We made the list for Best Cities for First-Time Buyers (Phoenix: HOA, mortgage)

[Sno0909]

Originally Posted by asufan

A $300,000 house with 20% down is a mortgage of around $1,400/month which is what many apartments rent for and quite a bit less than single family houses rent for. It's not necessarily affordable for the low wage people, but people with low wages have had trouble getting into houses for decades. A two income household definitely makes it easier for single family home ownership, but there's always condo's and townhomes.

The problem is a first-time buyer coming up with $60,000 cash to put down on a house. Not that they need 20% down, but to use your example. Student loans are now eating up a huge chunk of take home pay.

[Mac58]

For an area with beautiful natural environment, big city amenities, and spectacular weather 7 months out of the year, Phoenix metro is ridiculously affordable. The property taxes are low, and HOAs, should you decide on condo, are also low for what you get in return. I lived in Bay Area most of my life, now live in Southern Oregon, and view the housing prices in your area with great envy. The summer weather obviously has a lot to do with this. Small wonder snowbirds flock to Phoenix. Incredible bang for your buck!

[man4857]

Originally Posted by Mac58

For an area with beautiful natural environment, big city amenities, and spectacular weather 7 months out of the year, Phoenix metro is ridiculously affordable. The property taxes are low, and HOAs, should you decide on condo, are also low for what you get in return. I lived in Bay Area most of my life, now live in Southern Oregon, and view the housing prices in your area with great envy. The summer weather obviously has a lot to do with this. Small wonder snowbirds flock to Phoenix. Incredible bang for your buck!

That's also been my view. I think housing could be more affordable in the Phoenix metro and we wouldn't be having this first-time homeowner discussion if more affordable housing was built instead of bigger family homes. Smaller existing homes in the Phoenix metro are still very affordable, even though the $/sq ft is higher on average than a bigger home.

It's a matter of knowing what you need, not want.

[Minntoaz]

Originally Posted by man4857

I guess I’m just very fiscally conservative. I witnessed the pain of 2008-2009 as a young kid and do not want to ever put myself in that situation.

Extremely wise. Especially if you don’t have a spouse to fall back on. All it takes is a job loss and an inability to sell your home and ish hits the fan. The general rule is housing costs (mortgage, PMI, taxes, insurance) shouldn’t be greater than 25% or take home and I’m pretty sure many people do not come close to that rule or they aren’t contributing enough to retirement/investments.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

Also, most 1st time homebuyers are not buying the average house, they tend to buy at the lower end.

Which is not really available in the PHX metro.

[CAHLUV]

Originally Posted by Mac58

For an area with beautiful natural environment, big city amenities, and spectacular weather 7 months out of the year, Phoenix metro is ridiculously affordable. The property taxes are low, and HOAs, should you decide on condo, are also low for what you get in return. I lived in Bay Area most of my life, now live in Southern Oregon, and view the housing prices in your area with great envy. The summer weather obviously has a lot to do with this. Small wonder snowbirds flock to Phoenix. Incredible bang for your buck!

I definitely agree! Although like most American major cities that are desirable, the majority aren't able to afford brand new homes...some cities a home at all but that seems to be the reality we live in now.

[CAHLUV]

Originally Posted by Minntoaz

Extremely wise. Especially if you don’t have a spouse to fall back on. All it takes is a job loss and an inability to sell your home and ish hits the fan. The general rule is housing costs (mortgage, PMI, taxes, insurance) shouldn’t be greater than 25% or take home and I’m pretty sure many people do not come close to that rule or they aren’t contributing enough to retirement/investments.

Crazy reality is whether its a home, condo or apt most are check to check and a job loss will take a significate it to one's lifestyle. This is America....

[ShampooBanana]

Originally Posted by Sno0909

The problem is a first-time buyer coming up with $60,000 cash to put down on a house. Not that they need 20% down, but to use your example. Student loans are now eating up a huge chunk of take home pay.

FHA Loan Limits now are almost $315k in Phoenix. That will get you a home or at least a condo in almost any area of the valley (of course, size and quality may vary depending on where you choose) aside from maybe Paradise Valley or North Scottsdale/Carefree. $315k with very minimal down payment at that. There are plenty of areas with brand new homes where one can buy at a sub-$300k price point also. Not right in the middle of town of course, but in Gilbert, Mesa, Surprise, Peoria, Buckeye, Avondale, parts of north Phoenix and South Phoenix there are countless communities with homes starting in these price points.

Originally Posted by yukon

Which is not really available in the PHX metro.

A quick search on Zillow will prove that is far from true. Heck, knowing that the median price of an existing home in Phoenix is under $300k means by default that at least 50% of all homes are sub-$300k, of which a fair portion are still sub-$250k which is considered entry-level. Most of those are going to be found in South Phoenix, Laveen, many parts of the far West Valley, and even down in Queen Creek, San Tan Valley, AJ, and SE Mesa in the East Valley. Also for those willing to drive further I'd say the vast majority of homes in Buckeye, Surprise and many parts of Pinal County (Maricopa, Casa Grande, etc) are in the low-$200s or less.

[asufan]

You can still get a 1,500 SF 3 bed/2 bath resale property in the Town of Maricopa for $175,000 and a similar NEW BUILD for under $200,000. Granted it's not the most desirable part of metro Phoenix but first time buyers can't expect to be in the middle of the action with their first purchase. Something like that is as cheap as a 1 bedroom apartment even with only 3% down.

[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by man4857

Phoenix is still a pretty affordable market. It's just that most of the properties desired are the single family McMansion types. It's pretty apparently for new construction builds everywhere you look.

But "smaller homes" (1200-1700 sq ft) will work for most families with 2 kids. It just happens that most families for some reason desire nowadays the 2000-2500 sq ft type homes and that's driving up home prices.

We have grown accustomed to larger houses in the USA...my son is in a 1450 ft. house in Seattle with 3 young kids and it feels just super crowded to me....where he lives, that 1450' house he can sell for $650K and the 2400' house he wants would be over a million dollars. We are trying to talk him into moving to Phoenix.