S/O on Cost of Housing Thread - How much did you pay in a major city/high COL area?

[arivecchi]

I dare not even reveal what I paid for my house in Chicago :bag, but thought it would be interesting to just do a poll (no specifics necessary) to see how much houses cost in major cities.

[o_mom]

Define "major city" ;)

[Snow mom]

:yeahthat: I live in a central location of what I'd consider a "major city" but our house isn't even on your poll.

[arivecchi]

I guess I was thinking the metropolitan areas surrounding LA, Boston, NYC, Miami, Chicago, San Fran, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta. You get my drift....

[arivecchi]

:yeahthat: I live in a central location of what I'd consider a "major city" but our house isn't even on your poll. Sorry! I don't think I can change the poll!

[o_mom]

I guess I was thinking the metropolitan areas surrounding LA, Boston, NYC, Miami, Chicago, San Fran, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta. You get my drift....

OK, so how far down the list of largest MSAs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Ar eas) are you thinking?

Also, if you include the metro areas, your lowest bracket doesn't include a huge portion of some of those areas. I know in the outer Houston areas, single family homes can be had for less than that, a good friend sold a very large house under that amount just last fall. Indianapolis comes in ahead of New Orleans and the median house price is about a quarter of your lowest option there. :) Sorry - the statistician in me just can't handle such an imprecise poll! :ROTFLMAO:

[MommyofAmaya]

:yeahthat: I live in a central location of whllat I'd consider a "major city" but our house isn't even on your poll.

Yep. We are in central Houston.. but not on the poll. Most of the homes Houston would not be on the poll.

[kayte]

I guess I was thinking the metropolitan areas surrounding LA, Boston, NYC, Miami, Chicago, San Fran, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta. You get my drift....

I am in Dallas area... and we aren't on the poll either. There are 2 million dollar houses in our neighborhood. But we don' t live in one.

Our very good friends live in historic district downtown Dallas--they have 8800 square feet (3 floors including 6 bath) home on the historic registry (used to be nunnery complete with stain-glass windows from Italy) and paid about 800k.

[arivecchi]

I guess what I had in mind were the highest cost of living cities in the US. Feel free to respond if you'd like or ignore if the poll bugs the heck out of you. :hysterical: I was just stunned by what most people seem to pay for homes based on the other poll and wondered if the results would be different it you shifted it to cities, higher cost of living areas. It's just for fun, not a scientific study.

[egoldber]

FWIW, I knew what you meant. ;)

[arivecchi]

FWIW, I knew what you meant. ;) Thanks. I was feeling like I should just go and :sulkoff:. LOL :ROTFLMAO:

[egoldber]

LOL! Probably because I live in one of the high COL areas. ;) That other thread made me green with envy.

[HIU8]

:yeahthat: that other thread made me want to move. I would love more house without the astonomically higher cost.--so not going to happen here!!!!

[C99]

I live in the city of Chicago proper, own a SFH in a good neighborhood, and cannot vote in your poll because it was less than your lowest mark.

[niccig]

:yeahthat: that other thread made me want to move. I would love more house without the astonomically higher cost.--so not going to happen here!!!!


I know. You can buy a small lot of land here for 100K. Some people pay that for their HOUSE. I posted a link in the other threat to a 560 sq. foot house that was $230,000. Yep no errors...that's how much it costs, and we're not in a swanky area around Los Angeles.

[arivecchi]

That other thread made me envious too, but I do like living so close to the lake and I am a 10 minute car ride from the Loop. I love my neighborhood, but unfortunately, the prices here are astronomical.

[arivecchi]

I live in the city of Chicago proper, own a SFH in a good neighborhood, and cannot vote in your poll because it was less than your lowest mark. Does anyone know how to change the poll? I don't know how to do it.

[AnnieW625]

Yes the other poll made me green too. I know what you meant too! We paid $513K for our 3 bed/1 bath 1100 sq. foot home.

We almost moved to Lawton, OK which is about 3 hrs. northwest of Dallas and out of tornado alley:) and the most expensive house when we were looking in 2004 was a 3500 or so sq ft. house on 5 acres and it was $345,000! Most of the houses were under $120K!

[DebbieJ]

I guess I was thinking the metropolitan areas surrounding LA, Boston, NYC, Miami, Chicago, San Fran, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta. You get my drift....

I live in metro Chicago and your poll options are all too high for me.

