Houses and apartment rates in your area

[MomofKatie]

OH...MY...GOSH!!! (to paraphrase Janice from "Friends")!!

I have lived all my adult life in the Southeast, and NEVER have I heard of such prices y'all have to pay in the Northeast, West coast, and Hawaii! How does anyone ever afford to own a home? Wow!

Homes in suburban Charlotte range from the 120's for a 1600 sq.ft starter home to the low 200's for the average everyday nice 2200 sq.ft 4 bed/2 1/2 bath home on a quarter acre. Of, course, they go up from there, but most people can find a decent basic suburban home for those prices.

How do you guys afford those housing prices AND Disney vacations?!?! LOL!!

 

[caitycaity]

Originally posted by EsmeraldaX
Wow. Snoopy & Caity...DC makes Boston look like a bargain!

which is why we are looking to move as soon as i finish my master's.

there are a lot of pros to living in this area. i just don't want to wait until i'm 40 to buy a single family house.

not that there's anything wrong with it, but i just can't imagine raising kids in an apartment once they get to the age that they want to be running around outside.

 

[chrissyk]

We recently sold our small house in the suburbs west of Boston for $427K. That seems about right for this area. Our house is pretty tiny with no garage. Our lot is just under 1/4 acre. Rent is about $1625/month locally for a 2 BDR apartment. I think that this is pretty reasonable. Maybe I am brainwashed by our high cost of living, though. We are moving to FL, where our new house cost like 1/2 as much, LOL!

 

[Kimberle]

MomofKatie,

This is "nothing"! Just wait til someone from Manhattan posts!

 

[MomofKatie]

Kimberle, I will have to keep the smelling salts handy!

 

[bapcap]

We live here in Clovis, in the central valley of California and our housing prices have seemed to skyrocket over the last couple of years. Clovis seems to be a highly sought-after area due to the great school district (lots of community support and high test scores every year). Homes in my neighborhood are going for about $275,000 to $350,000, depending on the size and most of the older homes have pools. The only downside to our valley is the heat...today it's around 105º and it's suppose to get up to almost 110º by Friday Luckily we have very little humidity, it's a dry heat My husband and I discussed the possibility of selling our home for a very large profit, but since we'd have to use all of that and more to buy something just as large and nice, we figure we'd be in even more debt.
Sadly, my daughter just started teaching school and has made the comment that she will probably never be able to afford her own home

 

[ZachnElli]

Originally posted by snoopy
From the sounds of it, we all need to move to Texas! A 4 bedroom house for $100,000??? Dang! Where's my cowboy hat? I'm moving!

We lived in Texas in 96-97. Our house was 2800 sq ft, large corner lot, 4 bedrooms, living room, dining room, family room and bonus room for $128,000! We sold it for $134,000. And there are no state income taxes!

I don't know how you folks on the east coast do it! I showed a friend of mine in Brooklyn, and dh a friend of his in NJ, pictures of our new house, and they said it would cost 1.5-2 million there!

 

[frndshpcptn]

Here's the person from Manhattan!

My apartment is one bedroom, one bath that we divided into two bedrooms by cutting off about half the living room. The whole apt is about 800 sft. We got a BARGAIN at $2100 a month, not including any utilities. We live in a doorman building (it just seems more secure to me), so its totally worth it.

My Uncle rents the 2 bedroom 1 and 1/2 bath apt he owns in a pre-war building on the Upper West side for over $4000 a month (Doorman building as well). I tried to get him to reduce the rent so my roomie and I could afford it--but no luck!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Here in the Twin City metro area, average size houses in the 'burbs (1600-2000 Sq Ft) would be around $250,000-$350,000. The newer farther out suburbs with houses in the 3500sq ft range and up will be around $500,000 to $2,000,000. Apartment prices have come down here recently because there has been a big growth in new houseing with the low interest rates. Our DD lives in a 1 bedroom condo that she bought about 10 years ago for $21,000, and now those same units are selling for around $89,000.

 

[Yardbird]

I live in a small town a few miles north of Annapolis. We live in a very average neighborhood, built in the early 80's, most have around 1800 sq. ft., and a one car garage. They are now selling for around $400,000. Just three years ago, they were selling for half that. Unbelievable.

I want to move to Florida.

 

[decker96]

I live in Southeastern Minnesota. Two years ago we bought our 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house (4200 sq. feet including basement which is unfinished) for $235,000. At that time it was 12 years old. Our next door neighbors just sold theirs for $260,000 (basically the same house size-wise). If our basement was finished, we could probably sell for about $275,000- $300,000 we are told by our realtor, although we are not planning on moving anytime soon!
We also own a small apartment building in a great location in our town. Our one-bedrooms are $435 per month and two bedrooms are $525-$560, including water and garbage pick-up. All have one bathroom, stove, fridge, dishwasher, garbage disposal and air conditioning. Some have balconies. They do not have washer/dryers in them, there's a laundry room on the first floor. Our apartments are about in the middle of the price range of others here.
I couldn't believe the prices on the east coast either, I knew they were high, but had no idea they were THAT high!! Holy cow!!!

