Real Estate markets - what would $XXX get you in your area?

kvruns

I've always been fascinated by real estate markets and watching housing prices in my area and also seeing how things differ across the country (and even around the world).  The weekend thread got me thinking about this since I know there are knotties from all over on here.  So I'm curious, what kind of living space could you buy for different amounts in your area.  No real definition of area but maybe your neighborhood or those close by.

$150,000

$300,000

$500,000

$1,000,000+

kvruns

My answers:

I live in the suburbs of Indianapolis and we have lower housing prices across the board.  I'm out in what I call far away suburbia where there are a lot of new housing additions popping up and you can usually get good prices for less than some other areas not too far away that are more establised.  Even in my old neighborhood, about 20 miles from here, I was less far out and while prices were more than what they are in my current area they are still very reasonable

$150,000 - build a new starter house, 3/4 bedrooms, 2/2.5 baths, probably 1600-2000 sq feet. Could afford some upgrades though not a ton.  Older houses of similar size can be found under this range

$300,000 - 4-5 bedroom in a new or established addition; 3,000-4,500 sq feet, 3 car garage, sometimes a basement though not always finished.  Decent amount of upgrades (hardwood floors, quality flooring and cabinets/counter tops), etc.

$500,000 - everything you can get in the 300K house, more upgrades, nicer fixtures, and usually a more expensive neighborhood.  There's a higher end golf course community that has houses on the low end around 450K but you're just getting "status" and really who cares, you're still out in suburbia

$1,000,000+ - pretty much anything you want. You either get the fancy golf course community with a 6-7 bedroom house and 5,000-8,000 sq feet or you build in a place that gives a larger lot.  Getting a little further away (20 min) you can be waterfront on one of the two popular lakes for boating

sarahufl

I live in the NYC burbs. And it is SO.EXPENSIVE. Most of the homes in my town were built in the early 1900s. They are beautiful and lovely, but they don't come cheap. This is also a market heavily influenced by proximity to public transit and good schools since there are a lot of families and commuters (most of whom left NYC when the kids came around).

$150,000- absolutely nothing. POSSIBLY a small apartment

$300,000- a medium sized apartment that likely needs work

$500,000- a small house in the bad school district, far from the train

$1,000,000+- a normal house that would cost half that in a more typical town. Ours fits into this category - it is a 4 bed/2.5 bath, roughly 2400 sq ft.

Somewhere between 500k and 1 million, it really depends on the town. In my town, it is something small that needs work. In the rest of the county, it may buy you a bit more. The further you get from Manhattan, the more you get for your $$$. But nowhere in the county could you consider "cheap"

cupcait927

@kvruns that's pretty much how my area is as well, maybe a little less for the $150,000 price tag.

 

ETA - this applies for both the city near me and the suburbs. Housing is pretty damn affordable in my part of the state - near Rochester, NY - compared to a lot of places in the country.

katiekessler123

I live in Pittsburgh where housing is very affordable.

We paid $125,000 for our house and it is a 3 bedroom house (1500 sq feet) in a very hot area of the city.  We bought almost exactly two years ago, but now housing in this area of the city is crazy expensive.  We prob couldn't even afford it if we hadn't bought two years ago.  To give you an idea, a very similar house two down from ours just went on sale and it is $225,000.

However, in the suburbs, $300,000 would be a 4 or 5 bedroom house in a very nice neighborhood.  $500,000 and above would be a total mansion.

Maggie0829

I live about 45 minutes east of Baltimore City, MD.

$150,000 - probably a two bedroom condo

$300,000 - newly built town home with single car garage

$500,000 - 4 bedroom single family home (these generally start in the low $400Ks but for $500K you can buy a newly built home with nice fixtures, but on a very small size plot of land)

$1,000,000+ - pretty much anything you want.  We have a few neighborhoods in my area with huge homes and large properties in this price range.  But they surely don't have the same character/warmth as homes in the $300-500K price range.

mikenberger

I'm in the middle of Iowa (truly a cornfield)...

150k will get you a nicer, newer home. 2+ beds, 2+ baths, attached garage, a nice sized lot, probably fenced in. Also in a pretty good neighborhood. Around 1500-1800 sq ft.

300k will get you 4+ bed, 3+ bath, 3 stall attached garage, a decent lot, great schools, probably up to 2400 sq feet.

Anything over 500k is going to be either an acreage with multiple buildings on it or a mansion in an exclusive development. I love looking at houses Can't wait to finally get out of our house. I love it, it's in a GREAT location, but I need another bathroom and a garage. 

lovegood90

I'm in Toronto and not looking to buy, so my answers are just based on what I've seen. So I could be totally wrong; any other Torontonians out there feel free to correct me!

$150,000- A shoebox? Haha. Or maybe a bachelor condo really far out.

