House prices

[Everglades W68]

The national median existing-home price was $191,300 in July, 2004 according to the National Association of Realtors.

:eek: [img]graemlins/omg.gif[/img] :eek: [img]graemlins/omg.gif[/img]

[97V6Camaro]

My house was recently appraised for about $234,000. We bought it for $144,000, 4 years ago. Amazing what a "little" work does.

[Mogobs30th]

My dinky little 2 bedroom house here in Speedway was bought for $96,000, now worth $110,000. Garages make a difference.

[imported_admin]

A single-family Colonial with 2-car garage runs $400,000-$450,000 around here MINIMUM... up to $1,000,000+ in Reston or Great Falls, depending on neighborhood.

You're lucky to find a townhouse for $350,000 anywhere in Fairfax County, Virginia (just on the VA side of D.C.).

Quit yer *****in'. [img]graemlins/slap.gif[/img]

[MustangEater8251]

Parents place, bought for $230,000 in 1992, apraised at ~$500,000 few months ago.


Townhouse being built, $157,000 to build it, already predicted to be worth $187,000 as soon as the final walkthrough is done, this is before anyone even moves in. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Homes in the area, have ben appreciating ~12-15% per year on average, recent jump is do to lack of land zoned for townhomes [img]smile.gif[/img]

[MustangEater8251]

Originally posted by Stefan:
A single-family Colonial with 2-car garage runs $400,000-$450,000 around here MINIMUM... up to $1,000,000+ in Reston or Great Falls, depending on neighborhood.

You're lucky to find a townhouse for $350,000 anywhere in Fairfax County, Virginia (just on the VA side of D.C.).

Quit yer *****in'. [img]graemlins/slap.gif[/img]

Yeah real estate is crazy near you... One of my professors recently sold a house in VA, the market was just rediculous, if I was you Stefan and knew I was gonna be in the area awhile, I would do everything I could to jack my credit, sell all my toys, and did whatever it took to get into a house. Hell your likely guranteed to make a decent profit if you just live in the place for 2 years and 1 day(avoid cap gains tax) [img]smile.gif[/img]

[imported_admin]

Single-family home for $1,300,000

Condo for $1,150,000

Townhouse for $739,900

Cheap little single-family home for $589,900

No, I'm not making this **** up. When people talk about outrageous housing costs they're talking about metro D.C., Chicago, and Bastan.

Yes, we RENT an apartment in Reston (pay $1,725 a month for a 2-bedroom), all four of those properties are down the street from us.

[ October 25, 2004, 09:02 PM: Message edited by: Stefan ]

[WishIHad$$$]

My uncle bought a house 2 years ago in Austin, TX for around $150,000. It was brand new, 2 story and 4 bedroom, a decent sized house. Same house here would be over $500,000.

[RallyRed 98]

i'm getting ready to buy the house i'm living in right now... 3 bedrooms, 1900 sf, 1/2 acre, deck, quiet neighborhood... 89,0000 :D :D suck it, trebek

[02PewterBird]

My mom grew up in Burlingame, CA (about three miles from the San Francisco airport) and the houses on her street generally go for around $1.5 million up to $2 million for an older decent house. It's rediculous what they go for. I guess it's everywhere being that houses where I live further north are about double what they were three years ago.

[imported_admin]

Originally posted by RallyRed 98:
i'm getting ready to buy the house i'm living in right now... 3 bedrooms, 1900 sf, 1/2 acre, deck, quiet neighborhood... 89,0000 :D :D suck it, trebek

Yes, but up here they pay my office's janitor three times as much as you make. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I'd rather live in a high salary/high cost of living area than a low salary/low cost of living area.

Much as I ***** about housing costs, I don't mind--we moved here from Virginia Beach for a reason. Other things cost the same nationwide. Say 20% of your paycheck is leftover after bills and 20% of my paycheck is leftover after bills. A Corvette costs the same (more or less). I'd rather have a set percentage leftover of a huge paycheck than a tiny one.

Plus, appreciation around here is 12% to 15% a year. In one year on a $450,000 house I get between $54,000 to $67,500 in free money. Its like having a second job. In one year and 3-4 months I could buy your house CASH just in the appreciation I made on mine. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Though expensive up-front, buying real estate in ungodly-growth areas is the best investment you'll ever make.

[ October 25, 2004, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: Stefan ]

[MTMike]

:eek:

Paid $96k for my 104 year old 2 bedroom+office, 1 bath, 1400sq.ft + storage basement on a 7,000sf lot w/ a single garage (more like a shed) 6 months ago. Put $8k into new flooring and a few updates, paint, etc and had it appraised 2 months ago at $120k. A little work goes a long way.

I was planning on building an additional garage, but the city zoning requires a stupid special foundation that goes below the frost line (42") so I said f*ck it, , used part of the budget to buy a trailer, his & hers hunting rifles and fix the Dodge's engine problem, the rest I'll just put the money into equity to be more of a down payment to buy some acreage in a few years.

Newer homes in the billings area cost between $150 and $250k. Get outside of town a few miles and you can get the same house for 30% less, and get land with it.

Mike

[MustangEater8251]

Originally posted by Stefan:

Though expensive up-front, buying real estate in ungodly-growth areas is the best investment you'll ever make.

Yep DEFINITELY is... Thats something I really want to look into some. We have some high growth areas around here so its a worthwhile investment.

[Everglades W68]

The expression goes that you can't go wrong buying land because they quit making it a long time ago. Thus, real estate tends to go up but not drastically down.

Having said that, I hear lots and lots of people talking about making a fortunes in real estate. It sounds a lot like the stock market of late 90's.

In other words, a bubble. The only question is how far down prices will come and when.

As far as Reston/DC/Fairfax County/close-in to the DC Beltway in MD and VA: the massive, wasteful and continuing growth in the federal government is what propels everything there. The money will continue to pour forth there and prices will almost certainly continue to go up.

[Everglades W68]

My wife and I talk occasionally about cashing in here and moving to a smaller city. We'd be able to buy a house for cash and would still have money left over for other things.

As Stefan correctly mentions, the prices of other things sometimes is lower in lower cost areas, but many things are about the same. For example, a dinner at "Applebees" or "Chilis" costs about the same everywhere in the country, regardless of the local cost of living and average wage scale.

I still think the run-up in real estate prices in the past five years is unsustainable.