Does anyone else *not* live in a 200K+ house?

[Parkhopper]

We purchased our home in July 2003 for $467,000.00. It is a 4 BR/3 1/2 Bath home on just over .25 acre. Today it is worth over $800,000.00 - just 2 years later!?!

You cannot even find a condo in our area for $200,000!

Suzi

 

[mookie]

Chicago526, I don't live too far from you, in Lake In The Hills. I know exactly what you mean about housing prices in the midwest not being as cheap as they once were. When DH and I got out of college, in 1998, we bought a townhouse in Schaumburg for 124,000. Beautiful, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, great location. But, once we were ready to move into a home, 4 years later, there was no way we could afford a home there. (A 30 year old home was easily selling for over 300,000!) We sold our town house for 180,000 (nearly a 60,000 increase in 4 years!) and moved west. (BTW, that same townhouse is now in the 270,000 range!)

We are now over an hour away from the city. A lot of our family and friends live in smaller homes closer to Chciago, but I like where I am....it's less congested and feels a little more open. Plus, I get more for my home. 3 years ago, we built a brand new, 4 bedroom, 2500 sq. ft home for 245,000. It was definitely a stretch for us, but we decided to make it work. Now, some of the exact same houses in our area are selling for 350,000. That's over 100,000 profit in just 4 years! I have no idea how this is happening, but I'm glad I got in while I could.

And yes, taxes are outrageous. Last year, I paid over 6,000 in taxes. DH and I often ask ourselves if we could live somewhere cheaper, but it's hard for us to leave family. But it just amazes me how far from Chicago we had to move to get a "decent" price on a house.

But I do know several people who got into the housing market early, bought their houses cheap and turned around and sold it for a huge profit. Some have moved into 3 or 4 houses in the last 10 years, all within a 20 mile radius of each house, just to make a profit off their old house for the downpayment on the nice new house. Their mortgage is also in the 3 digits, but their new house is worth 400,000+, is over 3000 square feet, and has every upgrade you can imagine. They just got in at the right time I guess, and used the housing market to their advantage.

 

[GEM]

We just bought our first home this summer!

We live in Arkansas. We paid $109,000 for our place, but it was listed for a bit more than that. It's 2,300 sq feet, has three bedrooms, two baths, a HUGE kitchen, a HUGE living area with a rock fireplace and vaulted ceilings, a garage, a huge screened in porch with grill built into the chimney - PLUS a separate little guest cottage with a bath, kitchenette, etc. It's in a beautiful location right on a lovely lake, which Nathan and Paul love. We have four acres.

My family members who live in other parts of the country (and even in other parts of the state) are very jealous of housing prices here.

 

[mrsdon]

The housing markdet where I live is soft.
We paid 150,000 for our house 6 years ago and could probably sell it for 180-190.
its a 2200 wjth 3 BRs and a bonus room over the garage.
The houses in our little subdivison sell quickly, but they just arent keeping up with the rest of the country

 

[Blondy876]

We bought our home 2 years ago for $79,000. Its a small 3 bedroom/ 2 bath. We have been looking into selling it and have found that in our area this same house would today sell for almost $200,000!? We are planning to sell very soon and walk away with a nice down payment for a bigger house. Housing prices are nuts, if it weren't for the fact that we will have a big down payment for our next home we wouldn't be able to afford anything bigger.

 

[Alice28]

I don't think we're at 200K, but close. We bought it for $126K in 1997. Portland housing prices have gone WAY up, and I think we could probably ask for close to $200K based on what how property tax assessments have gone up, not to mention the improvements we've done. However, I don't want to move even though our house is getting a little snug! I like our house and like our neighborhood.

We have a 3bdrm, 2 bath, historical house; about 1500+ square feet plus an unfinished basement which we plan on finishing in the next 3 years for an addt'l 300 sq feet.

And I don't have a 4 digit house payment either. Even with insurance and taxes, we're in the 3 digits (OK, barely, but we are!!!)

