What a million will buy you in Oxford, relative to Minneapolis and Seattle (Jackson: real estate)

[GrandviewGloria]

Shopping for a trophy property in Manhattan (one whose board would allow us in, without full financial disclosure, which is a near-impossibility), I was sleuthing the Sherry Netherland. Normally, I avoid the New York Times, since it's anti-Donald, and I love me some Donald. But I wanted the lowdown on the place, and so I clicked on that NYT article. That led to THIS, in the sidebar, which I couldn't resist: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/r...pgtype=article

A mil seems to get you a lot LESS in Oxford. So much for "Everything's cheaper in the South!". But maybe I'm just turned-off by the yard, where the landscaping strategy seems to consist of liberally spraying herbicides, in lieu of planting groundcovers. This contrasts sharply with the featured yards in Minneapolis and Seattle (both high-IQ locales, full of progressive people who appreciate greenery and abhor poison) which look verdant and non-toxic.

Then again, Oxford is full of nubile football players and toothy blonde trophy-wife-wannabes, who'll probably be "available" to a guy (or cougar) who offers them the right "inducements". You can probably "mentor" a well-muscled football standout in Oxford, for the kind of money it takes to "help" an addict on Seattle's Capitol Hill. (Our old 'Trash-out Contractor', for our office properties in Seattle, gave me the scoop on what IT guys sometimes paid his drugged-out temp help, there - and it's a LOT.)

There was an oilman at our old gym, who got banned from "boostering" in Oxford, after his "mentorship" of football standouts became notorious. But, like I said, you probably get a lot more for your money, in Oxford where physiques are concerned.

Seattle is strange, though, as real estate prices go. A railroad baron family's mansion, with THREE GENERATIONS of intensely-curated interior design by Sister Parish's legendary New York firm (you could have been INSTANT OLD MONEY: https://www.google.com/search?client...24.V89V8iFuP6U virtually buying the home of the worldly, aristocratic Grandmother you SHOULD HAVE HAD), and gardens which surely are what Heaven looks like (https://www.seattlepi.com/realestate...ds-7463010.php), sat on the market for YEARS - for next-to-nothing - finally selling at basically the asking for Warren Hood's estate in Jackson's Eastover District: https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...1_M85269-19692 (no forested vistas of Puget Sound Chapel Lane, and no twenty-foot rhododendrons, either).

On the other hand, prices ordinary zhlubs are paying for housing, in and around Seattle, are astronomical - until you go over a million, which is when the sky opens up, the sea parts, and one Promised Land after another, is within grasp. Chapel Lane went for what you'd pay for its shrubbery.

Then, there's Minneapolis, which is undergoing horrific demographic transformations, but which is still full of smart Scandinavians, fine old homes, and gorgeous greenery. I don't know whether the neighborhood surrounding the NYT's Minneapolis example is "transitioning" or not. Still, it seems like a huge bargain, considering all the opportunities (and Swedes) surrounding it.

Is Oxford so desirable, that it can command prices equivalent to those in America's most high-opportunity regions - the very regions to which brainy Mississippians are fleeing?

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

That's the most high-rent district in Oxford, if Eli Manning has a house there.

[sammyreynolds1977]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

That's the most high-rent district in Oxford, if Eli Manning has a house there.

He used to have a house there. I don't know if he still does or not.

[blaserbrad]

Stay the f**k away from Seattle please

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by blaserbrad

Stay the f**k away from Seattle please

What are you doing, searching the forums for any mention of Seattle? Why are you trolling the Mississippi forum, please go back to your quarters and leave Gloria alone.

[Listener2307]

What a million will buy you in Oxford, relative to Minneapolis and Seattle

The problem with buying a home in Seattle of Minneapolis is that you have to live there, at least sometimes.
I never met anyone from Wisconsin or Minnesota that I didn't like. Really. I spent 9 years in the navy and if I was out with one of those guys, things went well. If we met some girls, then the guys knew how to act, and if the car broke down they knew what to do. Later, I spent 10 years with 3M and had to travel up there a lot. The only problem with Minneapolis is the weather. If someone from Minneapolis tells me it is cold, HE IS NOT KIDDING!
People up there go ice fishing. I can't even tell you how that frightens me. Fishing. Right through the ice. Can you imagine?
I've lived in Seattle, too. 69 - 71 I lived up there. Seattle, up on Queen Ann Hill, and then over to Port Orchard.
It rains in Seattle. I saw a few clear days in my three years but not many.
But the worst thing about Seattle was the unhappy people. I don't know what makes Seattle people unhappy, but they are. They can be rude to a stranger asking directions, and can be rude for no particular reason. Maybe they don't know any better. They dress like lumber jacks and the homeless rate in Seattle has skyrocketed. I ain't going back.
But I'm not going to live in Oxford, either. I grew up in a college town. I am not a fuhbawl fan and I have gotten to where I resent the constant increase in the cost of education that continually delivers less and less. Ole Miss leads that category. Pay more and more for less and less. People where I live just gush about Oxford. They can have my portion.
Actually, I don't know where to spend my million. Don't want another home around here. Maybe Atlanta, close to the Braves stadium. Or The Eastern Shore of Maryland. I like Chicago fine; used to live there, too. I betcha they could eat up my million. There are things to do in Chicago. People are great! Ethnic areas of every description. I even had a friend who was Lithuanian. Had a friend who was Lutheran, too, but that was up in Minnesota, of course.

Yeah. Chicago.

[BMI]

That old 1927 mansion at 166 Boundary Lane NW Seattle, WA 98177 that you used as a comparison...
was not listed at a million dollars...it sold on july 6 2018 for $3.6 million...
it previously sold for $3.3 million on july 15 1996....
somonly $300K more in over 20 years. A deal ...but way over $1 million.

In my neck of the woods an 11,000 square foot estate like that would be more like $10 million.

That Oxford, Mississippi home for $1 million didn’t look anything special
but must be in a very good neighborhood if Eli Manning lives there.

With real estate it’s location, location, location....

You should see the kind of dumpy places you get for $1 million in Vancouver, BC...
actually some crappy places at much more...buying for land value only.