What kind of house would $300,000 buy in your city/town?

And would that include any land (not necessarily a lot, but an acre or more)?

Californians, I know: Not much of nuthin'....

Just curious. Trying to decide where to move in the next year or so; would like to be within 1 hour of a major airport. A liberal community would be great, but I've lived in Fascistville for the last 18 months so I'm sure almost anywhere but here would be an improvement.

Here being the Greater Austin area.

In the hip, cool neighborhoods, $300k will get you a small home from the '20s-'50s that needs some work. If you head outward from the city a bit, you can get quite a lot of house for $300k. I have 1100 sq. ft., 2BR, 2 full baths, 1 car garage, small lot in an ok area, and my house appraises right at $100k. I'm still in Austin's city limits, but maybe 10-15 miles from downtown.

Edit - our airport is fairly small, but there are non-stops to New York, Boston, DC and LA. Plus, it's just a short hop to DFW and Houston's two airports.

in Lake Country, WI. You could easily get an acre or 2 in a BEAUTIFUL area. TONS of lakes

Or maybe a two-story refrigerator carton.

Here's a sample

http://www.realtyone.com/Property/Details.aspx?PropID=3137137

It's listed at something like $300-$320K, so sellers will consider any offer in that range. It's a 40ish year old, 3 bedroom ranch, something like 1300 sf and needs some work. Not just updating the old kitchen, that too, but the yard is in pretty bad shape. The house on one side has been nicely maintained, but the house on the other is the poorest maintained house on the street, rats and all. The elementary school nearby is pretty decent, but the high school and junior high in the district are just so-so. The house itself could be spruced up with a little time, money and elbow grease, but those neighbors...yuck.

Major airport? Check.
Liberal community? Well, we need folks like you for that.

As far as land? Well, that depends how far you want to stray from the city limits. You could get a few acres plus home if you wanted to be a few miles out of town.

In a great part of town right by stores, restaurants, walking distance to two movie theaters, coffee shops, bars, public transportation into downtown, airport about a 20 minute drive. Community of Graduate Students, Young Professionals, Families, and a large Orthodox Jewish population. About 90% Democrat. It's rare a republican even runs for anything.

5863 Phillips Avenue
Squirrel Hill, PA 15217

$ 295,000
5 Bedrooms, 1 Full Bath, 2 Half Baths
Style: OVER 2
County: East Allegheny
Garage spots: 2
Garage Type: DET/GRG
School District: Pittsburgh
Taxes: $4448
Assessments: $151,300
Dining Room: 11x19 - Main Level
Living Room: 13x24 - Lower Level
Kitchen: 12x12 - Main Level
Master Bedroom 1: 12x13 - Upper Level
Bedroom 2: 12x13 - Upper Level
Bedroom 3: 11x13 - Upper Level
Bedroom 4: 10x13 - Upper Level
Bedroom 5: 13x22 - Upper Level
Game Room: 15x18 - Lower Level
Basement: new/fin
Lot Dimensions: 20.97x100x27.17m/l
Fireplaces: 1
Fireplace Description: deco
MLS: W615699


Of course if you want new construction you can get that as well nearby.
http://www.summersetatfrickpark.com/ has new townhouses in the same neighborhood (a little more of a walk to the stuff) for under 300k.

Move out to the burbs and that'll get you a wide variety of just about anything you want other than mansions or the biggest fanciest new mcmansions, but out there it'll all be republicans.

has in his mind what P'burgh was years ago and can't seem to shake that image. I'll have to do some convincing; I've been reading a lot more positive things about Pittsburgh and I'd LOVE to live in a nice city community.

as steel town hell also, during the 90's I spent a few months there as part of my medical training and thought it was a GREAT town, and would strongly consider living there.

On Edit.. by the way, as far as I'm aware there is essentially NO steel industry there anymore. It's much more of a university town, tech town, medical town, from what I could see.

The industry has for the most part moved on. Lots of manufacturing still, and the city has the mindset that it's still an industrial town, but it's not really.

It's very green and outdoorsy. The one thing that always strikes me whenever I travel away and come back to Pittsburgh is how green it is. A far cry from the old image which was how black and sooty it was.

My ex is selling her Mom's house, a 5 bdrm, 3 bath, 2 car garage, fruit trees in a decent neighborhood. It was built in 1904 and with the renovation ($60,000.00), its listed at $1,195,000.00. They just dropped the price so it will move soon.
It amazing how a similar house in Pittsburgh is going for a fraction of what it would in overpriced SoCal.

but in Clayton it'd be a small condo. Sweet condos and lofts in Clayton go for $600k.

In Ladue it'd be an even smaller house, that is if houses in that price

In West County I could get a condo or a small house in Creve Couer or Chesterfield. I am not sure about owning the lot, though.

