Entry level/starter homes $200-300,000?

[DZello]

On the south shore of Montréal, you can find something nice for 230 000$US, but salaries are lower here. Pricing are increasing very fast in our area. My house is worth 60k more and I bought it only 8 years ago. I don't know how my daughters will be able to afford an home when they will grow up.

 

[gathermewool]

This reminds me of the one reason I miss sailing. You could ship out from anywhere (travel expenses paid by the shipping company) and LIVE literally anywhere in the States! There were some guys who even lived on [insert 3rd world nation island here] and flew themselves to where they shipped out from, living their non-shipping days like kings. Most shipping jobs are half-on-half-off, meaning you ship out for 3 months and have 3 months of paid vacation or you ship out for ten weeks and have ten weeks of vacation, etc. That wasn't always the case, and many companies encouraged you to double up or more.

My buddy shipped exclusively with Military Sealift Command (MSC) and they were unwilling to let him have more than a month off every year; the rest of the year he literally spent entirely on an MSC ship; while off, he had to literally ignore dozen of phone calls, asking him to ship-out a week or so after he got home! He ended up losing the first five years of his life after we graduated (my words), but he also banked 100's of thousands of dollars in that same period, whereas I was still struggling as a new Engineer, living basically paycheck to paycheck.

Some of my active duty brethren faired similarly. I regret not shipping out and I regret not going active duty with some of my class mates for whom I'll always be more than a little jealous.

Can you guys imagine that? Shipping out, all expenses paid (room, board, food), for the first half of your twenties, seeing only your coworkers every single day, including the weekends? Could then imagine leaving that job with enough to pay for the above-mentioned house, in cash, as well as buy your fiance a nice diamond ring, help your parents out with their bills, etc., all without having a single bit of debt to your name?

I couldn't deal with the loneliness and depravity of being out at sea, like some of my buddies could. Seriously, there are some dark, nasty, depressed, angry, a-hole jamokes out there, I'll tell you what! I could only take so much of the married men going off whoring and looking at me like I was holier than though for not participating.

Anyway, later in life now and in retrospect; however, I regret not putting up with it and being stronger than I was/am. I'm in my mid-30s and am just now accumulating as much wealth as a couple of my buddies had after 3-5 years of shipping out. I had some good times in my 20's, but they weren't THAT good. Maybe I saved the majority of my sanity, though...

/digression

 

[JasonC]

I paid $217.5k for my home in 2011 and now homes in my neighborhood are selling for $250-270k. Seriously thinking of selling soon and downsizing.

 

[Malo83]

Paid $96k for my new house in 1995, today it's priced at $230k.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by Leo99



What they don't build and what I think would sell is similar to what you propose. A really nice 1200 sq ft house. The only really nice 1200 sq foot houses are in 55+ developments it seems. I want the nice tile floors, granite or solid surface counters, really fancy bathrooms. But I don't need 3000 sq feet. I don't need a dining room that I never use or a formal living that has no purpose.


Bingo-- the rest of the residents in the town (via planning board) won't allow "normal" efficient houses to be built because the families would put kids in schools and sap resources. 55+ communities are presumed to not come with kids.

 

[aquariuscsm]

You can get REALLY NICE starter homes here in the low $100's.

 

[Lolvoguy]

The term "entry/starter" home has become a misnomer as for most people - as that's the only house they'll ever outright own.

 

[ondarvr]

I just moved from an area where $400,000 got you an old place that needed work, $5+ is where an average good house started. Closer to town and it went up fast from there.

Moved to where $200,000 got you a very nice place.

 

[Rand]

bleh, you can get a palace around here for 300k. My "starter house" was 80k with 2 city lots.. about 12000sq ft

 

[Macsignals]

Originally Posted by blupupher

Build a 1,200 to 1,500 sq foot house with a 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (master having only a shower, no need for a bath and shower), reasonable size living room and kitchen (dining area as part of kitchen extension area, what most call the breakfast area).
Sell for
Oh wait, that is what I have. And the reason the houses in my subdivision sell within a month of going on market vs the $250,000+ homes that surround me (although those are selling well also).


This. I live in Levittown, PA which is (arguably) one of the first suburban communities built from the ground up on that premise. It worked then but builders won't touch it now. And like your area a home here that was $200k two years ago would now sell for $250k after a length bidding war between families and developers looking to knock it down to one stud and build new on the slab.