I lived in Los Angeles from 1999 to 2005 and your poll still would be too high for me.

[kwc]

Hmmm. Looks like I can't vote twice. I voted for what we paid for our tiny SF house 8 years ago, and was going to vote what we paid to build our house last year but it won't let me. For San Francisco, the categories are appropriate. I could not even finish reading the other thread, much less comment.

[kijip]

In Seattle, below the poll. :wink2:

[larig]

seattle, purchased in 2002, would not be on the list.

[strollerqueen]

Ugh, I am jealous of y'all. I don't even think there is a house in this whole town that would be on the lower rung:47: of your poll. :dizzy:

[DebbieJ]

Ugh, I am jealous of y'all. I don't even think there is a house in this whole town that would be on the lower rung:47: of your poll. :dizzy:
My DH calls your city Moscow on the Pacific. LOL!

[TwinFoxes]

I lived in Los Angeles from 1999 to 2005 and your poll still would be too high for me.

If you bought your house in '99, the market in LA was still recovering from the 90s downturn. Last year when we were selling our house, there was a house in the neighborhood (on the Westside) that had NO ROOF, had 2 bedrooms and was going for $400,000. It wasn't considered a crazy price. I just looked it up, the average sales price in the city of LA is now $578,000.

OP, I totally understood your poll BTW! I am amazed at what my friends who have moved to the midwest pay for their homes. We picked up a homes pamphlet in Indianapolis once, and literally for the price we paid for our home we would be able to have a mansion with a guard house at the end of our driveway! We had a 2 bed 1 1/2 bath house in LA. The DC area is also expensive, but we'll be able to get a 4 bedroom house here.

[egoldber]

We had a 2 bed 1 1/2 bath house in LA. The DC area is also expensive, but we'll be able to get a 4 bedroom house here.

We moved to the DC 'burbs in 2001. For LESS than what we sold our 1800 SF 2BD/1.5 BA 1970s ranch fixer upper in San Jose, we were able to get a brand new 3400 SF 4BR/3.5BA house. Crazy. Its bad here, but it was MUCH worse in CA!!!

But parts of the DC 'burbs are as bad as CA. If we had moved inside the Beltway, it would have been a much more even trade.

[arivecchi]

For the Chicago posters, Chicago is such a strange real estate market. The pricing is completely different depending on what pocket of the city we are talking about. In my neighborhood, it is very hard to find anything large enough for a family without spending at least half a million dollars. However, go west of I90 and you can find housing for much less than that. North Shore, even worse than my neighborhood. South Side, whole other ballgame. It is a very interesting city real estate-wise.

[arivecchi]

double post

[secchick]

Yep. We are in central Houston.. but not on the poll. Most of the homes Houston would not be on the poll.

We are on the poll and are inside the Loop. While my previous 3 BR/3.5 BA 2500 SF townhouse wouldn't have made the $ threshold, our current home does. We have new construction in the Bellaire/West U area.

[vludmilla]

In the NYC/Westchester area and we are definitely on the poll. We are house shopping now and anything below 600k is a MAJOR fixer upper and tiny or in a school district that you wouldn't want to use. I too get a little green when I hear of the prices in other areas. Makes me think we should take our down payment and just move and buy a house outright somewhere else. Hmm....

[elektra]

Ugh, I am jealous of y'all. I don't even think there is a house in this whole town that would be on the lower rung:47: of your poll. :dizzy:

Strollerland must be a really nice place! I still have yet to find it on a map. ;)
I hear ya on the jealousy thing. I love living in CA though so it is what it is.

[saschalicks]

Ugh, I am jealous of y'all. I don't even think there is a house in this whole town that would be on the lower rung:47: of your poll. :dizzy:

Amen! We were able to get a house for under what is on the poll but only b/c a) it was a MAJOR fixer upper and b) it was a foreclosure. Even at those two we've put enough into the house to put it on the poll.

OP I totally got what you were going for in this poll which is why I responded. I wanted to see if I was comparable. Living in L.A. aint cheap! But I've lived here all my life and can't imagine being anywhere else.

[niccig]

I I too get a little green when I hear of the prices in other areas. Makes me think we should take our down payment and just move and buy a house outright somewhere else. Hmm....

This is part of our retirement plan. We'll sell our house and move somewhere with cheaper COL and hopefully buy a house/condo with cash from the sale of our house...But that's 20 years away at least