S15 House Hunters

[London]

Inspired by sheep's tales of mansions the size of Texas in Texas.

In your area, what does $300k get you? $400k? $1M?

[emejay]

Love that!

Live in the suburbs of QC biggest city - 30 minutes from downtown without traffic. Biggish city with all the amenities and train to the city.

We paid our house 300k - and then had to put 25k to remodel it.

300k gave us:

- 1600 square feet 2 stories house built in 1990 and never updated since

- unfinished basement

- one car garage

- 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bath

- 6000 square feet backyard (closed with hedges)


For 400k we could have had a new construction on a very small lot without any upgrades

One million would give you a riverfront house either new or completely updated



ETA: Taxes (including school taxes) are about 1%

[txshep]

Browsing local listings, here's what I came up with for the North Houston area:

$300,000


$400,000


$1M


These are all existing homes (oldest was built 1996). Prices for brand new construction run higher, by about $50K.

ETA: These were all fully updated, 4+ bedrooms, 3,000+ square feet, two had pools.

ETA2: There are no basements down here, so all square footage is for the house itself.

[jessiespano]

I love this stuff lol.

$300,000 in my area (don't you come skin suit me) gets you a 2 bed 2 bath condo.

www.zillow.com/homedetails/5722-Riley-St-San-Diego-CA-92110/2104068661_zpid/

400,000 gets you a 2 bed 2 bath apartment lol. And there's a bunch of foreclosure auctions but all the same space.


www.zillow.com/homedetails/5875-Friars-Rd-APT-4215-San-Diego-CA-92110/16942367_zpid/

1,000,000 can get you a 3 bed 2 bath home

www.zillow.com/homedetails/2128-Garfield-Rd-San-Diego-CA-92110/16934464_zpid/

Of course there's variation- this is just my particular zip code.


Here's a million dollar home on the water :/

www.zillow.com/homedetails/721-723-Verona-Ct-Pacific-Beach-CA-92109/16922546_zpid/

[emejay]

Today I learned that the most expensive house on the market in my city is 850k $ haha

[txshep]

May 22, 2016 9:01:39 GMT -5 emejay said:

Today I learned that the most expensive house on the market in my city is 850k $ haha

Here is an $18M home in the city of Houston.

www.har.com/2115-river-oaks-blvd/sale_61418097

...It's nearly 22,000 sqft. Even if I had that kind of money, that size is ridiculous. What do you do with that much space?!

ETA: Oh, of course, the natatorium takes up 12,000 sqft. Silly me. Why didn't I think of that?

[emejay]

May 22, 2016 9:13:01 GMT -5 txshep said:

May 22, 2016 9:01:39 GMT -5 emejay said:

Today I learned that the most expensive house on the market in my city is 850k $ haha

Here is an $18M home in the city of Houston.

www.har.com/2115-river-oaks-blvd/sale_61418097

...It's nearly 22,000 sqft. Even if I had that kind of money, that size is ridiculous. What do you do with that much space?!

ETA: Oh, of course, the natatorium takes up 12,000 sqft. Silly me. Why didn't I think of that?

They own so many chairs

[junewife]

On Zillow in my zip code,there are no homes for sale for 300-400k, just empty lots of land.

I think 300-400k would probably buy a one bedroom condo in the suburbs.

One million would get you a 3BR, 2BA house in a decent school district. It would probably be less than 2000sqft and may or may not be updated. Maybe a small yard.

Guess I should start playing the lottery.

[London]

Our move was to a much lower cost of living city. We got an additional 700 sq ft for $60k less than in Ottawa.

Appx $300k got us 3bd/3bth, single garage, appx 2000 sq ft, finished basement, large yard, large bonus room upstairs. Not brand new updates but updated enough we aren't making any immediate changes. The same house in Ottawa in a comparable neighbourhood would be about $425k.

$400k here would get you a stacked new build. In Ottawa it would get you into a single family home.

I don't know $1M would buy you here but I am guessing it probably comes with Carson and Mrs Hughes.

[cookie]

www.zillow.com/homedetails/10711-Strait-Ln-Dallas-TX-75229/80510797_zpid/

Here is one about 30 minutes away from me that is a cool 32 mil.

[Squishy622]

Ooh I love this game!

Cheapest listing where we came from. Can you see why we moved?

[Squishy622]

So obviously we were living in a shitty tiny apartment, you may recall the twins lived in the dining room. Our mortgage is now half of what we were paying in rent in CA, and we have 4500 sq feet on 1/2 an acre with 4 beds, 5 baths, and a 3 car garage.