 

[Chicago526]

Chicago526, I don't live too far from you, in Lake In The Hills. I know exactly what you mean about housing prices in the midwest not being as cheap as they once were. When DH and I got out of college, in 1998, we bought a townhouse in Schaumburg for 124,000. Beautiful, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, great location. But, once we were ready to move into a home, 4 years later, there was no way we could afford a home there. (A 30 year old home was easily selling for over 300,000!) We sold our town house for 180,000 (nearly a 60,000 increase in 4 years!) and moved west. (BTW, that same townhouse is now in the 270,000 range!)

We are now over an hour away from the city. A lot of our family and friends live in smaller homes closer to Chciago, but I like where I am....it's less congested and feels a little more open. Plus, I get more for my home. 3 years ago, we built a brand new, 4 bedroom, 2500 sq. ft home for 245,000. It was definitely a stretch for us, but we decided to make it work. Now, some of the exact same houses in our area are selling for 350,000. That's over 100,000 profit in just 4 years! I have no idea how this is happening, but I'm glad I got in while I could.

And yes, taxes are outrageous. Last year, I paid over 6,000 in taxes. DH and I often ask ourselves if we could live somewhere cheaper, but it's hard for us to leave family. But it just amazes me how far from Chicago we had to move to get a "decent" price on a house.

But I do know several people who got into the housing market early, bought their houses cheap and turned around and sold it for a huge profit. Some have moved into 3 or 4 houses in the last 10 years, all within a 20 mile radius of each house, just to make a profit off their old house for the downpayment on the nice new house. Their mortgage is also in the 3 digits, but their new house is worth 400,000+, is over 3000 square feet, and has every upgrade you can imagine. They just got in at the right time I guess, and used the housing market to their advantage.

Hey, I grew up in Schaumburg! Ironic, I can't afford to live there as an adult! We'd love to live closer to the city, since DH works downtown, but we just can't afford to. We'd have to live in an apartment, and neither of us want to do that (the dog wouldn't be happy either ).

Elgin isn't bad, though. From what I've heard, the schools are getting their act together, crime is way down from what it was 10 years ago, and the city has really done a good job at revitalizing the downtown area. We bought our home in August for $186,000. We pay about $3600 in taxes, high but not too bad. We have a nice 1600 sqft 3 bedroom house, with two full baths, a full basement, and a detached 1 car garage. We have a dinning room, living room, and family room (and they are all separate rooms, none of this "open floor" plan where all three are really the same room!). Even when we have kids, we won't grow out of it.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Elgin will be "discovered" by the masses and our house will shoot up in value the way my old condo did. Real estate is how my parents made all their money, and is what allowed them to retire early. I hope it does the same for us!

 

[Micca]

A friend of mine just moved into a very nice old home in one of the most desirable areas of the city. It's four bedroom with a 1/2 finished basement and some nice features and he paid about $160,000. $200K here will buy some SWEET digs

 

[LisaNJ25]

I liek in a "Poorer" town and my house was appraised a few months ago at a little over $400,000. I think my parents paid $80,000 for it 20 years ago. Its a 2 family house and I rent one half of it.

It does not look liek a $400,000 house, more like an $80,000 house. The market here in Jersey is nuts.

 

[WDWBound_2005]

Well, I live in Alabama (close to Montgomery) and in my neighborhood you can get a 2200 sq ft house for around $250K and a 4,000 sq ft house for $500K. Five years ago the 2200 sq ft houses were priced under $200K and the 4,000 sq ft house were priced at $400K. The housing market has gone nuts. Also, the average income here is around $35K-$40K!

This is the part I do not understand....how can someone making that, afford a home and be able to provide everything else for their family.

 

[FergieTCat]

I live in New York City, where almost nothing is under $200,000. I did buy my co-op 12 years ago, and paid nowhere near that, but it has very nicely appreciated in value since then.

 

[PaulaSue]

