what is the average house price in your area?

JillAly

DH and I just started for homes in the suburbs (I'm in NYC).  For $750,000 in Northern NJ or Westchester, NY we're looking at homes that have lovely wood paneling, shag carpeting and kitchens that look right out of a 1970's magazine.  Can you believe it?  I'd still have to put in thousands of dollars to rehab any home I buy!   I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the amount of money it takes to get a nice home.  If I stay in NYC, 2 bedroom apartments in Manhattan start at about a million. 

So, what is it like where you are?  Say for a 3 or 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home.  Just curious!

honeybeez

I live in Chicago suburbs and houses are $250,000 and way up. You can buy a decent fixer upper starting at that price.

FaeryStarGazer

We bought out house (3br, 1bath, 1150sq.ft) in 2003 for $64,900. Today, we could probably sell it for $72k. I've been looking at homes as well since we are bursting out of our little place. For a 4br, 2ba,2000+ sq ft built after 1990, we're looking btwn $130k and as high as $289k for brand spanking new construction.

JulieandBen

Where I am now? I'm not sure. We sold our 1,136sqft 2br, 2bth house in LA for almost 700k about three years ago. I'd take that house back in a heartbeat over my 3400sqft house in Arkansas.

brightning

We had our house built 6 mos ago. 3 br, 2 bath, 1800 sq ft, for 174K. The back yard is TINY, though - 15x40 ft. I think that's pretty average for the Tucson area.

HawaiiBrideGrm

Well, our tiny condo (DH calls it a "postage stamp") is just under 1100 sq ft, 2 bed 2.5 bath and goes for $430k. A nice newly constructed home here, 4 bed 3 bath around 2400 sq ft with almost no backyard would cost you $850-900k in this bad market. Real estate is insane.

DevonPow

3 or 4 bedroom, 2 bath single family in my town is at least a million. No joke. MA house prices are crazy.

punkfiction

cheap. I could get a brand new (brick of course LOL i live in dallas burbs) 4 br/3bath and about 3500sq ft for 225-250k. less/more depending on the area and neighborhood. of course I could get the same house for over a $1mil in one area and for 175k in another

kristen230

We just bought our first home in september. We bought it for 150K. It was build in 2007, and the builder hadn't been able to sell it and went into foreclosure... When he listed it back in 2007 he was asking 250K. We got a GREAT deal for the house we have. Its 3 bed/3 bath and 2000 square feet, plus a finished basement.?

Read2Me

DH's boss lives in Westchester and was shocked when he saw our house. ?We live in a 4 bedroom, 1.5 bath house that cost us 145K. ?His house is half the size of ours and he paid close to half a million. ?He couldn't believe the difference in cost just a few hours away.

brittneycc1982

Ours fits your description, it is 5 years old, plenty of upgrades, nice backyard, great area... we paid $200k for it 6 months ago (it was a forclosure though so we got a good deal!).

jenn7200

The town we live in had one of the highest forclosure rates in the country. There are wonderful deals to be had around here now.

We bought our home 5 years ago for 265,000. 2800 sq. ft. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, game room, dining, family and living room. We had it appraised 3 years for just under 600,000 but now there are homes in our neighborhood just like ours with all of the same type of upgrades for just over 200,000. It sucks. Needless to say, we are going to be renting our house when we move and not taking a huge loss selling it. On top of what we paid, we had our yard landscaping and built a pool.

momofolivia

Our house is 1900sf, 3/2 with a big decent backyard.  It's about 12 years old.  When we bought it in 2005 (towards the end of the bubble), we paid $215.  It's probably worth about $185-190 now.  

The area of town, though, will really affect the price.

amazingkel

our house is 1900 sf 3/2 with a screened pool and was built in 1992. Bought for 230,000 and prob couldnt get more than 200-215 for it now depending.

JillAly

Now I'm starting to understand why DH wants to go back to where he's from- Texas.  Sounds like NY & CA & MA are crazy in their prices.  Hmmm...Rochester sounds great except DH hates the snow!

mrs.aaguilar

Our house is 2800 sq ft, 4 bdr, 3 bath, with large backyard, and right now its about 500-550k. ?If the markets was better, I think it would be?at least?100-150k more.

PaigeC1981

About 200k.

Erika6504

My house is "below average."  It's a 3br, 4bth 3 level townhouse.  No garage and nothing fancy.  I believe the total sq footage is somewhere around 1800 (including the basement).  When we bought it in 2006, we paid $450,000.  I think we could probably sell it for around $400,000 now.

Honestly, I'd say that the average house is close to $650,000 or $700,000.  We're about 30 minutes outside of DC and that really jacks up housing prices.

moroccojade

If we were to buy a house around where I work, a small fixer-upper is about a million.  If it's really in rough shape and tiny, you can get one for $895K or so.  Anything decent is quite a few 100K more than that, though.  Sigh.

 

bklynbridecesh

Jill Aly-

I say stick it out if you want to stay in the NYC area.  Housing prices are plummeting.  I have a friend who lives in Northwest Jersey, and his house has depreciated and is now worth 550,000. (It's a 4 bedroom).  I also have a friend who just bought a home in Canarsie Brooklyn for only 216,000!!!!, although it's a two bedroom.  Housing prices have got to come down.  Keep looking if you want to stay.  You're never gonna find a market like this again in NYC.  Although Manhattan prices will never change.  Good Luck!  Keep us updated on the search. 

kellnbri

Where in North Jersey are you looking??  I've been trying to get my parents to sell their house....3 bedrooms, 3 bath, huge kitchen, 2 car garage built in 1975ish though but it doesnt look it.  They would be happy to get $300,000 for it in their area....just wondering where you were looking...Bergen county??

 

We bought our house about 3 years ago...its a townhome and we paid $355000...now it would probably go for about $250000...it really sucks!

goldenprincess

Up here in Edmonton, Alberta, a house like that is about $450,000.