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

lmcooper86

alpacalunch said:

lovegood90 said:

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.

Average price for a detached house officially passed $1,000,000 a few weeks ago. 

My parent's place (about 20 minutes to the downtown core) is a rundown, semi-detached, hasn't-been-seriously-updated-since-i-was-a-toddler and recently it was appraised just above $700,000. 

Ridiculous! 

We will be moving (soon, I hope) to Ottawa, and the prices there are WAY more reasonable. 

$150,000 - there's a chance you can find a townhome in a rotten neighbourhood, or live very near the airport.

$300,000 - lots of townhomes, built in the 80s. Some condos,if it's newer it's a studio.

$500,000 - as long as you stay out of a couple of neighbourhoods (ex where the PM lives), your options are pretty open. 3 or 4 beds, 1 or 2 baths. 

$1,000,000+ -  hang out with the diplomats during your morning coffee. The older neighbourhoods start around this amount, but they're typically huge Victorian red brick homes in great areas. 

Funny enough, Ottawa is still very limited, hasn't really become a 'big city' in a lot of ways. But at least now they have a Whole Foods, so there's that.

Also Toronto, grew up in the GTA, just bought outside the city.

$150,000 - Hahahahahahahahaha! Maybe an old apartment in a bad area, with bad transit? There are a few very old/small/reno-required apartments and townhouses available under 150 if you go 30 - 60 minutes outside the city. I was actually shocked to find that.

$300,000 - Tiny new condo, maybe a slightly bigger older apartment. Might be able to find an old townhouse again 30 - 60 minutes outside the city.

$500,000 - Larger condo in a less-desirable area, small new condo downtown. You can get a new-ish townhouse for under 500 about an hour outside the city.

$1,000,000+ - You might actually be able to buy a house! A million will get you a nice/newer/larger condo downtown, or a small older townhouse or semi outside the core (but still in the city). A detached home in the city (outside the core) will easily cost well over a million. If you want a larger detached home (like reasonably sized bedrooms, a garage, etc) you're going outside the city, no question, and probably spending over 750.

katiekessler123

@PrettyGirlLost- good luck!  Are you planning on staying in the city or moving out toward the burbs?  Your husband's aunts are prob making bank with their rentals!  I don't think our housing market will get too extreme.  I think buyers in Pgh would push back simply based on the average household income.  

alpacalunch

Fun fact: not too long ago, there was a property sold near my old elementary school. Converted garage. No bathroom, no kitchen. 210 square feet. Sold for $165,000 (well under asking, which was 200something).

Closest I've seen to $150,000 in Toronto!

amelisha

I'm in Alberta, we have about a million people in the city.

$150,000: 1 bed or studio in an old walkup in the worst part of the city, no updates. Not much else other than a lot, I guess.

$300,000: Small condo in a nicer building in a better area. You might get parking. Alternately, you might be able to get something semi-detached, new (with lower-end finishes) out in the suburbs. At this price I've also seen small, rundown single-family homes in more central but not desirable neighbourhoods. 

(The tiny 2bed + den, 1.5 bath condo we rent in a nice but 1970s building (it has pools, a fitness room, a tennis court, and underground parking but it's not really "upscale" or anything if you know what I mean) about 10 blocks from the real downtown core would probably sell in the $375,000 range (with $750/month condo fees) were it on the market, judging from recent listings in the building.)

$500,000: "Standard" suburban home with 3 or 4 beds and low-to-midranges finishes way out in the boonies outside the ringroad. Higher-end 2 bedroom condo downtown. Small single-family home with a few upgrades in an okay neighbourhood 10-20 min from downtown. 

$1,000,000+: Updated, reno-ed single-family home in a good neighbourhood in the city (this would be the 4 or 5 bedroom type) or something that had been knocked down and completely rebuilt on a good lot. Upscale larger home in the suburbs, the kind with lots of fireplaces and ensuites for every bedroom and maybe a little home theatre room or something and some architectural interest. I recently saw an upscale duplex in one of the new southern suburbs go for over a million, too.

redheadbride15

Oh these are the types of threads that depress me and make me want to move (but clearly NOT to Toronto! Or NYC... Or the CA bay area...). FI moved to Boston from Texas and he never stops complaining about real estate prices. What we pay in rent for our 2BR apartment is equivalent to the mortgage on a McMansion in TX.