$300,000- Very small one bedroom condo, probably not in a desirable area. Or maybe a starter home farther out in the GTA?

$500,000- Decent sized one bedroom, depends on the area though. I've been finding if you want a decent sized condo, in a central area, that's also a newer/nicer building, the price range seems to be around 600,000-750,000.

$1,000,000+- I think you could get a house/townhouse in a central area, or a bigger 2+ bedroom condo.

novella1186

The real estate market is very odd where I live right now. It's a tiny, run-down town without much to offer. Full of check-cashing places (just kidding!) 

But because of my industry, there's a lot of wealth here and a lot of demand for the few houses that go up for sale, so real estate prices are extremely inflated compared to other areas around here, including my hometown which is way better and has way more to offer than this town. Just a mini rant, there. 

so it's like this: 

$150,000-- a very small pre-fab house on a slab of cement that was most likely built in the 80s and has not been updated since. Maybe a garage, but probably not. Most likely needs a new roof, water heater, and other expensive repairs. (This is the type of place we're renting now. The lack of space, lack of storage, shitty finishes, and all the appliances constantly breaking is driving us fucking nuts) And I have nothing at all against pre-fab houses. My grandma lives in one and it's a really really nice house. But the ones in this area are not nice at all. Or at least not the ones up for sale. 

$300,000-- a single family home, maybe up to 4 bedrooms. Most likely built in the 70s or 80s, same issue as above with needing updates and repairs. We looked at one a little under this price when we were house hunting. All the carpet in the basement had mold, all the fixtures in the kitchen and bathrooms had rotted because no one had lived there in a long time, a pipe had burst in the basement so there was a flood of water pouring down the wall. The asking price would not budge. 

$500,000-- same as above but in much better condition 

$1,000,000+ -- a small house on one of the tiny lakes around here, but in desperate need of updates (think Golden Girls style decor with pastel laminate countertops to match teal green kitchen sinks and other such nightmares) 

kvruns

katiekessler123 said:

I live in Pittsburgh where housing is very affordable.

We paid $125,000 for our house and it is a 3 bedroom house (1500 sq feet) in a very hot area of the city.  We bought almost exactly two years ago, but now housing in this area of the city is crazy expensive.  We prob couldn't even afford it if we hadn't bought two years ago.  To give you an idea, a very similar house two down from ours just went on sale and it is $225,000.

However, in the suburbs, $300,000 would be a 4 or 5 bedroom house in a very nice neighborhood.  $500,000 and above would be a total mansion.

sounds like you bought at the right time! The house I sold in August sounds very similar to yours and was about the same price.  I was just happy my house retained its value during the crash but definitely never rose like yours!

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226

We live in a suburb of Chicago and I felt like we got a great deal on our house. Asking price was $239,000 but they took $232,000. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. I believe it is about 2300 square feet.  

katiekessler123

kvruns- Yeah, we just got lucky!  We bought in that particular area because both my brother and sister own houses in the same area and I liked it there.  We truly had no idea that it would become the next "hot" place.

theartistformerlyknownas

Metro Detroit... give or take depending on the burb. The "fancy" burbs around here go for about double the reasonable ones.

$150,000: 1000-1200 sq ft ranch, 1 bathroom, original 50's kitchen.

$300,000: 2000-2500 sq ft, updated 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 30-40 year old house.

$500,000: 3000+ sq ft, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, <10 years old or completely renovated

$1,000,000+: 5000+ sq ft, movie theater inside your house, more bathrooms than bedrooms, gourmet kitchen

KatieinBkln

NYC.

$100K: Nothing

$300K: A near-condemned rat-infested studio in a terrible neighborhood. Maybe.

$500K: A poorly laid-out studio, 5th floor walk-up, in a neighborhood at least 1 mile's walk from the subway

$1 million: Here you can start to think about multiple bedrooms anywhere within a reasonable commute to the city.

Kill me.

STARMOON44

Within my city limits:

150- a run down 2 bedroom in a part of town that is actively dangerous and violent

300- a nice new one bedroom in a great part of town or a slightly less nice 1.5 beds in a great part of town.

500- a decent 2 bedroom apartment

750000- a reasonably renovated townhouse. Nothing spectacular, 3 small bedrooms.

1,000,000 a waterfront two bedroom in a nice building. Or several crappy drug houses.

Huge variations in income and real estate within just a few miles here.

arrippa

I live in Boston so...

$150,000- maybe a studio condo

$300,000- small one bedroom condo

$500,000 -two bedroom condo

$1,000,000+ -luxury condo

*where I Iive there are few single family homes, mostly condos. The suburbs are different and could get single family houses for maybe $500,000.

JennyColada

$150,000: Nothing

$300,000: A 1 bedroom condo.

