Towns/Cities with cheap housing costs??

[FreshTressa]

I keep reading threads about places with high housing costs, but what places have really low housing costs??

Sometimes I get tempted to move to some of them!!

 

[ducklite]

Much of Northeastern NC, SW VA, and NW VA have very inexpensive housing. OTher areas with affordable housing are in Western TX, around Lake Okeechobee FL, much of AL, MS, IA, MI, and parts of OH. Unfortunately where you find lower cost housing, there are usually lower paying jobs to go with it.

Anne

 

[golfgal]

Pretty much anything outside of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area in Minnesota is affordable, unless you want lake property. Many of the smaller towns have good jobs available and housing costs are very low.

 

[Sleepy]

Unfortunately where you find lower cost housing, there are usually lower paying jobs to go with it.

BINGO! Lower paying jobs where unemployment is high and everyone is fighting for those low paying jobs. Places where if the factory closes, half the town is looking for work.

 

[golfgal]

BINGO! Lower paying jobs where unemployment is high and everyone is fighting for those low paying jobs. Places where if the factory closes, half the town is looking for work.

That is not always true. I know many towns around Minnesota, including our own, that are BEGGING for people to move here because they can't fill jobs. It isn't the factory jobs they can't fill, it is the entry level business and up jobs. Unemployment rate in our town is zero meaning anyone that wants a job has one. Housing costs in our town are reasonable and in the surrounding really small towns, you can find a house for under $100,000 and many under $50,000 if you want to commute. There are many towns like this around MN.

 

[bevtoy]

BINGO! Lower paying jobs where unemployment is high and everyone is fighting for those low paying jobs. Places where if the factory closes, half the town is looking for work.

Sometimes when housing is less, taxes and food or insurance are high to go along with those low paying jobs.

 

[SillyMe]

I live in an area that has low housing costs compared to most areas. It's slowly increasing, though, as NY, NJ and Philly residents are moving in and commuting. The housing costs may be low, but the local incomes are also low and the taxes are pretty high.

 

[GoofyDad869]

East Tennessee has relatively low housing costs (with the exception of some exclusive lakefront developments, and some enclaves in Chattanooga & Knoxville areas). No state income tax, low gas prices, reasonable insurance. School systems are better-than national average in most East TN counties and cities (Oak Ridge-area schools are consistently top-20 nationally). There aren't a lot of mega-huge corporations (Alcoa, TVA & ORNL spring to mind) - most employment is small- to medium-sized industry and businesses. We are 8 hours away (or less) from a good portion of the eastern seaboard. It's a beautiful part of the country.

Commercial is over. A brochure for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be arriving via snail-mail in the next few days...

 

[Christine]

That is not always true. I know many towns around Minnesota, including our own, that are BEGGING for people to move here because they can't fill jobs. It isn't the factory jobs they can't fill, it is the entry level business and up jobs. Unemployment rate in our town is zero meaning anyone that wants a job has one. Housing costs in our town are reasonable and in the surrounding really small towns, you can find a house for under $100,000 and many under $50,000 if you want to commute. There are many towns like this around MN.

golfgal,

How come no one wants to move there? What do you think is the drawback? I always thought that if there was money to be made, people WILL come.

 

[lucyblondecat]

golfgal,

How come no one wants to move there? What do you think is the drawback? I always thought that if there was money to be made, people WILL come.

My bet is the cold winters in MN! Brrrr!!

 

[golfgal]

golfgal,

How come no one wants to move there? What do you think is the drawback? I always thought that if there was money to be made, people WILL come.

The main draw back is we are kind of out in the boonies. We are the largest town around and we don't really have any real shopping and other amenities. We do have a GREAT town that is a wonderful place to raise kids. It is a fairly close nit community without being so small that everyone knows everything about your life. People either love our town or hate it. We often get executives in town who's wives complain about no shopping so they leave.

 

[tkd lisa]

I grew up in Indianapolis, and when I visit, the housing prices sure seem affordable to me. I know you can rent a nice apartment for between 3 and $400 a month. And nice homes are available. In fact, if you don't mind an older home, I think some of them are still less than $100k.

And just head out slightly into the country, and the prices drop dramatically. I have family that has a 3 bedroom, 2 bath rambler on about 2 acres with a two car garage. It's about 30 years old, and they'll probably end up selling it for about $95,000 if they're lucky.

I think the job market is pretty rough there though. It is a nice place to live. Not too crowded, but has most of the big city amenities (pro sports teams, symphony, nice shopping, etc.)

 

[RadioNate]

San Antonio Tx, with the new Nissan plant (not to mention their suppliers) and Washington Mutual there are many professional jobs available as well as jobs that don't require advanced degrees.

Housing is still affordable. Taxes are high but you can get 300sqft for less than 250k. There is still housing under 200k in good neighborhoods with good schools.

 

[grinningghost]

Western NY has very reasonable housing costs - BUT - the taxes are astronomical, which trumps the low housing costs.

Case in point. Our new house is going to be in the neighborhood of 230,000. Our taxes will be 6800. Our last house was 94000 and we paid 4000 in taxes.

You can't win in these parts.

 

[grimley1968]

The living is pretty cheap here in southern Kentucky. Income levels are lower, but I can afford a much nicer house here with my salary than I could if I lived in a metropolitan city making twice my salary.

 

[GoldenGate]

I keep reading threads about places with high housing costs, but what places have really low housing costs??

Sometimes I get tempted to move to some of them!!

There is a reason for lower housing costs in places, 'cause not many people want to live there

 

[Papa Deuce]

That is not always true. I know many towns around Minnesota, including our own, that are BEGGING for people to move here because they can't fill jobs. It isn't the factory jobs they can't fill, it is the entry level business and up jobs. Unemployment rate in our town is zero meaning anyone that wants a job has one. Housing costs in our town are reasonable and in the surrounding really small towns, you can find a house for under $100,000 and many under $50,000 if you want to commute. There are many towns like this around MN.

Of course, ya get like 7 months of winter to go along with that!

 

[grimley1968]

There is a reason for lower housing costs in places, 'cause not many people want to live there

So THAT's why the suburbs of Atlanta, with their relatively inexpensive real estate values, are exploding in population.

With due respect, I don't buy your reasoning. There are many places in this country to live in that have low real estate values (I just mentioned one) that are deemed quite desirable by a lot of people. Of course, this will eventually jack the price up as available land grows scarce, but for now some of these places are desirable locations and have fairly inexpensive mean real estate values.

At one time, Orlando was a dirt cheap place to buy property, and a certain company bought a bunch of land there, built this massive complex on it, which then jacked up real estate values in that area. Who was that?

Actually, there are still several towns in the area where you can get fairly inexpensive real estate. I, for one, think Central Florida would be a nice place to live. But I still prefer my even less expensive location in Kentucky, where I at least have a chance to see some real snow about once a winter or so.

 

[hercamore]

People, Mn does not have 7 months of winter! Winters have been mild and w/o much snowfall the last 10 years.

SE MN is a great place to live, especially ifyou need a medical or computer related job.

herc.

 

[Papa Deuce]

People, Mn does not have 7 months of winter! Winters have been mild and w/o much snowfall the last 10 years.

SE MN is a great place to live, especially ifyou need a medical or computer related job.

herc.

OK, but you do get sub zero temps way too often for most of us! And, don't they drive 18 wheeler trucks accross your lakes in the winter? I know someone who lived there and he told me it was a common occurence.