In Boston:
$150k - nothing in any neighborhood you'd want to live in
$300k - 1br condo in a borderline neighborhood, or a tiny studio in a nice neighborhood
$500k - 1-2br condo in a nice neighborhood
$1M - 2-3br <2000 sq ft house or "luxury" condo in nice neighborhood

Here's another fun real estate game. For rentals, what can you get for the following? I've filled in my best guesses for Boston.
$500/month - one room in a shared house in somewhat questionable condition with a bunch of obnoxious college kids
$1000/month - studio in a reasonable neighborhood
$2000/month - nice one bedroom or so-so two bedroom in a reasonable neighborhood
$4000/month - "luxury" 2-3 bedroom

jenna8984

I live one hour from Boston in central MA. Keep in mind that traffic is so bad only about 10% of people in my area work in Boston. The rest of us make substantially less working in central MA.

$150k- this is exactly what my home just sold for. It's a 1956 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1100 sf, 1 car garage, quarter acre lot.

$300k- this is unfortunately over our budget for the next house. You can get a 3-4 bedroom decent home but not brand new by any means. About 30 years old, with a nice half acre lot. Brand new builds are going for about $350k and they are making them all 1500 sf raised ranches, hardly anything like large 2 stories

$500k- very nice, new, 4 bedroom, 3 bath, colonial on an acre of land. Or an older 2-3 bedroom on a lake, there are many lakes and properties start around 400k for a small lake house.

$1 Mill- small mansion, 3500 sf, few acres, or large lake house.

Maggie0829

redheadbride15 said:

Oh these are the types of threads that depress me and make me want to move (but clearly NOT to Toronto! Or NYC... Or the CA bay area...). FI moved to Boston from Texas and he never stops complaining about real estate prices. What we pay in rent for our 2BR apartment is equivalent to the mortgage on a McMansion in TX.

In Boston:
$150k - nothing in any neighborhood you'd want to live in
$300k - 1br condo in a borderline neighborhood, or a tiny studio in a nice neighborhood
$500k - 1-2br condo in a nice neighborhood
$1M - 2-3br <2000 sq ft house or "luxury" condo in nice neighborhood

Here's another fun real estate game. For rentals, what can you get for the following? I've filled in my best guesses for Boston.
$500/month - one room in a shared house in somewhat questionable condition with a bunch of obnoxious college kids
$1000/month - studio in a reasonable neighborhood
$2000/month - nice one bedroom or so-so two bedroom in a reasonable neighborhood
$4000/month - "luxury" 2-3 bedroom

Rentals...

$500/month - a roomate is necessary and you could live in an apartment or very tiny home

$1000/month - a one bedroom apartment but for another $500/month you could get a 2 bedroom

$2000/month - a townhome

$4000/month - a nice 4 bedroom single family home

beachyone15

This all blows my mind. One of the things I like about San Antonio is that it is a big city, although more spread out. So we have all the conveniences of a big city, without feeling too overcrowded.

We just bought a house for $215,000 (asking price was $220,000). It's a 3-bedroom with an office, open floor plan, decent sized yard that backs up to a greenbelt. Quiet neighborhood and in a good location. It's about 2,000 sq feet.

I think the market here is pretty middle-of-the-road in terms of pricing. Most homes are 100,000-400,000. There are very few million dollar homes (although I was on realtor.com the other day and saw one for $12M!!!)

Cookie Pusher

JCbride2015 said:

As for what keeps us in this high COL area: first, we just love it here.  We can walk to anything we need, I get 2 hour Amazon delivery at my job, I wake up and look out at the World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty, and the Hudson River. We never have to drive.  Our friends and most of our family are reasonably close by.  Second, Fi is in the financial industry and I'm a securities lawyer.  This is the center of the world as far as both of our industries are concerned.  New York is it for us.

I work for one of the biggest, oldest, and most influential organizations in my industry. It's not great salary-wise but my benefits and work/life balance is amazing. DH's company is the only one of a handful worldwide that do what they do, and he is pretty much the worldwide authority on a specific type of testing for his company's products. Us moving out of state would pretty much entail starting our careers over again.

Also, NYC is my .

amelisha

I came back to answer the "well why do you live there?" question. 

I know we could get a cheaper, better home in a small town than we can in a city here, but we have jobs here and the market for the kind of midlevel white-collar stuff we do is very limited in small towns. And FI was born here, all his friends are here, and he's very close to those people. My friends are all here too. Moving to a small town with one grocery store and two schools might save us on real estate, but executive assistant jobs are few and far between in places with few executives and corporate insurance jobs are hard to find in places with few corporations...

pinkcow13

kvruns said:

I live in NYC, in Chelsea. 