[beane]

I am with Squishy622. $300k gets you nothing... Maaaybe you could find a studio or 1br condo, but a colleague of mine tried that and kept getting outbid so gave up. $450k you could probably find one in not the best area.

$1M would be a 1000-1500 square foot fixer upper, no joke (eg the house we are currently renting).

I have pretty much given up on ever owning a home here.

ETA I have a licensed social worker colleague (single, no kids) who had to get a second job at Starbucks in addition to his full-time govt job in order to afford a 1bdrm apartment. So yeah, it sucks.

[britbratjf]

Wow. Some of your areas are so expensive!

We paid $280,000 for our house. It's 4,000 sq feet with a full finished basement. 4br, 2.5 baths. And close to a half acre lot. We have an older home though (1978) so that same amount of money in a newer home would get us less square footage.

[britbratjf]

May 22, 2016 10:22:02 GMT -5 pineapplesmoothie said:

May 22, 2016 10:00:08 GMT -5 mamasue said:

These prices are in insane to me. How do you survive where some of you live??

I paid $175,000 for my home, 2400 square feet. 4 bedroom, 2 and a half bath. About 30 minutes from downtown Atlanta.

Money struggles are real and we both have good jobs and make a reasonable amount of money. But I can't convince myself to leave paradise yet.

My best friends brother loves in southern CA and he & his wife bought a 600,000, 2 bedroom fixed upper. He about died when he came to our house & saw how much room we had.

[cocopuff]

15 miles from a top 10 city (size/population) in the northeast.

$300K:

3BR, 1 bath. 1200 square feet. 1/4 acre land. Driveway. No garage, unfinished basement. Not updated.

Taxes: $6000 per year

$500k

3-BR, 2 bath, 2000 sq feet. Small yard, one car garage.

$1million:

5 br, 3 bath, 4000 square feet. 2 car garage, finished basement, nice yard, pool. All updated.

[Squishy622]

beane That is so depressing and exactly why I wasn't practicing social work in the Bay Area, despite that expensive pesky masters degree.

[klxvi]

We just bought and sold a home last year. We live in the cheaper suburbs in the PNW.

Sold 3 br 2 bath rambler 1,000 sq ft for $270k

Bought 4 br 3 bath split-level 2,500 sq ft for $450k in nicer neighborhood

They are putting new houses throughout our neighborhood in the $600k range with ,000 sq ft, but I prefer our older home with a much larger yard.

A million will get you a 6 br 6 bath 5,000 sq ft home in this neighborhood.

[mowkey]

May 22, 2016 10:50:58 GMT -5 cocopuff said:

15 miles from a top 10 city (size/population) in the northeast.

$300K:

3BR, 1 bath. 1200 square feet. 1/4 acre land. Driveway. No garage, unfinished basement. Not updated.

Taxes: $6000 per year

$500k

3-BR, 2 bath, 2000 sq feet. Small yard, one car garage.

$1million:

5 br, 3 bath, 4000 square feet. 2 car garage, finished basement, nice yard, pool. All updated.

+1

Want to add the 300k homes usually need $100k in renovations!

[rcdizzle]

This is one of my favorite things to do! I picked a neighborhood comparable to mine in the same region because I is scurred.

300k:


400k:


1m:

[charliefox]

We bought our house for just under 300k. We live in a downtown, up and coming area full of older homes. Stats:

1500 sq ft
3 bedrooms
2 bathrooms
Built in 1906
2 car detached garage
Very small front and back yards
Some very cheap updates (poorly done laminate floors, ikea kitchen, both bathrooms were funky with a capital F)

Our neighborhood is becoming a hot commodity, homes are being sold and updated all the time. We've redone a lot in our house, including one bathroom will easily recoup our money and then some when we sell.

For 400K you'd get a nicely updated home in my neighborhood.

For $1 million you'd get a big (2500 sq ft?) home up on the hill with views.


I grew up in the SF Bay Area and my parents' house is 2500 sq ft, 3bd3bath (plus a rental studio apartment), built in the 70's with recent custom upgrades on 2.5 acres with a ocean view, it would go for about 2.5 million.

My sister owns a 3bd3bath townhouse with a minuscule backyard in the east Bay Area that would sell for at least 500k.

This is why we might stay in Utah a while.