My DH's family lives in your area

Ditto...Dh's family lives in Shamokin and another Aunt near (stone throw)Knobles.

~~~

Our home is a 2 Bed, 1 1/2 bth, townhouse, 1800 sf. selling around here for 118-120. I would LOVE to move to a bigger house. It would be double for a stand alone house with a 2 car garage and one 1 more bedroom and maybe another bath just to EVEN start looking around here. The prices took a jump the last few years but it is STILL much cheaper here than surrounding areas. Many people live here and commute to Baltimore or Harrisburg.

 

[OhMari]

Midwest incomes are lower than the national average. I just read that $35-$40,000 in the medium income for a family of 4. there is no way a family could even afford a $200,000 home with out each of the parents working 2 jobs to pay the mortgage, taxes and ins. The taxes in WI on a $200,000 is probably $6,500 in a small village in the bigger cities it is probably running a lot higher.

We bought our Farm Home for $33,000 in 1987. We sit on almost 4 lots, we build a 4 car garage, new roof, furnance, central air and gutted the whole place. We owe $84,000 because of remodeling. In 1995 our home was appraised at $120,000 and it only inched up slightly, I would say we probably could get $125,00, because people don't want these older homes, they want new ones.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

*raises her hand*

Um..me. We live in a 'starter' house and it was just under 100K when we purchased it. It has gone up to around 120K thanks to improvements we've made (added a sprinkler system front and back as well as a decently sized wooden deck in the rear).

Most 'starter' homes around here (where I live anyway)start anywhere from 80K to 100k...very affordable.

Where were they getting that statistic anyway?

TOV

 

[hentob]

Ditto...Dh's family lives in Shamokin and another Aunt near (stone throw)Knobles.

Really, it is not a bad area to live in. We are less than an hour's drive to Knobels. We stay for a w/end there every year and many evening trips throughout the summer.

Oh, and we can be at Hershey Park in 60 minutes. Dorney Park is a 45 minute ride. Crayola factory? An hour and you're there. Sesame Place--Less than 2 hours. We also enjoy hopping in the car and going to the Baltimore Inner Harbor.

We are also an hour's drive to Geisinger Medical Center. They have the Janet Weiss Childrens' Hospital with AMAZING doctors.

And I'll say it again--Just a 2 hour drive to NYC, and hour and a half to Philadelphia (less to go to King of Prussia Mall--The biggest on the East Coast), IKEA is an easy drive for lunch and cheap housegoods and we can be laying on the beach within 3 hours...door to sand!

And, of course, the Poconos is, well, it's in our backyard

Did I mention our taxes are under $2000 a year Did I mention you can still buy a house for under $100K


I wonder how long that will last

 

[bigmerle1966]

We purchased our home in July 2003 for $467,000.00. It is a 4 BR/3 1/2 Bath home on just over .25 acre. Today it is worth over $800,000.00 - just 2 years later!?!

You cannot even find a condo in our area for $200,000!

Suzi

Yeah prices in MD have gone nuts. My mom and I bought a townhouse/condo five years ago at $124,000, which was more than they were going for in the neighborhood at the time and is now worth over $300,000. I don't know the square footage but it is small. We would like to move to a regular house but there is nowhere we can go that we can afford around here. If we headed north to PA or even Frederick or Westminster, maybe, but it wouldn't be worth it. I only have a 10 to 15 minute drive to work and there are lots of stores close by, so just going back and forth and with errands I usually have to fill up the gas tank on my van every other week. If we moved out further it would add to that expense. And getting a new job is out of the question. I know there is no way I could find another one that would have as good benefits as I have now, I have worked for the same company for almost 15 years.

 

[Poohgirl]

Wow! I am amazed at the ranges in price here. Unfortunately, where I live we are on the more outrageous end of the stick. Starters between 250-300K.

 

[Alice28]

I just have to add that where I grew up, San Jose, CA, I could not live there even if I wanted to. I don't think you can get a home for less than $450,000 anymore. I'm not kidding. My parents sold their 1950s tract home, on a busy street, 2000 sq feet, for I think $680,000 last summer. My grandparent's old home, another 1950s tract, only 1000 square feet, but on .25 acre in the 'desirable' zip code of 95070, sold for over $800K 2 years ago. It's INSANE. So these median prices have crazy insane areas like the San Fran Bay Area thrown in and it throws the median way off.

 

[kilee]

Wow-- I live 1/2 way between Buffalo NY and Erie PA right on Lake Erie (okay about 0.8 miles from the lake). We bought our home in 2002 for $60,000. It's appraised value is $80,000. The average home in our area only sells for about $60,000. We live in the "country" and that accounts for why we are a bit cheaper. However, even a few towns over the average starter home sells for about $100,000.
,

 

[TENIA66]

we live in an old farm house that is not worth much and yes we enjoy the no house payment and the low taxes.