$500,000: A house (the amount of bedrooms depends on which part of the city). Farther from city center (where we are), you can get 3-4 bedrooms. Closer to city center it's more like 1-2.

$1,000,000+: A 3-4 bedroom house in neighborhood city center.

flyingfoxes

KC metro, similar to @kvrunsestimates she gave. 

mikenberger

I'm always intrigued by these answers... I have a few friends that live in NY/NJ and every so often they comment about how cheap it is where I live. But then I mention that they're not a tree, they can move. And then it's like "HOW DARE YOU!?" and they tell me how great the city is. So I have to ask:

What keeps you living in the cities with the huge costs of living?

ETA: I also don't want my post to come off as "EW. why do you live there!?" I've visited a few times and always love visiting, but it's always nice to come back home. But I grew up here and this is where my life is it's just nice to hear from the other side.

chibiyui

Rural MD

150 will get you 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath

300 will get your similar, or slightly smaller but with twice the land or more. Depends how close you get to Baltimore

500 there's a farm. like, 25 acres. But that price range either skews towards the bay or north to PA (With half-assed searching on Zillow at least) so South Central PA will give you at least 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3,000 sq feet and at least a half acre, in addition to looking quite pretty and having nice finishes.

1 mill gets you pretty much whatever you want here. Practically doesn't exist on Zillow without going to Baltimore. 

STARMOON44

mikenberger said:

I

What keeps you living in the cities with the huge costs of living?

My job is here, my family is here, and I like the lifestyle. I like the culture, the theatre, the restaurants, the public transit, being close to 2 major international airports

sarahufl

mikenberger said:

I'm always intrigued by these answers... I have a few friends that live in NY/NJ and every so often they comment about how cheap it is where I live. But then I mention that they're not a tree, they can move. And then it's like "HOW DARE YOU!?" and they tell me how great the city is. So I have to ask:

What keeps you living in the cities with the huge costs of living?

For me, it is H. He is from the area and never wants to leave.

I really do like it here, his family is nearby, we have great friends. No complaints.

But on the COL thing- I make twice what I would make doing my job pretty much anywhere else. And H makes easily 3 times what he would make elsewhere. I could work anywhere I want, but H has a really specialized job that limits his mobility.

lovegood90

mikenberger said:

I'm always intrigued by these answers... I have a few friends that live in NY/NJ and every so often they comment about how cheap it is where I live. But then I mention that they're not a tree, they can move. And then it's like "HOW DARE YOU!?" and they tell me how great the city is. So I have to ask:

What keeps you living in the cities with the huge costs of living?

For me, I've always seen myself ending up in a "bigger city". There are more job opportunities for me here, I like having everything at my doorstep (transit-I hate driving, 24 hr grocery store, 24 hr gym, etc). I can get thai food at 3am if I wanted, etc. It's also super easy to go to other nearby cities (trains, buses) or fly places (2 airports).

Cookie Pusher

I live about 30 miles from midtown Manhattan in an affluent suburb in NJ. They just built new townhomes across the street from me - $725k starting price for 2700 sq. ft. and a 2 car garage. Those are "reasonable" compared to the ones a few blocks over that run about 1.2mil.

$150,000 - Nothing. Even houses that require complete renovation or straight up demolition are more than that.

$300,000 - Very little, if anything. Even the small, old townhouses near us start at closer to $400k.

$500,000 - A modest 2 bedroom home on less than 1 acre. Expect property taxes of around $1k/month.

$1,000,000+ - A larger home, typically 4 bedrooms with a larger, more secluded property away from the main drives with the house further from the road.

I think the average selling price in our town hovered around 500k last year, topping out at a few million. The house I grew up in tripled in value since my parents bought it 20ish years ago, even after the real estate bubble burst. That's why DH and I are looking at houses a little further away.

teddygirl9

I'm just looking at MLS and these are current. Prices have gone down a bit due to oil, and it's def a buyers market.

$150,000 -  townhome/condo, 800-1000 sqft, 2bed 2bath

$300,000 - New condo in the burbs (not far from me, nicer area), 900 - 1000 sqft 2b2b, nicely upgraded. Closer to the city center you can get an apartment, 800 sqft 2b1b, nice trendy area but terrible finishings and high monthly hoa/condo fees. Less desireable area of the city-a handful of actual homes come up, smaller older homes, 800-1000 sqft but with a yard. Not nicely finished.

$500,000 - My neighborhood this gets you a detached home in the burbs. 3b3b, double attached garage, nicely finished, 1500-2000 sqft. Closer to the city center -  small home in a great neighborhood 2-3b, 1-2 bath. Usually needs some TLC, but nice sized lots. Less desireably area of town - you can buy an entire 4plex for rent.