 

[mchames]

Inside the perimeter in a desirable neighborhood (Buckhead, Morningside, Virginia Highlands, Midtown) you'd be hard pressed to find a 3/2 for under $500,000 that didn't need substantial work. The average price for a decent sized 3-4 bedroom house in these neighborhoods is going to run you $650,000 or more. In Ansley Park and sections of Buckhead you'd be lucky to find a 3/2 for under $800,000.

Outside the perimeter is a different story. In Dekalb and Cobb counties (much LOWER taxes), within 30 minutes of downtown Atlanta, in excellent school districts you could find a 4/3 in the $400,000 range and lower (as well as much more expensive new-build executive homes).

We currently live intown and have been looking both within our current school district (which is excellent) and outside the perimeter and it is amazing how much more your money will get you once you leave the city limits. We are torn between staying in the neighborhood we love and "getting more for our money"

Mary

 

[minniecarousel]

Here in the suburbs of the SF Bay Area, most homes are in the 1/2 million range. You can find homes in some towns for less, but here in the 'burbs, that would be hard to find. (I don't even know what a home in a safe neighborhood in San Francisco would run.) My DS rents a 1 bedroom apt in a near-by great small city for $825. Rents may actually be down a little because of the low interest rate=more people buying. I fear, too, that my kids may never be able to buy homes on their own.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

Originally posted by mchames
Inside the perimeter in a desirable neighborhood (Buckhead, Morningside, Virginia Highlands, Midtown) you'd be hard pressed to find a 3/2 for under $500,000 that didn't need substantial work. The average price for a decent sized 3-4 bedroom house in these neighborhoods is going to run you $650,000 or more. In Ansley Park and sections of Buckhead you'd be lucky to find a 3/2 for under $800,000.

Outside the perimeter is a different story. In Dekalb and Cobb counties (much LOWER taxes), within 30 minutes of downtown Atlanta, in excellent school districts you could find a 4/3 in the $400,000 range and lower (as well as much more expensive new-build executive homes).

We currently live intown and have been looking both within our current school district (which is excellent) and outside the perimeter and it is amazing how much more your money will get you once you leave the city limits. We are torn between staying in the neighborhood we love and "getting more for our money"

Mary

An Atlanta native here. In the suburbs you can get a nicer home with a great school district starting from $300,000. You can still get a nice, smaller home for less than that in decent areas.

 

[DisKim]

South Jersey chiming in here! We live in a very small town in south Jersey (we don't even have a Walmart). We paid $160,000 for our house 4 years ago. I don't know square footage, but it is a large colonial with a wrap-around porch, finished basement, etc. Our neighbor across the street just sold his house ( a ranch) for 400,000. I feel stuck. I love my house but I hate our small town atmosphere. We can't move though because we can't afford it. I'd like to move further north in NJ, but the prices go up the further north you go. I guess I'll be stuck in this town for a while. I've been tempted to move to NC. I know someone who moved to Charlotte and the prices are a steal! Oh, don't forget NJ property taxes. My mortgage went up over $100 a month due to the property tax increase.

 

[WDWHound]

Remind me never to move from Round Rock. I'm not sure I could afford a home elsewhere. Homes in my neighborhood average around $185,000. That gets you a 4/2 around 2300 square feet in a nice neighborhood with lots of trees.

Starter homes in Round Rock (just north of Austin) can still be found for around $100,000 for a 1200 square foot home in a run down area, and $130,000 in better part of town.

 

[HisEllyNelly]

Southern NH here. Bought our 3 bedroom 1000sq ft home 2 years ago (BTW its part of an association so we dont own our own land) selling it the end of the month for 226,000.00. Thats about as low as you can get right now although the market is changing rather quickly. Rents...eeeeeek....about 900.00 for a 2 bedroom I know that doesnt seem like much...but I can remember my first 2 bedroom apartment was like 450.00.

 

[bjgrazi]

a 2 bedroom apt anywhere from $1000 - $1300 in Vernon, NJ. It's very depressing because I can't seem to find anything I can afford. I'm gonna end up in a cardboard box with my kids.

 

[jrydberg]

Just another DC area resident chiming in...

Bought my northern VA townhouse in September for $359,000 (all the while whining about how I couldn't believe I was paying that much for a townhouse) and similar units in my development are selling for well over $400,000 now, on the market for 1 day.

 

[joats]

My first home - a 700 sq ft 1br/condo that I purchased for $70,000 and sold for $111,000 3 years ago just sold this week for $170,000. Fairfield County, CT is so ridiculous!