In Univ City I could get a nice house. One of my friends got a sweet house for $197,000 a year ago.

Those are the places I'd like to live which is why I said nothing about South County, North County, St Charles County or Jefferson County.

you can get a run down place, maybe around 1000 Square Feet, in a less desirable neighborhood for 300K.

Montgomery County, MD.....

550 to 600 sq feet

Here's a new house friends are looking at.


List Price: $ 294900


General Information
Property Type: SINGL
SqrFt: 2556
City: Oklahoma City
County: Oklahoma
Addition: QUAIL CREEK

Beds: 4
Baths: 2.10
Living: 2
Dining: 2
Year Built: 2006

Roof Type: Composition
Garage: 2

Foundation: Slab
Stories: Two
Style: Traditional

Const.: Brick
Lot Desc: Interior

Energy: Double Glazed Windows
Heat: GAS
Cool: ELEC


School Information
Sch Dist: Edmond


Fireplaces: 1 Masonry
Floors: Part Wood
Appliences: Dishwasher, Disposal
Range:
Oven: Electric
Other Features:
Fence: WOOD
Mechanical Features
Garagedoor Opener(s), Sprinkler System


Will Rogers World Airport in OKC is about 20 minutes away.

. . . a large 1-car garage, about 1,000 sq ft basement outfitted for another bathroom upon build-out. Sun porch out front, deck out back in large, private, wooded backyard.

(IOW, our house. we are extremely fortunate)

This is in Charles County in So. MD. Blue state. This area is purple. 45 min to National Airport; one hour to BWI; 1.5 hours to Dulles.

The commute to DC - where most of the jobs are, and the salaries are good - is very difficult, but if you like living rurally and can find a house you're happy with, it'll probably be worth it to you. It is to us. There is a relatively good commuter bus system (on buses like like Greyhound, w/ a bathroom), and lots of carpool opportunities. (The nearest Metro station, however, is a 45 min. drive away, and from there it's another 30-45 into town.)

years ago, and nothing left is even close to that price. If not, we'll look in your neck of the woods... we were thinking about going back up to the DC area. Is there land available (we might just buy land and build b/c there seems to be very little desireable in areas we've thought about already built... for $300K we'd have land and our OWN house...)

just appraised at 370k, but i didn't say that before because i know there are still very good opps out here.

you would do very well to buy your own land and build. if you buy out here, i can recommend an excellent general contractor.

:hi:

$300K would get you an acre lot with a 3BR ranch on it. 30 minutes to the BDL airport, maybe less.

it would be hard to find a single family home, in good condition, in a decent neighborhood, but not impossible. and there are LOTS of condos in that price range. lots.

Dont expect a McMansion thou. Im talking a 30-50 yr old home.

The further you go out, the cheaper, like all major cities.

Chicago has good commuter trains to downtown.

If you love to golf, move to Fayettenam where we've got really cheap golf course homes.

For $300,000 to $350,000 you can get into a home in any of the seven golf course communities. And they're as nice as homes along any reasonably-priced course in America.

If you don't want to live next to a golf course, $300,000 will buy you damn near any new home in town.

I can tell you with authority that 0.3M will get you this:

new construction:
0.5 acre lot
1500-1700 sq ft
attached 2-car garage
two (maybe three) bedroom
itsy bitsy 1.5-2.0 baths
carpet, vinyl floor
vinyl siding
prefab modular design
about 3 feet from your neightbor's bathroom window.
absolutely no customization.

My GF is set on a 450K house on five acres. Anyone want a new GF?

It's beautiful.



This one is in Crown Heights, and it's gorgeous too.
By the way, I live in Oklahoma City.
Duckie

My sister and I recently sold our mother's house that needs work in a really desirable Chicago neighborhood (far north side, not Lincoln Park or Lakeview) for nicely over $500,000.

My parents bought it in 1949 for $16,000.

We got out in time. Area got reassessed for property taxes. Next-door neighbor's went up 60 percent. Two doors west saw their taxes doubled. All are appealing.

Taxes on the house must now be approaching $10,000 per year.

Really. It's for sale.

4 bedroom brick Cape Cod with a 2.5 car garage, 2 baths, full basement. great neighborhood, great city, we vote Democratic, getting more blue each year. Our Governor and both Senators are Dems. Good school system. Good public transportation. Close access to the highway. Good shopping, restaurants, 10 minutes from downtown Milwaukee, 20 minutes from the international airport, 90 minutes from Chicago or Madison.

On the market now for 299k.

Want it?

RL

I fucking hate Orange County. Seriously.

in Manhattan.

