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If I lived east of the Rockies, what kind of house/home could I get for $500,000?


Dottleshead

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2 hours ago, Dottles said:

That's about the price my little crackerjack place is going for today.  WTF?  I saw that post by @bikeman564™ and thinking I could do well back there.

Half a mil in my city gets you a very nice house. But driving an hour north to Birmingham, or west to Ann Arbor, and your dollar will not go as far. Location, location, location :)

Here is a development going in down the road. I think there is 24 homes going in, and about 6 have people living in them, and there are about 15 currently being built. There may be a couple empty lots yet. If ya don't move to kalam@Kzoo try this :D

There are multiple styles being built. I think they're from 1500-2500 sqft

https://www.trulia.com/builder-community/Brooke-s-Meadow-6529491625/new-home/Plan-2202/9062999121

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27 minutes ago, bikeman564™ said:

Half a mil in my city gets you a very nice house. But driving an hour north to Birmingham, or west to Ann Arbor, and your dollar will not go as far. Location, location, location :)

Here is a development going in down the road. I think there is 24 homes going in, and about 6 have people living in them, and there are about 15 currently being built. There may be a couple empty lots yet. If ya don't move to kalam@Kzoo try this :D

There are multiple styles being built. I think they're from 1500-2500 sqft

https://www.trulia.com/builder-community/Brooke-s-Meadow-6529491625/new-home/Plan-2202/9062999121

Wasn't that "long" house less than $500k?

Dottles should aim for the south - like Miss or Ala. - but not near the water.  Lots of cool and inexpensive places down there!

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5 hunned k around here gets you a nice big house with a half acre in a well manicured subdivision. It will prob have 3000 sq ft. 4 bedrooms, bonus room and a big kitchen. It will have granite, 3 car garage and probably look similar to every other house in the place. 
 

or it prob gets you a modest 3 bed 2 bath smaller country style place with a pole barn and 20-50 acres depending on if the land is farmable, wooded and where it’s located. 
 

or it gets you a nicely appointed RV. 

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3 hours ago, Dottles said:

That's about the price my little crackerjack place is going for today.  WTF?  I saw that post by @bikeman564™ and thinking I could do well back there.

Have you looked at Forks or Yakima?  You can get a lot for a little in WA if you wander around a bit.

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What I've found go to Realtor.com (or Zillow) Set search parameters to single family home (and others, like townhome if desired) and set price range 450-550. Also can limit to new construction and lot size if desired. For a quick jump choose a city in a State want to investigate and repeat for alternate States - or move map.  Remove city boundaries and it will open the map view to the visible area, then simply move within the map to adjacent areas or zoom out/in. Works great.. 

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For a short while I had a job where I travelled a lot to rural areas all over the nation.  I would work with the local teams and would always ask, so what would that house go for it it listed today?  It was shocking at times how inexpensive homes where in the Midwest.  

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15 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

For a short while I had a job where I travelled a lot to rural areas all over the nation.  I would work with the local teams and would always ask, so what would that house go for it it listed today?  It was shocking at times how inexpensive homes where in the Midwest.  

It is still shocking.   Like you, I was in Rhinelander Wisc and asked a taxi driver how much houses were in the area.  These were large homes on large lots and he said "Those are expensive, at least $40,000."  :) 

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It mostly depends on how close you are to a big city and reasonable weather.

I know of people who retired to Maine in the late 90's and early 00's because they could get a decent-sized, good-condition house for $50,000 in semi-rural areas and sell their house in the high-priced Baltimore suburbs for over $200,000.

My small, 30'x30', "mini-Cape Cod" that has a full basement and 2nd floor on a 60' x 100' plot is worth about $340,000 - it's the most valuable property on the block thanks to State Farm and an honest contractor after the 2000 fire.  It's in a high-priced zone because it is located 15 min. from downtown Baltimore, 25 min. from downtown Annapolis, 45 min. from downtown Washington D.C, and 90 min. from downtown Philadelphia.  Many pleasures of the Chesapeake Bay are 20 min. to 65 min. away.

