Community Chat

[Puzzle Piece]

You might want to check out my post over on the HOME forum, page two.  It has my take on the expenses of having a home and so on.  It's on the thread - Do you appreciate your home or something like that. 

[KarenQVC]

I just checked where I live in academicland.  The average listing price is $314, 000.  It all depends how much people tend to make in the base industry.  Of course, the service industries kind of sort themselves out according to that.

[ChynnaBlue]

Location, location, location. The average price of a house in my hometown suburb of San Francisco is $1.1 million now. When I left there 15 years ago, it was $500K. When my parents moved there in the 80s, it was $300K.

My dad's a builder out there and he once paid over a million dollars for a lot with a broken down shack on it because he could divide it into three lots with homes that would each sell for 800K.

The shack looked something like this:

They aren't making more land, so a good location is what's valuable, not necessarily the house on top of it. If you live in a good area with excellent schools, low crime, and transportation to a strong job market, parks, shopping, etc., people will pay for that. And the people who can't are forced out of the market and out of the area.

[Lipstickdiva]

I guess I don't really understand the OP.  Some people make a lot of money and can afford those houses.  There is an area about 10 minutes from my house that is called million dollar row.  It's a cul de sac of houses where the cheapest is $550,000 and they go up from there.  The people that live there are doctors, business owners, developers. 

Look at some of the houses the Q hosts live in.  Some of them have to be close to a million if not a million.    

[CatsyCline]

these shows are addicting!  but i'm sure there are exaggerations. over the past weekend HGTV had Beach Lovers shows and Island Life shows. some of the buyers had up to 400k to  800k to spend on either a second beach home or an island.

a Candian couple bought a condo in Puerto Vallarta for a second home. the price they setttles on  was around $400k .   i think the husband was super fussy about having granite countertops. i would be more concerned with buying a condo a high-rise complex there, the construction seemed sketchy. and from what a friend who used to vacation there, high crime.

[aggravated]

I'm just guessing that you used to work for NFCU.  I had several friends that opted to move from VA to FL with that offer.

[PhilaLady1]

Hi. I get what the OP is saying. As an older person, for me, just the thought of what buying a home today seems terrifying, even at the low end of pricing. My parents bought their home in 1950 for $3000.00. In 1981, I bought the same type of home in the same neighborhood for $35,000. The houses there now sell for about $150,000 - these are almost 70 year old homes ! I just don't know how young people today do it, especially if they have kids.

[muttmom]

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@CAshopper2011 wrote:

I think $900,000 Canadian is more like $650,000-$700k USD.  Most part of California, $700k is a pretty typical price for a modest home.  Silicon Valley/SF Bay Area is easily higher than that for a 2/1.  

Two people earning $150k each can buy a home for $700.  That could be a firefighter and a web developer, or two real estate agents or a software developer...a public or private school principal...a civil engineer or planner....a nurse (here they make $60-70 an hour)...an accountant.   I think that one successful commercial realtor could earn $250-$300k... Most doctors or dentists would be able to buy a $700k home on one income.  Three times your salary is pretty easy to qualify for a loan.

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A firefighter makes $150,000 in your area?

[Mj12]

Oy.