25 Most and Least Affordable Housing Markets

macwinlin

Senior member
Apr 11, 2002
523
0
76
Most Affordable
1. Lima, Ohio (Map).
2. Saginaw-Bay City-Midland, Mich. (Map).
3. Canton-Massillon, Ohio (Map).
4. Youngstown-Warren, Ohio (Map).
5. Cumberland, Md.-W. Va. (Map).
Least Affordable
1. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, Calif. (Map).
2. San Diego, Calif. (Map).
3. Salinas, Calif. (Map).
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif. (Map).
5. Orange County, Calif. (Map).

Complete list

Yahoo article
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
Nassau/Suffolk is less affordable than NYC ? Heh. They must mean just taxes.
 

GoingUp

Lifer
Jul 31, 2002
16,720
1
71
suprise suprise... cali leads the list in unaffordability despite what some people refuse to believe
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Originally posted by: rh71
Nassau/Suffolk is less affordable than NYC ? Heh. They must mean just taxes.

Well they are talking about just housing markets. What used to sell for $250k is now easily over $500k in my neighborhood. Good luck if your a young couple and want to buy a house on the Island.
 

macwinlin

Senior member
Apr 11, 2002
523
0
76
Originally posted by: quakefiend420
heh.. all 5 least affordable are in cali...big surprise there :D

Actually, the top 10 and 18 of the 25 places overall are all in CA. :(
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Nice to see that Portland fell off the least-affordable list. California's housing market is like a time bomb right now IMO. Whether it will blow or not is anyone's guess, but there is no question that values are increasing beyond lenders' abilities to approve homebuyers under traditional guidelines.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: rh71
Nassau/Suffolk is less affordable than NYC ? Heh. They must mean just taxes.

Well they are talking about just housing markets. What used to sell for $250k is now easily over $500k in my neighborhood. Good luck if your a young couple and want to buy a house on the Island.
right timing and dual income helped us... $330k in '02... now the same houses are easily over $450k.

Problem is something in this price range is a starter-size house... 3 bedroom at most... who can and are willing to spend so much ? Good luck indeed.

BUT - compare to something like Brooklyn or Queens... they have homes for over $500-700k... in worse living conditions (size and atmosphere)... I still can't believe they'd say it's less affordable on the island.
 

malbojah

Golden Member
Dec 6, 2000
1,708
7
81
Hey, my old town was # 145 on the list. No surprise then that I moved away...very far away.
 

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
2
0
Interesting...

I live in Tulsa, and I'm moving to Ohio. I guess I'll enjoy excellent house prices well into the future. I will nice houses in both Tulsa and Ohio and STILL be under the cost of living in Cali.
 

DanTMWTMP

Lifer
Oct 7, 2001
15,906
13
81
sigh and I live in So. Cal. Cost of living here is incredible :(

But I love this place. I hope I can stay here hehehe
 

Rumpltzer

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2003
4,815
33
91
Was living in Santa Barbara (#1) until July. University housing, 2BR/1.5BA, coin-op washers, no AC, parking lot, vaulted ceilings, pretty nice place -- ~$1400/month (I pay half, roomate pays half)

Moved to Ventura (#21) and lived there until two weeks ago. Semi-resort apartment community, 1BR/1BA, washer/dryer, central AC, private garage, very nice place -- $1360/month (no roommate)

Hated job and moved to Los Angeles (#4) for a new job. 4-plex townhouse, refurbished within the past 10 years, 2BR/2BA, washer/dryer hook-ups, no AC, shared 2-car garage, it's okay and very clean -- $1300/month (no roommate)


Compare to:
Undergrad/masters in Champaign, Illinois. 1BR/1BA, coin-op washers, wall-unit AC, street parking, furnished with crappy furniture, but good enough -- ~$360/month (no roommate)
 

Rumpltzer

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2003
4,815
33
91
Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
sigh and I live in So. Cal. Cost of living here is incredible :(

But I love this place. I hope I can stay here hehehe
Ever lived anywhere else???!

I've lived in eight different States and four different countries. I'd leave heartbeat if the research/jobs weren't here.

