Let's cut the crap already, publications. Houston is NOT cheap! (Dallas: apartments, for rent)

[westhou]

Houston is cheap. I'm paying less than $1500 a month for my Uptown apartment. No way would I pay anything close to that in NYC, LA, Chicago, Miami, SF, Seattle, DC, and pretty much any other top 10 city.

You can call Houston expensive once it reaches the levels of the cities in the top 5. Until then we are waaaaaay below what the #4 city in the country should be at.

[DejaBlue]

Originally Posted by Bike4Life

This is getting old. We know Houston is not cheap like it used to be but it's still a whole lot better when I was looking for a house in Burbank, CA - a three bedroom for $725,000 and that wasn't even close to the beach. And my family owns rental properties for $650 a month in a gentrifying neighborhood and my friend in Austin was telling me that was too cheap. It's true and we need to raise the rates again!

LMAO! Exactly. It's not cheap but its cheaper than the other major cities. But it's not cheap like some of these clueless newbies asking for $200k in AAAAA+ schools, 10 second commute, walking, trails, etc

[Spade]

Houston's col reminds me of Chicago's col. Neither are very expensive cities.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by westhou

Houston is cheap. I'm paying less than $1500 a month for my Uptown apartment. No way would I pay anything close to that in NYC, LA, Chicago, Miami, SF, Seattle, DC, and pretty much any other top 10 city.

You can call Houston expensive once it reaches the levels of the cities in the top 5. Until then we are waaaaaay below what the #4 city in the country should be at.

I would say you can get that in Chicago.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by dalparadise

Really?

A one bedroom in my building in San Francisco, which is 1920s construction, basic builder-grade finishes in the kitchen, steam heat, no A/C, and no parking is $3195. Parking is another $300, if a space becomes available. Oh, and that's below the average for the neighborhood--an awesome neighborhood, to be sure, but still...

In the City, the median price to buy is over $1 million. In the very distant suburbs, $600K will buy a small condo that looks like it's in a garden apartment complex.

Houston is cheap.

What nobody ever mentions is that San Francisco is pretty much a 50 sq mile island
Which explains why everything is expensive there

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by Dopo

What nobody ever mentions is that San Francisco is pretty much a 50 sq mile island
Which explains why everything is expensive there

That's true but, in a way, so is the Inner Loop an island (just surrounded with land instead of water). You can't build more land there.

If you venture out, it becomes cheaper. But that's why a lot of people work in Manhattan and live in Queens.

Same thing I said before - Houston 2014 is cheap compared to a lot of big cities - just expensive to Houston 2009.

[dalparadise]

Originally Posted by Dopo

What nobody ever mentions is that San Francisco is pretty much a 50 sq mile island
Which explains why everything is expensive there

Yes, but keep in mind that the typical sale in SF is about a 650-900 square foot residence. That further emphasizes the disparity.

Okay, so take the greater Bay Area. The median home price is still in the $750K range, inclusive. I can go 50 miles in any direction from SF and not find many livable properties for less than about $500K.

San Jose's median is close to SF's. Marin is the same, county-wide. And Alameda County is only slightly less. Contra Costa County drags things down a bit, as it includes some really distant suburbs over the hill, but even they are close to $500,000 for the median.

Houston is cheap.

[westhou]

Originally Posted by Spade

I would say you can get that in Chicago.

I can get a 700 square foot apartment in Uptown Chicago for $1500/month?

I'm shocked

But I'll take your word for it since you've probably lived there, know someone who lives there, or have researched what apartments are going for in Uptown Chicago.

[statisticsnerd]

No kidding. If you're comparing it to New York, San Francisco, or LA, then yes Houston is cheap. But there are lots of places in the South that are much cheaper than the Houston area.

Where can you rent a one bedroom apartment in the Houston area (including suburbs) for $500? You can't, not even in the ghetto. Anything under $800/month and the complexes get kind of sketchy.

Yet, $500 will get you a nice one bedroom in Macon, Georgia for example River Park Apartment Homes Apartments - Macon, GA 31211 | Apartments for Rent

[jfre81]

One thing to consider in this is the amenities you get for what you pay for. Yes, your apartment in Uptown Houston looks cheap compared to San Francisco. You're also living in what amounts to a very large quasi-urban office park with a giant mall, with nothing better than a bus that sits in Westheimer traffic for transit. For the record, though, I never saw the appeal of the "Galleria area" even before the prices got run up in Houston.

I'm in Ohio now. You can get a 3br townhome duplex unit in Columbus for well under $1500 in close-in and/or other desirable locations. Columbus is not like Cleveland or Detroit, either. It's a city that's doing pretty well for itself with less attention.