 

[sloinker]

I was the first house built in our development. There were minimum specifications that had to be met as far as square feet, roof pitch and type, garage size, amount of lawn and plantings, This all had to be pre-approved by the development committee. I ended up with a 2600SF ranch on a full unfinished basement with brick and steel siding and a fairly high pitched roof. The only extras were higher ceilings than specified and a 1300 sf garage with 12 foot ceilings. All on a 1/3 acre lot. When I had it built in 2005 it cost me about $375K. The assessor says it's now worth about $470k. The houses on all sides of me range from $700k- $1 million. Hence the ghetto house designation.

 

[14Accent]

I paid $143,815 for my 4/2, 2 story plus attic house. ~2k sq. ft. finished, another 500 or so in the attic if I chose to finish it. The house was built in 1905, had a brand new stainless/granite/hardwood kitchen, brand new 2 car garage on a brand new slab, brand new 8 ft. privacy fence, all redone plumbing, new boiler, new electrical, new windows, 5 year old roof. I bought in the spring of 2014.

Now? $225k is conservative. If I made a few improvements and cleaned it up, I bet I could get $240k. As of today, I owe $120k on it. $100k equity in 5 years? Without a dime of labor or investment? Yea, I'll take it. That, and I've had roommates almost the entire time I've lived here. A single guy in a 4-br house doesn't make much economic sense... however having someone else cover 3/4 of your mortgage sure does!

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted by Rand
bleh, you can get a palace around here for 300k. My "starter house" was 80k with 2 city lots.. about 12000sq ft


err the lots are 12000sq ft somehow the fact that my home is 1254sq ft built in 1953 didnt show in the post (bad edit)

 

[JeffKeryk]

Sounds like everyone is happy with their homes and many have proven to be good investments to boot.
In Silicon Valley we live in this crazy housing bubble. A different world to be sure.

 

[blupupher]

Originally Posted by Brons2
... it's really more than what we need, although there are times that it's nice to have like recently when we had two different sets of relatives visiting at the same time. ...

All the more reason to not have a bigger house. So easy to just say "sorry, we don't have the room".

Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
The term "entry/starter" home has become a misnomer as for most people - as that's the only house they'll ever outright own.

A home is still and entry/starter home if it is your first home.
My wife and I bought our then 13 year old house in '97, we had no kids at the time, but were planning on it.
The house is a 3/2/2 and just under 1300 sq ft. It was our "starter" home after living in apartments for 5 years.
We have no plans of moving from here now. Our 2 kids will be gone in less than 5 years, so no need to get bigger then need to downsize when we become empty nesters. House will be paid off in 2 years, value is almost 3x what we paid for it. Last few years we have been doing long term improvements/repairs (hardi-plank siding, PEX plumbing, complete HVAC replacement, floors, plans for electrical and windows in next few years) so that for the next 30+ years they will be things we don't have to worry much about.
Both my older brothers have just become empty-nesters, one with a 3200 sq foot house, the other 2700 sq ft house, both 2 stories, with nobody going upstairs now at all. One is looking at downsizing, the other is not.

Originally Posted by sloinker
... The only extras were higher ceilings than specified and a 1300 sf garage with 12 foot ceilings. ...

Your garage is bigger than my house!

 

[CKN]

sloinker-
The whole Western United States is exploding in property value. Places such as Utah, Idaho Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, etc., where people use to move to be able to buy a house cheap find that in most cases its $400,00.00 to get something really nice.

Here just outside Salt Lake City-I bought a 2,500 square foot house 7 years ago that was 7 years old when I bought it that was in foreclosure for $200,000.00 Today-this same house could be sold in a week for $370,00.00. (Could be higher since everything goes in to a multiple bidding situation).

Of course the Utahans are blaming the Californians coming in and driving up property values. That's too to a small degree-but there are other factors at play.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by Leo99
Originally Posted by blupupher
Quote
"In the last 12 months, we have made an effort to try to build more affordable homes," Altura CEO Justin Webb says.


I agree, I just don't see how $250,000 is an affordable home (yes location makes a difference, but still).
Then (especially here in Texas) you have to add on the value based taxes you have to pay every year ($3,000 +, higher the more value of the home).