So for my neighborhood:

$150,000 - A closet

$300,000 - A slightly bigger closet

$500,000 - Maybe a studio

$1,000,000+ - Now you can think about a decent apartment.

thisismynickname2

I live in Chicago, but the prices can vary drastically by neighborhood. My 'hood is fairly middle class, so here goes:

$150k- a studio or one bedroom condo, but probably not a too nice one. "Vintage"

$300k- nice one bedroom, or not as nice 2 bedroom condo

$500k- really nice condo, multiple bedrooms, even maybe a duplex or townhome (oo la la!)

$1mil- single family home

The closer you get to downtown, the less far your money goes. 

Why do I stay? Everything's convenient. I love the hustle and bustle. I love walking everywhere, even to get groceries. I love the variety of food and events that are within easy reach. I grew up in a very rural area so I have an appreciation for peace and quiet, but I just prefer the vibrancy of the city. 

Once, my best friend who'd moved to KS and I compared notes... She had this great 3 bedroom home in her area for exactly the same price (coincidence!) as my 600 sq ft condo. That hurts. 

emmaaa

Maggie0829 said:

redheadbride15 said:

Here's another fun real estate game. For rentals, what can you get for the following? I've filled in my best guesses for Boston.
$500/month - one room in a shared house in somewhat questionable condition with a bunch of obnoxious college kids
$1000/month - studio in a reasonable neighborhood
$2000/month - nice one bedroom or so-so two bedroom in a reasonable neighborhood
$4000/month - "luxury" 2-3 bedroom

$500: A one bedroom apartment or two bedroom house. DH and I pay $450/month for a two bedroom with a screened in back porch and 3 acre of land.

$1000: A three or four bedroom house or 2 or 3 bedroom apartment,

$2000 and $4000: i don't know anyone would would rent a house for that much, other than an assisted living facility where your meals are provided.

amelisha

I'll do the rent one too for the area we rent in (no idea about the suburbs):

$500/month: nothing but a room in a shared apartment splitting the rent.

$1000/month: low-end studio in an old walkup?

$2000/month: we pay this for a 2 bedroom apartment in an older highrise.

$4000/month: you could definitely rent a decent house with more than 2 bedrooms.

PrettyGirlLost

Cookie Pusher said:

JCbride2015 said:

As for what keeps us in this high COL area: first, we just love it here.  We can walk to anything we need, I get 2 hour Amazon delivery at my job, I wake up and look out at the World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty, and the Hudson River. We never have to drive.  Our friends and most of our family are reasonably close by.  Second, Fi is in the financial industry and I'm a securities lawyer.  This is the center of the world as far as both of our industries are concerned.  New York is it for us.

I work for one of the biggest, oldest, and most influential organizations in my industry. It's not great salary-wise but my benefits and work/life balance is amazing. DH's company is the only one of a handful worldwide that do what they do, and he is pretty much the worldwide authority on a specific type of testing for his company's products. Us moving out of state would pretty much entail starting our careers over again.

Also, NYC is my .

1st Bolded- Yeah but after paying for your rent/mortgage what in the hell do you have money to buy?  A doughnut?  Wait, those are like $20 now in NYC, right? :-P

2nd bolded- Oh nvm, you must be banking money hand over fist.  Carry on!

3rd bolded- I loved visiting NYC, it was a blast!  Contrary to all the hype, I did not find you New Yorkers to be overly rude or offensive.  Are you direct and loud?  Maybe, but I'm Italian so that ain't nothing!  I kinda felt like, "Finally!  These people fucking get it!"

I could never fathom living there because I could never afford the type of house I want, and I think after a while all of the crowds would start to wear on me. . . being a short girl in a crowd is kinda stressful and annoying.  Plus your public transportation while vast, scares me based on all of the blogs I've seen of the prevs and freaks and men just taking up too much goddamn space. 

http://gothamist.com/2014/11/24/nyc_subway_worst_ranking.php

http://mentakingup2muchspaceonthetrain.tumblr.com/

And I would have the money to keep up with the fashions, but I would try ><

PrettyGirlLost

katiekessler123 said:

@PrettyGirlLost- good luck!  Are you planning on staying in the city or moving out toward the burbs?  Your husband's aunts are prob making bank with their rentals!  I don't think our housing market will get too extreme.  I think buyers in Pgh would push back simply based on the average household income.  