How much acreage and square footage depends on other factors, but definitely over 2000 sqare feet and new. Acreage is fairly inexpensive. If it isn't in a specific subdivision or "nice" area, less than $10,000 per acre.

with all of lakeview (an area of such homes and even higher priced) having been destroyed competition for such housing is fierce

... an existing 3,000-3,500 4/3/2 on a reasonably sized lot.

A large lot costs a fortune in the city and there are few available.

But this is san Diego where the the median price of a 3 bdrm with a small yard is $600,000.00.

in an okay, but not great, neighborhood

An actual, detached house for that price, on about 5000 sq. ft., might be found on the other side of the island, the Wai'anae Coast -- about 30-35 mi. from Honolulu over often-choked freeways.

3 bedrooms, around 1200 sq ft. Nothing too fancy.

Housing prices have shot up tremendously here in the past couple of years.

older...condo.

Whee!

I love Los Angeles, really I do.

Seriously.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/rfs/175800265.html

Ok, I should qualify that to say, "a small one bedroom condo in a part of town where dodging bullets isn't the neighborhood pastime" ;)

$355k. A bargain at twice the price. ;)

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/rfs/175769088.html

that I'd want to be in!

There's an apartment complex near the university with a perfect view of the freeway, and the bums who sleep beneath the overpass that goes literally right outside the window. And the rent STARTS at $3000/month for a STUDIO.

I can't even begin to imagine what part of "downtown" has $355,000 condos. :scared:

:scared:

Skid Row makes Compton look like fucking Disneyland. :scared:

I think I'd rather do so in a more inviting neighborhood at least.

they sell houses on Skid Row. I think they're all abandoned/condemned.

Yay great American economy! :woohoo:

All those abandoned buildings and yet...there are homeless! :confused:

if we were to, say, fix up the abandoned shelters and turn them into, say, low-cost housing/rehab clinics/halfway houses/homeless shelters then we'd be depriving those homeless people of the opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

And well, we wouldn't want to do that, would we?

:sarcasm: (as if that was necessary)

We certainly can't have any of that!

and it's damned liberal bias. x(

And you'll get some change back :hi:

http://norfolk.craigslist.org/rfs/175674738.html

In a nice neighborhood. Not a big lot...at least not in town...but just outside of town, yeah.

Here, I'm thinking you could probably get close to 3,000 sq. ft. Four or more bedrooms, 2+ baths, all that good stuff.

The house next door to us sold in the fall for 288,000.00. Five bedrooms (might be six but I can't be sure), four baths, probably 3500 sq. ft. 2-car garage and a outbuilding in the back. And it's a Gorgeous house, too.

The 'rents are in real estate (Dad for 20+ yrs and Mom since '02), and they always laugh at the fools who come to Maine expecting great housing values. Well, if you want to live in actual civilization (read: not backwoods Hicksville), you've got to be willing to shell out at least 200-300K for a fairly basic house.

Oh, and Maine property/income taxes are pretty obscene, I think. Too many out-of-state homeowners messing things up...Damn Massholes!

:evilgrin:

Not the nicest, but more house than I'd ever need.

For instance, a quick search brought me up this-



5 bedroom, 3 full bathrooms- it came up under a search asking for 1-3 acres.

$279,900

And my town is like 15 minutes from the airport. Plainfield (my town) isn't super liberal.. haha it's Conservative like most of Indiana, and a red state, but I like it out here. Just make sure if you ever consider Indiana you get a house with either a basement or a bathroom or other small room in the center of the first floor.

something outside of the slum.

A pretty nice house. This is one of the first listings that came up in that price range for my area:


I would love to move back to a bluer area of the country, but man, the housing prices. Reading this thread makes me want to stay put. I wish I'd never moved here because it seems we're priced out of moving back home, unless we want to downsize considerably. It sucks.

I'm renting in a fairly nice neighborhood (Ravenna), but I could not afford to buy a garage in this neighborhood. Even the oldest, least up-to-date teensy house is over $350,000.

Back home, $300,000 would buy a new four bedroom on three to five acres.

you know it is really sad that if we hadn't bought our current house 21 years ago there is no way I could afford the same house now and I mean NO Way. We paid $80,000.00 in 1985, and have turned down offers of $650,000.00 this year, un-solicited offers. Why? Because unless we move either completely out of state or relocate at least a three hours drive from where the kids go to school we can't afford what we already have.

In 1976 I rented my first apartment, a two bedroom 2 bath with an outside patio with a room mate for $125.00 a month, today the very same apartment is renting for $2250.00 a month.

in San Juan Capistrano (where I was raised) in the 1970s for $65K and then sold it about 10 years later to move to Palm Springs... and then all hell broke loose for them, but that's another issue.