Homes now days are a huge waste of space. Hard to find a new home with less than 2,000 sq feet.
Breakfast area, dining room, office, den, huge laundry room, monstrous bathroom, giant vaulted ceilings, etc are a lot of space that a "starter" home does not need. Also costs more to heat and cool these wasted spaces.

Build a 1,200 to 1,500 sq foot house with a 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (master having only a shower, no need for a bath and shower), reasonable size living room and kitchen (dining area as part of kitchen extension area, what most call the breakfast area).
Sell for
Oh wait, that is what I have. And the reason the houses in my subdivision sell within a month of going on market vs the $250,000+ homes that surround me (although those are selling well also).



What they don't build and what I think would sell is similar to what you propose. A really nice 1200 sq ft house. The only really nice 1200 sq foot houses are in 55+ developments it seems. I want the nice tile floors, granite or solid surface counters, really fancy bathrooms. But I don't need 3000 sq feet. I don't need a dining room that I never use or a formal living that has no purpose.



Great post Leo....

I would much rather have a 1,000-1,200 sq ft very well built nice home... Very well insulated, 1/2 inch plywood for all exterior walls, custom real stone in laid in the walls on the outside of the house, granite countertops, very well put together electrical wise aka plenty of outlets and all run with 12 gauge wire, a large bath tub with a very good/large water heater, wood stove, and large back deck with a real good charcoal grill and located on 4-6 acres of land...


The lady and I have a very nice 1,000 sq ft apartment in a very good area of town... We both agree that this size is all we really need.

 

[csandste]

Bought a home in 1984 for $78K. Zillow currently has it pegged at right under $200k-- now a rental property that I've paid off. When I was closing, the story was that someone else in the subdivision had moved in from California and paid more than two hundred for a duplicate of my house. Forty years later and they still haven't broken even. Hopefully the Internet has made that kind of idiot behavior a thing of the past. St. Louis is only now recovering from the Great Recession. I live in a villa with a bunch of fellow geezers. Seems like they're the type of construction that has gone down. Almost everything continues to be McMansions at the end of cul-de-sacs. As people age, they'll have trouble driving because without a grid street pattern there's either tooling around in the subdivision or out on heavily trafficked roads.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Sounds like everyone is happy with their homes and many have proven to be good investments to boot.
In Silicon Valley we live in this crazy housing bubble. A different world to be sure.


Seattle is on its way... We bought our house ~15 years ago (which was a tear down that we didn't tear down) for 235K. The house across the street just told to 3 Amazon employees who are doing a shared ownership deal, as none of them can afford to purchase on their own but they don't want to pay rent. They're all devs making close to 200K, and they can afford 1/3rd of a house... It's truly ridiculous (I applaud them for making an investment vs. paying rent, but I feel for them that they had to resort to doing this).

So yeah, obviously it's very market dependent. While I guess I'm glad for the obscene appreciation of my own place (which is >4 time the purchase price) I feel for anyone just getting into the Bay Area or Seattle markets now.

To those lamenting the lack of 1,200 sq ft houses, note that in the really hot markets (like Seattle), there's a ton of new construction that fits that bill--were they're really trying to cut construction costs due to the cost of the land. In markets where the land is less expensive though, you just won't see it as much, since $ per sq/ft to build goes down as square footage goes up. It just costs a little to make it a lot bigger, and most people want MORE!

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted by blupupher
Quote
"In the last 12 months, we have made an effort to try to build more affordable homes," Altura CEO Justin Webb says.


I agree, I just don't see how $250,000 is an affordable home (yes location makes a difference, but still).
Then (especially here in Texas) you have to add on the value based taxes you have to pay every year ($3,000 +, higher the more value of the home).

Homes now days are a huge waste of space. Hard to find a new home with less than 2,000 sq feet.
Breakfast area, dining room, office, den, huge laundry room, monstrous bathroom, giant vaulted ceilings, etc are a lot of space that a "starter" home does not need. Also costs more to heat and cool these wasted spaces.

Build a 1,200 to 1,500 sq foot house with a 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (master having only a shower, no need for a bath and shower), reasonable size living room and kitchen (dining area as part of kitchen extension area, what most call the breakfast area).
Sell for
Oh wait, that is what I have. And the reason the houses in my subdivision sell within a month of going on market vs the $250,000+ homes that surround me (although those are selling well also).



I have not much bigger at 1700 feet 200K all day everyday and I live in a more affordable area the valley.