Dunno, depends on what we can find.

I grew up in the suburbs and I prefer it- I don't like being right on top of my neighbors on both sides, I like having a pretty large yard, I like the bigger, Victorian style houses. 

However, Highland Park is very nice, it has a lot of the larger Victorian houses, many have decent yards.

lurkergirl

labro said:

$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.

I think these numbers really vary around Atlanta.  I feel like in the best school districts, $300k will only get you 4 bedrooms, and even less than that in some of the really nice areas.  We have friends who just bought in Sandy Springs, and paid close to $700k for 4 bed, 3 bath, half basement, built in the 60s but renovated house.  These days even the whole million doesn't always go that far.  Someone else I know just spent that and didn't even get a finished basement!  (Although it is stubbed out for a guest suite, bar, and movie theater)

I do really love living in Atlanta though.  I definitely have strong roots here and recommend it to anyone looking to live in the south!!

JCbride2015

PrettyGirlLost said:

Cookie Pusher said:

JCbride2015 said:

As for what keeps us in this high COL area: first, we just love it here.  We can walk to anything we need, I get 2 hour Amazon delivery at my job, I wake up and look out at the World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty, and the Hudson River. We never have to drive.  Our friends and most of our family are reasonably close by.  Second, Fi is in the financial industry and I'm a securities lawyer.  This is the center of the world as far as both of our industries are concerned.  New York is it for us.

I work for one of the biggest, oldest, and most influential organizations in my industry. It's not great salary-wise but my benefits and work/life balance is amazing. DH's company is the only one of a handful worldwide that do what they do, and he is pretty much the worldwide authority on a specific type of testing for his company's products. Us moving out of state would pretty much entail starting our careers over again.

Also, NYC is my .

1st Bolded- Yeah but after paying for your rent/mortgage what in the hell do you have money to buy?  A doughnut?  Wait, those are like $20 now in NYC, right? :-P

2nd bolded- Oh nvm, you must be banking money hand over fist.  Carry on!

3rd bolded- I loved visiting NYC, it was a blast!  Contrary to all the hype, I did not find you New Yorkers to be overly rude or offensive.  Are you direct and loud?  Maybe, but I'm Italian so that ain't nothing!  I kinda felt like, "Finally!  These people fucking get it!"

I could never fathom living there because I could never afford the type of house I want, and I think after a while all of the crowds would start to wear on me. . . being a short girl in a crowd is kinda stressful and annoying.  Plus your public transportation while vast, scares me based on all of the blogs I've seen of the prevs and freaks and men just taking up too much goddamn space. 

http://gothamist.com/2014/11/24/nyc_subway_worst_ranking.php

http://mentakingup2muchspaceonthetrain.tumblr.com/

And I would have the money to keep up with the fashions, but I would try ><

Haha, after we pay rent and my student loans I can barely afford the $20 doughnuts. But seriously, it's all a trade off. My salary would sound insane anywhere else but in NYC we are scraping middle class.

hellosweetie1015

Damn, for $500 a month rent I can get a small house. I can't find a rental higher than $1,600. 

Hmm. 

vikinganna87

@hellosweetie1015 That's the way it's supposed to be

In Boston:

150K: a cardboard box

300K: a cardboard box with a tarp

500K: a cardboard box in Mitt Romney's backyard

1,000,000: a nice condo or house but you're still surrounded by M@ssholes

amelisha

hellosweetie1015 said:

Damn, for $500 a month rent I can get a small house. I can't find a rental higher than $1,600. 

Hmm. 

I wish. Our $2000/month 2-bedroom is just a condo, and not even a fancy one. Only one parking spot, too. I was paying some lady $200/month for an extra spot when we had two cars, too.

huskypuppy14

arrippa said:

I live in Boston so...

$150,000- maybe a studio condo in the worst part of town

$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.

I lived in Boston for 10 years before I moved to the suburbs last summer. 

Depending on what suburb you're in, the values change.

150,000 will get you pretty much nothing

300,000 will get you a starter home, 2-3 bedrooms, small, might need a lot of work. Going up to 350K will increase your value. But the under 400K 3 bedroom houses fly off the market. The difference between 300K and 400K is huge. 