[uclameghan]

It REALLY depends on where you are in our area. What you get downtown is not what you get in the burbs and that is not what you'd get out in farm country (all of this within 30 minutes of each other).

We're actually in the middle of this right now. We own a 2800 sq ft 4 bed, 3.5 bath house with pretty much all the upgrades (2 car garage, granite on every counter, hard woods and/or stone floors, custom kitchen, gas fireplace, chandeliers/upgraded light fixtures, custom tub and shower in the master, etc). It's worth about $280K.

We'd like to move downtown ish (near our new jobs). To get what we have now, we'd be looking at $500K (not in the budget). I'm struggling with paying more for less space and less upgrades. But...location, location, location....

There are also very decent 1400ish sq ft builder grade homes available for under $100K about 15 minutes from our suburb. So the where and what it looks like are a HUGE deal here.

[emejay]

Non snarky question: Those who live in 4000 Sq ft homes and more, what do you do with all that space?

[txshep]

May 22, 2016 13:38:18 GMT -5 emejay said:

Non snarky question: Those who live in 4000 Sq ft homes and more, what do you do with all that space?

Our house is 3,000, but from looking at 4,000sqft homes, a lot of the extra square footage is from having generally larger rooms. Both size homes could be 4 bedroom 3.5 bath, but bedrooms will be larger in the bigger house. They will have much larger kitchen and living areas as well. It isn't always a case of having more rooms when you have more area.

ETA: I love looking at real estate, and found a 4,500 sqft house with an identical layout to our house. Every single room was just enlarged (by a lot).

[britbratjf]

May 22, 2016 13:38:18 GMT -5 emejay said:

Non snarky question: Those who live in 4000 Sq ft homes and more, what do you do with all that space?

Fill it with crap haha. 4 bedrooms = master, one for each kid & a guest room/office (the master is very large & the 4th br is really big too, kids beds are good size) We have a big eat in kitchen & a separate formal dining. A living room and then a second living room? that is the playroom - a big 20x10 space. We also have a sunroom which counts toward the total square footage & a full basement. 80% is finished & there's a kitchenette. We have an exercise room down there and we have a table/big couch/big TV & surround sound. This is also where we keep "big" toys like our little trampoline & train table. Basically we have a lot of shit.

[emejay]

May 22, 2016 14:12:18 GMT -5 britbratjf said:

May 22, 2016 13:38:18 GMT -5 emejay said:

Non snarky question: Those who live in 4000 Sq ft homes and more, what do you do with all that space?

Fill it with crap haha. 4 bedrooms = master, one for each kid & a guest room/office (the master is very large & the 4th br is really big too, kids beds are good size) We have a big eat in kitchen & a separate formal dining. A living room and then a second living room? that is the playroom - a big 20x10 space. We also have a sunroom which counts toward the total square footage & a full basement. 80% is finished & there's a kitchenette. We have an exercise room down there and we have a table/big couch/big TV & surround sound. This is also where we keep "big" toys like our little trampoline & train table. Basically we have a lot of shit.

I don't know if it's a Quebec thing, but we don't count the basement (even finished) as part of the total square footage.

[ProfEDD]

Oh yes...lets talk real estate because we spent ALL day yesterday and some today house hunting, and I want to cry.

Housing values are predicted to jump 37% between the 2013 and 2017 assessments.

Here's an example of a hot area: 2/2, 2162ft for $575k. And that's after a price cut! And we have zero oceans to view, no Carson or Mrs. Hughes included:
www.zillow.com/homedetails/41125972_zpid

[crystaleyes138]

Living in South Jersey! These are from other places in my area.

My home on Zillow is 260K - 4 beds, 2 baths, 2000SF. We bought the house for 220K b/c it needed some cosmetic fix-ups and the pool was a disaster. While we fixed up the pool, the inside of the house still needs some love, but we can never find the time.

300K - 4 beds, 3 baths, 1700SF

400K - 4 beds, 2.5 baths, 2880SF

1.2 million - 4 beds, 5 baths, 6300SF

[London]

May 22, 2016 13:38:18 GMT -5 emejay said:

Non snarky question: Those who live in 4000 Sq ft homes and more, what do you do with all that space?

In my experience, each room is just bigger, but there aren't necessarily more rooms. If you know what I mean.

[mowkey]

emejay as far as I know, SF does not include basement. Sometimes listings will state the basement is finished for an additional amount of square footage, if there is heating and facilities. I have a HUGE attic, like 350 SF that is not in the houses dimensions because it's not livable space.