But if you drive north, 50 minutes or so to semi-rural communities along the MD-PA border (Mason Dixon Line), you can get big houses with pillared front porches, double winding staircases, a garage, and 1.5 acres of land for not much more, $400,000 to $450,000.

Of course, during rush hour it's going to take you 75 minutes or more to get to or from work in the Baltimore or D.C. cities or suburbs. Cultural things are also relatively far away.

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Using the process noted above, started at Raleigh/Durham NC. While quite a few in the 400-700k range, moved the map NE to just across the Virginia line and found this lakefront 3br 2 bth 1.6 acrs for $500,000. By the initial photo, it is not a close neighbor, but both structures are the property.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/483-Dock-Side-Dr_Clarksville_VA_23927_M69236-66794

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3 hours ago, Tizeye said:

What I've found go to Realtor.com (or Zillow) Set search parameters to single family home (and others, like townhome if desired) and set price range 450-550. Also can limit to new construction and lot size if desired. For a quick jump choose a city in a State want to investigate and repeat for alternate States - or move map.  Remove city boundaries and it will open the map view to the visible area, then simply move within the map to adjacent areas or zoom out/in. Works great.. 

yeah I know I can do this but it doesn’t make for good forum material  

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Depends where you go. In any bigger city, not much.  Maybe a one bedroom condo in some parts of NYC.  You'd also have problems in any nearby suburbs getting more than a smaller condo at that price.  Go 90-120 minutes away and you should be able to find a nice house.  I expect you'd find the same thing in most big cities in the East Coast.

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1 hour ago, sheep_herder said:

We'll sell our south place with 350 acres, nice double wide, good well, and electricity, located 20 miles down a gravel road for $400,000. House sits in a grove of Ponderosa pine.

http://www.milescityforsale.com

This sounds like a bargain.  I bet he will even throw in a few starter sheep if you ask nicely.

17 minutes ago, Dottles said:

I plan on hiring @Kzoo to do it.  He can do more than lawns.

But good luck getting @Kzoo to mow it or shovel the drive.

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I am thinking of why people move.

Dottie, you already have a job, so you don't need to move for that reason.  Certainly your climate is far better than much of the country where real estate is cheaper, so that kind of rules out climate as a reason for a move.  You are close to oceans and mountains and such, so getting away is a hop in the car.  You are married, so you wouldn't need to move to a place with a bigger pool of women to date.

What am I not seeing here?

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11 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

I am thinking of why people move.

Dottie, you already have a job, so you don't need to move for that reason.  Certainly your climate is far better than much of the country where real estate is cheaper, so that kind of rules out climate as a reason for a move.  You are close to oceans and mountains and such, so getting away is a hop in the car.  You are married, so you wouldn't need to move to a place with a bigger pool of women to date.

What am I not seeing here?

I'm not moving,  I'm just blown away at the differences in value from one place to another.

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4 minutes ago, Dottles said:

I'm not moving,  I'm just blown away at the differences in value from one place to another.

Ah, I see.  Many people will eventually migrate into the lower-value areas, as housing is totally out of control, price-wise.  Ohio is prime, houses are cheap there.

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9 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

Ah, I see.  Many people will eventually migrate into the lower-value areas, as housing is totally out of control, price-wise.  Ohio is prime, houses are cheap there.

In ten years I may decide to sell and move to a place where I have no mortgage.  But where you live matters.  Southwest Kansas does not matter (Sorry to any southwestern Kansas folks --- If it helps... I've already been declared a certified asshole)

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9 hours ago, jsharr said:

These are some really nice homes.  Right now if I sold in Bellingham, WA, it'd be about $457 sq/ft and if I bought in Richardson, TX it'd be about $221.  That gives you an idea.  For the same price I get half the house. In fact for the same price I get a duplex w/ HOA.

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