Our house was just under 400,000 and we have 3 bedrooms 2baths and an office, 2000+ square feet, 1 car garage, and big fenced in yard and central air. Open concept living room, dining room, kitchen. We are 25-30 miles from Boston which takes me over an hour on average to get to work. But that's what you got to do.

500K in my area will get you a nice house 3-4 bedrooms, nice kitchen, 2-3 bathrooms, possibly newer construction. If you're in a more expensive suburb closer to Boston, it will get you a 2-3 bedroom starter home, but in nicer condition than the 300 K houses in the other towns. 

1 Million- you have a lot to choose from, but you'll probably buy something closer to the city. 4 bed 3 bath 3000sq foot house or a condo in the city.

pinkcow13

PrettyGirlLost said:

JCbride2015 said:

As for what keeps us in this high COL area: first, we just love it here.  We can walk to anything we need, I get 2 hour Amazon delivery at my job, I wake up and look out at the World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty, and the Hudson River. We never have to drive.  Our friends and most of our family are reasonably close by.  Second, Fi is in the financial industry and I'm a securities lawyer.  This is the center of the world as far as both of our industries are concerned.  New York is it for us.

I work for one of the biggest, oldest, and most influential organizations in my industry. It's not great salary-wise but my benefits and work/life balance is amazing. DH's company is the only one of a handful worldwide that do what they do, and he is pretty much the worldwide authority on a specific type of testing for his company's products. Us moving out of state would pretty much entail starting our careers over again.

Also, NYC is my .

1st Bolded- Yeah but after paying for your rent/mortgage what in the hell do you have money to buy?  A doughnut?  Wait, those are like $20 now in NYC, right? :-P

2nd bolded- Oh nvm, you must be banking money hand over fist.  Carry on!

3rd bolded- I loved visiting NYC, it was a blast!  Contrary to all the hype, I did not find you New Yorkers to be overly rude or offensive.  Are you direct and loud?  Maybe, but I'm Italian so that ain't nothing!  I kinda felt like, "Finally!  These people fucking get it!"

I could never fathom living there because I could never afford the type of house I want, and I think after a while all of the crowds would start to wear on me. . . being a short girl in a crowd is kinda stressful and annoying.  Plus your public transportation while vast, scares me based on all of the blogs I've seen of the prevs and freaks and men just taking up too much goddamn space. 

http://gothamist.com/2014/11/24/nyc_subway_worst_ranking.php

http://mentakingup2muchspaceonthetrain.tumblr.com/

And I would have the money to keep up with the fashions, but I would try ><


This is me, but I use it to my advantage. I can zip through all the tall people like a little rat scurrying through the subway.

And the subway is not that bad. I lived in Brooklyn at one point, and I used to fall asleep on the train after one too many at happy hour, and end up on the wrong stop. I was totally fine lol.

Yea, sometimes some crazy shit happens on the train, or you'll encounter something insane, but it's all part of living in New York. Kinda spices things up

As you can probably tell, I also NY

lyndausvi

hellosweetie1015 said:

Damn, for $500 a month rent I can get a small house. I can't find a rental higher than $1,600. 

Hmm. 

I shutter to think what $500 would get you here.   A closet? Maybe?

Even the club's employee housing (which is considered affordable) is over $500 a month.  And that is per room. You share the common area   It does include electric and gas. 

We have an 1200 sq place.  2 bedroom, 2 bath + a bonus room.  Rent went up to $1850 this year. 

That is on the cheap side.  Our neighbors (we share a common wall) pay $2500.  They do have an extra bathroom.  

huskypuppy14

PrettyGirlLost said:

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.

Lawrenceville?  Highland Park?

I'm living in Highland Park these days so I'm just curious ;-)

I LOVE our real estate market, and I hope to God that it doesn't turn into the ridiculously overpriced markets of NYC, DC Metro, Boston, San Fran, Seattle, etc.  I seriously don't understand how anyone can live in those areas.

I don't know why you'd want to live in Pittsburgh, so to each their own. 

I'm in Biotech, Boston/Cambridge is where you want to be for that. My family lives in CT, and my husband's family lives 15 minutes from us. I'm never leaving!

ashley8918

hellosweetie1015 said:

Damn, for $500 a month rent I can get a small house. I can't find a rental higher than $1,600. 

Hmm. 

I rented a 3 bed/1.5 bath duplex for $350 a month back in the day. Admittedly in a verrrrryyy shady neighborhood.

