Maybe Tampa ? (St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Lakeland: comparable sales, transplants, for sale)

[TXRyan23]

I grew up in the Bay Area and lived there for about 18 years.

I was actually just in St. Pete Beach this past weekend on vacation and remembered how much I really missed the area. While we were in town I managed to collect housing papers from Lakeland ( polk ) Brandon ( hillsborough ) and St. Pete ( pinellas ) and while looking through the books found that any decent house ( 3BR-2BA-1800+SF ) was around 300k and higher.

I remember living in Tampa in the 90's and into the early 2000's and seem to remember a huge lack of jobs, atleast the ones not paying you $6 an hour to work the drive through.

I was wondering if those housing prices were typical of all areas in the bay area and was also wondering where people in the Bay area find the kinda jobs that pay for a decent sized $400k house ?

Much like a few of the others on this forum, We've narrowed our home search to Houston or Tampa and with the housing markets and the job availiblity, we're leaning towards Houston.

Can anyone help ?

[stpeteguy]

There reason for the housing slump here is precisely BECAUSE there are no jobs that pay enough for anyone to afford those types of homes. Most of the people living there now, could not afford to buy the home if they had to get approved with their current income levels. They bought when the house was $200K and it appreciated, so now they think it's worth $400K. What's funny, is that I know a couple of guys who can't sell their $400K homes, they've been on the market for over a year and still no takers.
Your house is only worth what someone will give you for it. Whatever happened to making $10-15K on a house?? NOw everyone want's to make a million dollars when they sell their home.
Most of these people went ahead and refinanced their homes based on inflated appraisals thinking the market would go up forever. Now they can't get out from under it and some are even filing bankruptcy.
Florida real estate is completely out of touch with the salaries in this area. I'm sure there are exceptions, but most working class folks can't afford to buy in Pinellas or Hillsborough county.

[TampaKaren]

I know I'm landlocked. With current real estate taxes based on new sales prices, we cannot afford to move. The legislators are trying to get an amendment (one of several to come) on the next ballot to change our tax calculations. Current year taxes have already been rolled back to the 2005-2006 rates (the politicians didn't need voter approval to make that change), so we've received some relief already.

We bought a house in 1985 for 82K when interest rates were sky high. We assumed a 11 3/4% mortgage. I thought we'd never make it, but we're still here. Today, comparable sales in my neighborhood in NW Hillsborough County area are around 250K. I never thought we would see that kind of appreciation. In retrospect, I wish we'd bought that corner unit condo on Sand Key for 85K. They're selling in the 600s today.

Affordable housing is difficult to obtain for many of the area's hourly wage workers. But, the Tampa area does have lots of higher paying jobs as well and many people moving here pay cash for their homes.

Good luck on your decision!

P.S. Homes in my area below 250K are still selling, though it's taking longer. Homes in the 300K-500K range seem to be having the most difficulty selling.

[teetee30]

Anywhere in the city of tampa the housing is high. But you probably would want to move to the New Tampa Area or Clearwater or St. Petersburg where you can find a good price and a nice area and a good job. The pay rate in the inner of tampa is crappy and the housing is crappy also. So do more research on moving to tampa florida

[yukon]

I make about the same $$ here in Tampa that I made in Houston. I'm an accountant. My rent is about $125 higher than it was in Houston. My distance to my first office in the morning is about the same, but takes only half the time here in Tampa as it did in Houston. I can breathe in Tampa without inhaling tons of pollution and feeling like my lungs are on fire. On the other hand, I do wish someone would open a Kolache Factory here And Houston shopping is better, although Tampa is improving rapidly in this area.

[annegraffy]

I don't know why everyone thinks there is a housing slump. I have been involved in real estate in this area for over 20 years. The problem was all the investors that flooded into our area (making me a very good living from 2000 - 2005). They were buying and flipping houses and condos like pancakes. Then the hurricane seasons drove insurance sky high...investors dumped all their inventory, the market slowed, people panicked and trying selling their homes. More inverntory. And then there was the normal amount of homes being offered for sale. Now we have three times the normal amount of inventory and no investors. This is just a repeat of the 80s. In a couple of years it will all be balanced out and prices will start to go up again at a REASONABLE pace. Just make sure you find a realtor that can negotiate a great price in case the market drops a little more.

[winterer]

I'll give ya 200 for it. Is there concern about crime in that area?

[Casmar]

The is still an almost absence of professional, white collar jobs here in the Tampa Bay area. The wage increase to cost of living increase is reported in Forbes magazine to be the worst ration in the nation - housing costs dramatically increasing and the wages staying virtually stagnant.

I would vote Texas if I were you.

[Schilly]

Casmar: First, that isn't what the Forbes article states. Second, rating this area is very different from most areas, such as Charlotte, Atlanta and Houston. First, there is a huge amount of "older" money (not Old Money, but older money-meaning many have come here as a second career nearing or in retirement). IMO, this skews the rankings. Since I've been here, I have met nothing but younger people who moved here from elsewhere. When I moved to the 'burbs, I met people in their 30's to 40's that have moved here from somewhere else.

I think the number of transplants makes finding employment difficult because those with good jobs tend to stay put and there is constantly an influx of talented people. I firmly believe one should find employment before moving anywhere. I'm not a native and have had quite a few friends move to Houston and Atlanta. I've never known anyone to move BEFORE finding a job. For some reason, that is typical for people coming here. This causes problems.

Second, housing has gotten out of hand in the entire USA (and actually, much of the "developed" world as well). Jobs has nothing to do with it. SPECULATION, SPECULATION, and MORE SPECULATION has caused an artificial surge in prices. Once the current inventory of homes comes down, which will take a while, the market will become more stable. There are similar problems in Vegas, Phoenix, the DC area, and Chicago.

I also don't find the cost of living high here. I came in at the bottom and worked my way up very quickly. I bought a home I can afford to live in without stretching the budget and have a relatively short commute. With proper planning, this can be done in any city.

[TXRyan23]

Honestly, I'm currently in Tennessee and we've been throwing around Houston and Tampa, basically because the wife is from Louisiana and wants to be closer to her family and Houston is the biggest and most affordable city closest to her family.

I'm originally from Tampa and absolutley love the area and there's nowhere I'd rather be. However, The job market and the real estate market make it virtually impossible for us to move down there.

I was doing research about houses availible and looking up other things and found that Tampa was rated as one of the worst cities in reguards to commute to work and that the average person in the Bay area spends roughly 60% of their salary on rent and gas.

It's looking like we may either stay in Tennessee where yeah, it may be a little less exciting and a little colder but the lifestyle and cost of living and real estate is good.

I love Florida, but damn.. Why does it have to be so damn expensive ?