me. I went to high school here. When I grew up, the area was very poor and very black. The highways 40 and 70 intersected between Lake St. Louis and Wentzville and it was the classic bad area on the other side of the tracks. Now there are tons of million dollar plus homes in Wentzville! This is 45 miles west of St. Louis. If you didn't grow up there you have no idea how ridiculous this is. There were homes in Wentzville selling for 20k when I was a kid. And the other areas listed on that site like O'Fallon, St. Peters, St. Charles were all very poor areas. I still can't get over how expensive these homes are. It would be like me telling you a majority of new construction in Sharpstown is going for 1.2 to 1.5 million. It's just mind boggling. But again, this is the new midwest.

I have friends in Cincinnati suburbs in very safe family-oriented area who paid under $300k for 3000sf house with a full basement and in a subdivision with half acre lots. The St. Louis story sounds like greedy (or industrious) developers who wanted to turn a huge profit by building and marketing an "exclusive enclave" with cheap land.