But I live in a pretty nice area now with very good schools. Our 2 bed/1 bath condo is worth about $80k if we sold as-is. Maybe $90 if we made some serious upgrades.

arrippa

 

huskypuppy14 said:

arrippa said:

I live in Boston so...

$150,000- maybe a studio condo in the worst part of town

$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.

I lived in Boston for 10 years before I moved to the suburbs last summer. 

Depending on what suburb you're in, the values change.

150,000 will get you pretty much nothing

300,000 will get you a starter home, 2-3 bedrooms, small, might need a lot of work. Going up to 350K will increase your value. But the under 400K 3 bedroom houses fly off the market. The difference between 300K and 400K is huge. 

Our house was just under 400,000 and we have 3 bedrooms 2baths and an office, 2000+ square feet, 1 car garage, and big fenced in yard and central air. Open concept living room, dining room, kitchen. We are 25-30 miles from Boston which takes me over an hour on average to get to work. But that's what you got to do.

500K in my area will get you a nice house 3-4 bedrooms, nice kitchen, 2-3 bathrooms, possibly newer construction. If you're in a more expensive suburb closer to Boston, it will get you a 2-3 bedroom starter home, but in nicer condition than the 300 K houses in the other towns. 

1 Million- you have a lot to choose from, but you'll probably buy something closer to the city. 4 bed 3 bath 3000sq foot house or a condo in the city.

I actually looked at a studio in Back Bay for $175,000. It was tiny, and it had a murphy bed but they do exist in nicer neighborhoods.

SCbride007

I live in a small town in the mountains. When I moved here I assumed this would mean things were inexpensive. Nope, absolutely not. We are right between a beach town and a major city so everything is ridiculous.

For 150k I can buy land. Random acreage and some of it said it wasn't even buildable. The one property that came up was a 500 sq ft mobile home in the middle of fucking nowhere.

300k 2 bedroom bath 700 sq ft home. One of them had a ton of acreage but was again middle of nowhere. They all need some serious remodeling.

500k 2 or 3 bedroom with 1 or 2 bathrooms. Up to 1200 sq ft now. These are a little nicer and most of them at least have the kitchens remodeled.

1,000,000  I clearly need a million dollars just found my dream house! 3 bedroom, 3 bath 3200 sq ft.  "boutique winery, gourmet kitchen, gardens are fully sustainable, adorable chicken coop, hot house, even comes with your own bee hives. guest cottage, workshop"

katiekessler123

huskypuppy- I get your point.  However, I feel I MUST defend my city :-)  More or less every article that's come out in the past two years about best places to live in America lists Pgh as one of those places. Usually the articles cites the large cultural district that we have, the really unique neighborhoods that are found throughout our city, the fact that it's a haven for foodies, and the affordable prices.  But, as you said, to each their own.

labro

lurkergirl said:

labro said:

$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.

I think these numbers really vary around Atlanta.  I feel like in the best school districts, $300k will only get you 4 bedrooms, and even less than that in some of the really nice areas.  We have friends who just bought in Sandy Springs, and paid close to $700k for 4 bed, 3 bath, half basement, built in the 60s but renovated house.  These days even the whole million doesn't always go that far.  Someone else I know just spent that and didn't even get a finished basement!  (Although it is stubbed out for a guest suite, bar, and movie theater)

I do really love living in Atlanta though.  I definitely have strong roots here and recommend it to anyone looking to live in the south!!

Yeah, I forgot to point out I live in the Alpharetta/NE Atlanta area. I feel like those estimates are "mostly" standard. You could definitely point out pockets - think the new neighborhoods in Milton, or Sandy Springs or the homes on Riverside Drive in particular, then you're definitely getting in to a different sort of discussion. But I'd say in general, north of Atlanta like Cobb, Cherokee, Alpharetta (with the exception of places like Johns Creek/Country Club of the South), and even portions of Roswell, this is typical, especially for homes built between 1990 and 2005.

A good example for super cheap homes (although it's changing) is Forsyth County, which also has the top school district in the state. So top school district doesn't automatically mean you're in the only $500k-$1 million and up area, but it certainly means the average home price is solidly in the $250k-$350k for a 4 to 5 bedroom home with a basement in an HOA neighborhood.

TLDR Atlanta metro is huge and prices vary wildly, but I think you can have certain expectations if you know which specific suburban area you're looking at.