Homes. What will $300,000 buy in your state?

My house, just over the border from Portland, OR is in the $250,000 range (1800 square feet, 1970s era house with a decent sized yard).  Of course it's also not in Oregon...


The Medford area is probably on the list of places you won't be able to find much of a house for $300,000.  The in laws live there and we could not afford a house there on one income (I am a SAHM).  


If I was going to buy a house in Oregon it would be on the coast (Manzanita/Nehalem area) we go camping there every year and it's my favorite.  Finding a job would be a different story...


Brookings is really hard to get to anywhere (south to California, then north to Grants Pass) and I would NOT drive that windy horrible road, DH would have to drive and never ever in the winter it would freak me out.   

I hear great things about Bend...

 

Florida is huge and the property values differ widely.  In the middle of the state you could get a very nice house.  In the keys - not much.  On the beach not much but a few blocks inland you could probably get a decent condo, depending on where in the state you are.  Location is key for sure here - our house is about 2500 sf 3bed/2bath with a good size pool for $225K.  The houses across the street are at least $1 million because they are on the water.  

The only thing remotely close to $300K is a 2 bed/1 bath, 800 s.f. house in a really bad neighborhood for $315,000.

The least expensive home in my zip code right now is $699,000. Most expensive in my zip is $6.9 million.

In my neighborhood it will get you my next door neighbors' house. Just sold for $275K, 2900 square feet, 4 bedrooms, pool with fountains, water front, golf course community.
Mine is the the house bringing down his value.

Really a mix here. Some houses are top of the range and some are foreclosure nightmares stripped bare and sold for pennies.

The cheapest house in my sister's neighborhood is 1.47 million. There is a reason they rent. They are in Sunnyvale.  

Oh gosh, I'm in TX it will buy you a LOT of home!

I'm from OR and it will buy a modest size house there - about half of what you can get here. When we moved here we were so excited about what we could buy and we are still flabbergasted by all our friends co-workers here who constantly complain about how expensive the homes and everything here is. It isn't.

My $325,000 house back home was 1726 sf on a 6000 sf lot - it was considered an upscale home in an upscale neighborhood. Here my $225,000 house is almost 3000 sf on an over 10,000 sf lot. A very similar sized house with same features a few houses down from me in my old neighborhood in OR on an 8,000 sf lot sold for $699,000. We want to get back to the PNW in a few years, but we know we will have to sacrifice the type of house we have become used to. It will be worth it though - we've learned that location beats everything else, at least for us.

I don't know of any peas that live right in NYC, but yeah, those prices are insane.. how do people there afford it??? Like a million for a teeny tiny apartment... I kinda see the exciting part of living in such a city, but I can't see paying that much for it.

In Massachusetts, so much of the price of properties has to do with the quality of the school district. Each town is different. My town used to be pretty affordable when we built our house, but it's pretty ridiculous now. Now that our kids are out of the schools, I'd love to move to a cheaper place, but my husband is very attached to and involved with the town.

It is getting hard to fill jobs in the city. Many people rent tiny apartments, but even that is getting hard to do because the demand is so high. Many people are building houses (new houses are popular - you would not believe how much building is going on here. there are 4-5 houses being built in a few block radius of us and condo buildings going up on almost every major corner. Driving around so much construction is unbelievable. Condo buildings with commercial space on the main floor is very popular right now. In fact, new condos sell out before the building is even finished. 1-5 million dollar condos are being bought BEFORE anyone sees them. Most of them are bought by off shore buyers) and new houses can be built with smaller lane way houses which many people rent out, so those are popular.

A commute from close suburbs can be 30-40 min. But a house in a close suburb can easily cost 1 million. Further suburbs have a commute of 1+ hrs and houses can be more reasonably priced, especially condos and apartments. Not 200,000 but not a million.

Eta - our city planners do say that the condo buildings along all major routes / subway routes will help create new types of neighbourhoods. Having commercial space under where people are living creates neighbourhoods where people don't have to get into cars. They say it will create healthier, more tight knit communities. It's an interesting thought. Very different from how I grew up. They're even building these buildings with a low number of parking stalls. They want to encourage residents to not own a car, use transit, use services in the area.

This is the ONLY house in my zip code for $300,000.  

If I expand the search to 10 miles, there are 10 listings.  Listings  1800 sq. feet is the largest one.  

In the DC area, not much more than a studio condo. In the suburbs of MD, you might get a tiny house.