Safe home for under $80,000?

[Shooting Stars]

Below $80,000 is going to be difficult anywhere, unless you move somewhere that has been more devastated than average by the economic meltdown.

Even here where I live in the North Georgia mountains, houses are much cheaper than Asheville, but that budget would still be hard.

I think you'd need to go way further out from Asheville to a very isolated area.

[alsidw]

I have been trying to find a place to retire, I live in New Orleans

I was thinking of the mountains of NC but we are seniors on a limited budget, Tell me more of Madison.
Sidney -

"There are plenty of listings in that price range"

Whoa! I moved from Asheville about 18 months ago, and bought a home in Madison MS, specifically because it was impossible to get a decent house in Asheville (or anywhere in the area) for less than about $300,000. - I paid $188,000 for a newly built 1750 square foot house in Madison.

If you are seeing anything for $80,000, you are looking at slums. No your budget won't allow you to live in Asheville, unless you are looking for a slum house.

Condominiums in Asheville are not available in that price range either, unless you are looking for slum housing.

Look elsewhere.

PS: However, rentals are available for reasonable prices. Particularly condominiums that builders have been unable to sell due to the economy - and which were being rented at favorable prices as a result. I paid $1250 a month for a very nice 3 bedroom condo in Eastwood Village, while I was living in Asheville.

PPS: Canton with its horribly smelly paper mill is NOT a good place to live.[/quote]

[Gill O'Blarney]

I apologize for not timely responding. Citi-Data only today (January 29,2012) notified me of your comment/query on this thread. - No idea why the delay.

Anyway, the best place to find out more about Madison is on the Mississippi forum. There is a lot of discussion about Madison there.

But briefly, it is a suburb of Jackson. It is majority white. Though there are a lot of mostly black professionals who live here too. The average income is quite high for the state, so there are very decent shopping amenities - which continue to increase every year. And it's close to Ridgeland, which has many additional amenities. (Check out the mall, Renaissance at Colony Park - Renaissance:::Home ). But the big box stores like Walmart, BestBuy etc , all have a presence.

But this isn't the Mississippi forum, so best to go there and read about Madison and seek more info there.

Originally Posted by alsidw

I have been trying to find a place to retire, I live in New Orleans

I was thinking of the mountains of NC but we are seniors on a limited budget, Tell me more of Madison.
Sidney -

"There are plenty of listings in that price range"

Whoa! I moved from Asheville about 18 months ago, and bought a home in Madison MS, specifically because it was impossible to get a decent house in Asheville (or anywhere in the area) for less than about $300,000. - I paid $188,000 for a newly built 1750 square foot house in Madison.

If you are seeing anything for $80,000, you are looking at slums. No your budget won't allow you to live in Asheville, unless you are looking for a slum house.

Condominiums in Asheville are not available in that price range either, unless you are looking for slum housing.

Look elsewhere.

PS: However, rentals are available for reasonable prices. Particularly condominiums that builders have been unable to sell due to the economy - and which were being rented at favorable prices as a result. I paid $1250 a month for a very nice 3 bedroom condo in Eastwood Village, while I was living in Asheville.

PPS: Canton with its horribly smelly paper mill is NOT a good place to live.

[/quote]

[Gill O'Blarney]

Originally Posted by queenofbavaria

in my opinion you can get very nice homes way under 300k. depends on what you want and whatever 'decent' means to you.

"way under 300k"?? I did see some houses in the $225000 to $250000 range on the south side (not too far from Biltmore Square mall and the airport) - but I didn't like the looks of the subdivisions - just way too red-neck for me.

There were also some homes on the west side of Asheville that were in that price range. However, the west side of Asheville is out of the question. It is a terribly unattractive area in which to live, where builders scrimp on decent streets and where shopping is lousy. And zoning is extraordinarily poor.

But yes, you are right that lower prices than $300,000 are available in Asheville. Though for me and for most people - $300,000 would be the base price point for a nice neighborhood. (At least when I lived there)

[corvidae]

I think you should seriously consider a condo, unless you want to live in a mobile or pre-manufactured home.

Otherwise as others have said, the area that includes Canton, Clyde and Waynesville is the most affordable. The papermill there is pretty bad in terms of fumes but supposedly if you get out of town a little and gain some elevation then that helps a lot.

If you want to come to Tampa, Florida, where I live, you would have a lot of surprisingly nice houses to look at in that price range. I think that is because this area was "the epicenter" of the housing crash.