$350K buys me into a crappy townhouse. $600K gets me into a nice townhouse. A downpayment of 20% is $70,000. If I set aside $1200 a month (on top of my $1300/month rent), I'll collect enough of a down payment for a crappy townhouse in about five years.

My co-workers pay a mortgage of about $3000 a month. Single income won't hack it here. I'm not even sure a lot of dual-incomes will get you far.
 

ggavinmoss

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2001
4,798
1
0
I'm originally from San Diego (#2). I work and used to live in Orange County (#5). I now live in Los Angeles County (#4).

Yay me!

-geoff
 

MisterCornell

Banned
Dec 30, 2004
1,095
0
0
The Long Island housing market is extremely volatile. We knew many people there who bought when prices were high in the 1980's and then collapsed in the early 1990's. Of course, many people who bought houses at that time are probably quite satisfied now. But overall, it's a buyer unfriendly market, with lots of expansions and collapses.

There's a reason why housing here in Ohio is so cheap. Outside most of the cities and suburbs is farmland. Farmland is not wilderness, which tends to belong to the state or have development restrictions. It's easy for builders to buy up new land and build new housing developments. This forces people in the city and existing older suburbs to sell their houses for cheaper prices, because those moving in to town can just as easily buy a cheap house in one of the exurban areas.

In nearby Detroit, MI, this is not so much the case, because the new housing construction tends to be very far North, or West, or South. Driving from one end of the Detroit suburbs to the other end on I-75 takes about an hour, and that's when there's no traffic. A lot of people prefer to live in the closer suburbs which drives up the price of housing in those places. In even bigger cities like New York, it can take 3-4 hours to drive from one end fo the suburbs to the other, so the closer suburbs have housing at a high premium (like Westchester, Nassau, etc.) In Ohio, there are no big cities, only small and medium size cities (some Clevelanders might not like to hear that ;) ). I live on the outskirts of Columbus, and I can be downtown in 20 minutes. In Ohio cities, there's not much difference between buying a house in one of the older suburbs, and in one of the newer exurban areas, other than a few extra minutes of drive time.
 

sniperruff

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
11,644
2
0
Originally posted by: rh71
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: rh71
Nassau/Suffolk is less affordable than NYC ? Heh. They must mean just taxes.

Well they are talking about just housing markets. What used to sell for $250k is now easily over $500k in my neighborhood. Good luck if your a young couple and want to buy a house on the Island.
right timing and dual income helped us... $330k in '02... now the same houses are easily over $450k.

Problem is something in this price range is a starter-size house... 3 bedroom at most... who can and are willing to spend so much ? Good luck indeed.

BUT - compare to something like Brooklyn or Queens... they have homes for over $500-700k... in worse living conditions (size and atmosphere)... I still can't believe they'd say it's less affordable on the island.

upper queens is expensive and so is nassau near roslyn... houses are amazing there with a water view but they can run up to $1M and above.
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Originally posted by: sniperruff
Originally posted by: rh71
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: rh71
Nassau/Suffolk is less affordable than NYC ? Heh. They must mean just taxes.

Well they are talking about just housing markets. What used to sell for $250k is now easily over $500k in my neighborhood. Good luck if your a young couple and want to buy a house on the Island.
right timing and dual income helped us... $330k in '02... now the same houses are easily over $450k.

Problem is something in this price range is a starter-size house... 3 bedroom at most... who can and are willing to spend so much ? Good luck indeed.

BUT - compare to something like Brooklyn or Queens... they have homes for over $500-700k... in worse living conditions (size and atmosphere)... I still can't believe they'd say it's less affordable on the island.

upper queens is expensive and so is nassau near roslyn... houses are amazing there with a water view but they can run up to $1M and above.

Yea, we can't forget towns like Jericho, Rosyln, Manhasset, Cold Spring Harbor, etc where it's normal for houses to go for over $1M.
 

ucdbiendog

Platinum Member
Sep 22, 2001
2,468
0
0
now in that most affordable list, what determines that? Im sure theres plenty of trailer parks in alabama etc that are way cheaper than the other ones. =\
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
81
19 of the 25 least affordable are in California. Big suprize. And I'm looking at moving into a house in #146 pretty soon.