I don't know if I'd want to move back to SoCal, it just isn't what I remember anymore (open space, orange groves, etc) but even if I wanted to, I couldn't afford to.

we face such as insane freeway and street traffic, earthquakes, urban sprawl and I mean that in the worst way, it is still because of the diversity that I still feel it's a good experience to raise a family. But thinking about my almost grown kids, what are they going to do? With these housing costs and renting costs I figure they will be living under this roof for a long time. That is the difference from then and now.

When I was their age, I could afford the option of moving out. even being paid $2.00/hr. Now a days minimum wage would not even pay for a parking space.

My house. 89K to go yet. Oh yeah - Northern Wisconsin.

Just kidding.

posted! :o

I do thank everyone for their replies, though - this has been fun (if a tad bit depressing) to read.

It is 3000 or so sq. ft., has a pool. All brick, at least 4 BR, 2 car garage plus a shade over an acre of land to sit on. Nice school district, quiet neighborhood, nice neighbors ;~)))

across the street from my house is on the market for $360,000 here in CT.

...but what we save in housing we pay in school tuition for our kids

And came up with NOTHING. Nothing is available for that price.

at or below $300,000...and that was only north of the river...south of the river it's showing another 1,200 homes at or below $300,000.

btw- there sure are A LOT of zipcodes in austin.

from my home state.. not where I live now , but a cool place to live or make a spooky movie.. (cue half-dressed, screaming coeds and the creepy guy with the hatchet)




ve
Single Family Home
Subdivision:Other
County:Anderson
Built in 1905
Garnett, KS 66032
MLS ID#: 1298866

$139,500
Beds4Baths2
2995 sq. feet


Property Features:

Property Description
Very unique historic home with a possible 5th bedroom. 5-year old central heat and air downstairs. Central heat and window air upstairs. 2 fireplaces are sealed. Gas stoves have been installed in the old fireplaces. Pocket doors. Beautiful staircase. Oversized garage is an old carriage house.

* Appliances: Disposal, Dishwasher
* Construction: Wood Siding
* Cooling: Window Air Conditioning
* Exterior Features: Porch, Storm Windows
* Flooring: Hardwood Floors
* Fuel: Electric
* Heating: Central Heating
* Interior: Basement, Ceiling Fan(s), Family Room, Full Basement, Breakfast Room, Living/Dining Room Combination, Bathroom Washer/Dryer Location
* Lot Description: City Lot
* Parking/Garage: Detached Garage
* Roof: Composition Shingle Roof
* Room Level: Main floor laundry
* Style: 2 Stories
* Water/Sewer: Public water supply

no land, just a lot... a small lot.
Napa Valley, CA

Unless you wanted a very old, small house in a rundown crime-infested area. Then you might get that for slightly over $300K.

one hour to central Tokyo by bus/train. Low property tax ($300), low utilities, energy efficient appliances, decent schools

All yours for less than $200,000

You'll need to bulletproof the place though.

you can get a brand new never lived in home of 3800-4000 square feet. For $260,000 you can get a really nice lakefront 5100 square foot home built in 1899. Also for 260,000 you can get a 2300 square foot home w/6.23 acres on a lake built in 1967.

Edited to add:

The most expensive home for sale in this area is a 5700 sq. foot McMansion on 13.58 acres built in 2000. Only $866,000.

The following is $314,000.

http://www.windermere.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Listing.ListingDetail&ListingID=7204811

Julie

My friends bought a place about a mile from me for $285,000 and put another $250,000 into it to repair it. The original house, a two bedroom, 2 floor center hall colonial, was expanded in the 1940s to a 4 bedroom, but the expansion was literally collapsing off the original house. They had to knock down the expansion, dig a new foundation and basically built a new house around the original, which was left mostly standing for some zoning/land use legal issue that I never looked into. The house now is great, but they spent over $500,000 on it, which is still a deal in this neighborhood. Most houses start at $750,000 or more.

I live in a very modest modular that cost $56,000.

I paid $300k for my townhouse almost three years ago; it's now worth over $400. Split level, three bedroom, 1 1/2 bath, under 2000 sq ft (can't remember the square footage) two car garage... no land except a 5'x 3' flower bed on the patio.

Unique custom built lake home offers 4BR, 4BA, 3FP. Beautiful hardwood & terrazo flooring, kitchen w/brkfst area & formal DR. Too many extras to list. $300,000



We have a very nice house (brick, 4 br, 3 full baths, two fireplaces, split level, 2340 sq. ft., and built-in garage on 1/2 acre. Paid $137,500 for it in 1998 and it's been appraised recently at $190,000. This area has real estate at good prices! (It's neither a bust nor a boom around here.)

of 'em.