$1,000,000+ - close to the city center you can get a nice 4b4b townhome or full home in a ritzy neighborhood. Super great finishings. 2600 sqft. In downtown proper, you can get a 2b2b penthouse apartment w/ 2 underground parking spaces. In the burbs, you're backing onto a ravine/river/lake, 3 or 4 car garage, 3000+ sqft, large lot.

KatieinBkln

mikenberger said:

I'm always intrigued by these answers... I have a few friends that live in NY/NJ and every so often they comment about how cheap it is where I live. But then I mention that they're not a tree, they can move. And then it's like "HOW DARE YOU!?" and they tell me how great the city is. So I have to ask:

What keeps you living in the cities with the huge costs of living?

ETA: I also don't want my post to come off as "EW. why do you live there!?" I've visited a few times and always love visiting, but it's always nice to come back home. But I grew up here and this is where my life is it's just nice to hear from the other side.

It's all about the culture! I like being able to go out and see something new and interesting every day if I want. I like being able to order any cuisine at 3 in the morning for delivery. I like the huge diverse pool of people I get to meet (even when the other side of that coin is "UGH SO MANY PEOPLE"). I like the energy of the city, the vastness of it, the way it's always on. I don't have to partake all the time, but I like that the only reason I have to be bored is because I choose to be.

I also don't totally mind the fact that I probably won't ever buy real estate here. I see my friends/family with houses, and it seems like all they do every weekend is upkeep and lawn mowing/shoveling. On my weekends I go to brunch or a park or a museum. 

Ultimately I am sure I'll move away from the city to somewhere my future kids can have a yard, but until then, I don't have a problem paying through the nose to live where I do. As @sarahufl said, too, the wages I can earn here are much higher for my field than pretty much anywhere else, so it (sort of) evens out.

JCbride2015

Jersey City is slightly better than NYC, but only slightly.

$150k: nothing.  Maybe a small apartment way out in the high crime areas of the city far away from public transportation.

$300k: a very small studio condo in an okay area.  Maybe you could walk to a bus or the PATH.

$500k: a decent one bedroom condo, maybe a small two bedroom if you get really lucky or are willing to be farther away from the train.  We are hoping to buy a two bedroom within the next year and a half, and we think we're going to have to spend a bit more than this to get something we wouldn't have to move out of the moment we add a baby to the picture.  Barf.

$1M: up to three bedrooms in an updated condo, centrally located.

If you want to consider a brownstone or anything with a postage stamp yard, parking spot, etc. you're looking at easily $2-3M in downtown JC.  But that same property would be $4-5M in Manhattan.

JennyColada

mikenberger said:

What keeps you living in the cities with the huge costs of living?

Well for one, in January when it's 80* and sunny out I think to myself "THIS is why it's so expensive to live here - and it's worth it!"

But that aside: I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I like living close to a major metropolitan city. COULD I move to rural Montana and buy a 6 bedroom house for $50,000? Sure. But then I'd be living in rural Montana.

labro

$150,000 - something close the home I own now. 1988 built 3 bed/2 bath, 1750 sq feet with a crawl space/partial basement. 3/4 acre lot in an older neighborhood.

$300,000 - 5 bedrooms and 3-4 baths, large (3000+ sq feet), probably a 1/3 acre lot since most of the newer homes in this area are on postage stamp lots, 1-3 sided brick

$500,000 - 5 large bedrooms, 5 to 6 baths, full finished basement, large lot, granite/upgraded kitchen, upgraded flooring, 2 -3 car garage, 4-sided brick

$1,000,000+ - Let's just call it a McMansion and be done with it.

sarahufl

JennyColada said:

mikenberger said:

What keeps you living in the cities with the huge costs of living?

Well for one, in January when it's 80* and sunny out I think to myself "THIS is why it's so expensive to live here - and it's worth it!"

But that aside: I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I like living close to a major metropolitan city. COULD I move to rural Montana and buy a 6 bedroom house for $50,000? Sure. But then I'd be living in rural Montana.

This is my thing. I have no desire to live in the sticks.

I like walking to the grocery, not having to drive to work, having an unlimited number of things to do all the time.

My new town is 20 min on the train from Manhattan. We also live a 10 min walk from the beach. That is awesome, IMO.

buttercup1958

I'm not looking to buy, but I want to play! I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. 

150,00. That will get you a smaller home 3-4 bedrooms. Usually around 1,200-1,500 sq ft. These homes may not be as updated. This will be a single family home.

300,000. 500,000 and 1,000,000 can pretty much get you really nicely updated big homes and/or nice land. The cost of living is fairly low here. Most of the houses here range from 100,000-350,000. It's one of the reasons why V and I have talked about eventually moving back to this area. We won't be house poor but still get a decent house with land.