25 Most and Least Affordable Housing Markets

[virtuamike]

Wooohooo, Yolo #6!

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: MisterCornell
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.

I'm moving to Cleveland this Saturday, and I really can't wait. I have spent quite a bit of time in the Cleveland area, but mostly in small towns like Canton, Millersburg, etc. The country around these towns is, in my opinion, beautiful.

 

[dderidex]

Originally posted by: Descartes
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.

Ummm....you DO realize 'affordable housing markets' are a very, VERY bad thing, right?

Originally posted by: Descartes
I'm moving to Cleveland this Saturday, and I really can't wait. I have spent quite a bit of time in the Cleveland area, but mostly in small towns like Canton, Millersburg, etc. The country around these towns is, in my opinion, beautiful.

Oh, gods, I grew up in Cleveland area. DUMPSVILLE.

About the only nice thing is Geauga county. I miss that badly - some gorgeous cities in there. A lot of 'cute' towns - the old 'town square' type: Chardon, Burton, Hambden, Newbury, etc. Nice antique stores, 'ma and pop' coffee shops, etc. Nice to visit, wouldn't want to live there. Very, very conservative.

And Kirtland, in Lake County, is perhaps one of the nicest, cleanest cities in the country. And the Holden Arboretum in it is one of the 2 or 3 largest Arboretums in the nation. If you live in the area, I STRONGLY SUGGEST A MEMBERSHIP THERE!! Hundreds of acres of essentially gardens. Quite breathtaking.

However....we are happy to be on the opposite side of the country now. For one, you will hate the winters. No, really. "Lake effect snow" - do you know what that is? Oh, you'll learn. Ever had 3 feet of snow IN ONE NIGHT? Okay, now, imagine that happening, oh, 4 or 5 times over the course of the winter.

Not to mention the summers are hot and VERY humid. NE Ohio has a spectacular mosquito problem over the summer, too.

Plus, there is utterly no IT jobs to speak of in the state - it's very much an industrial (steel & farm) state, and the government wants to keep it that way.

 

[MisterCornell]

Originally posted by: dderidex

Originally posted by: Descartes
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.

Ummm....you DO realize 'affordable housing markets' are a very, VERY bad thing, right?

No. Why don't you enlighten us.

 

[Brackis]

I wish they had an actualy town list rather than simply county/city. I know the town I grew up in is obsurdly expensive to the point that the smallest and cheapest house in the town is appraised at 350k.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: MisterCornell
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.

In a lot of Detroit suburbs there has been no coherient infrastructure to go with the boom in new housing.

We are planing on moving this year, and there are no places that entirely suit our needs.
If we go to the outlying burbs drive times just to get to the supermarket can be a pain. Houses in the close in burbs are older and were smaller and then had additions added to them.



Looks like the rust belt is the place to live 😉

 

[nageov3t]

seems fishy that Jersey City is so high on the list. I've always thought prices around here were pretty good, especially when compared with the neighboring cities (Hoboken, Manhattan).

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Vic
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.

My dad seems to think part of the insane prices in CA is because foreigners are buying up a lot of property. Apparently the trade deficit with China has to go somewhere.

 

[MySoS]

That list is crap. My area is in the top 25 and homes here are dirt cheap. My neighbor sold his 20 year old 3BR house for 250,000, that is dirt cheap for a house.

 

[MisterCornell]

Originally posted by: loki8481
seems fishy that Jersey City is so high on the list. I've always thought prices around here were pretty good, especially when compared with the neighboring cities (Hoboken, Manhattan).

It's probably referring to the entire county that Jersey City is in, and perhaps some nearby counties as well.

 

[shilala]

PA is weird. A $100,000 house here in my town easily costs $500,000 in the Burgh. I can't imagine what I'd pay for my house in a CA market.

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: MySoS
That list is crap. My area is in the top 25 and homes here are dirt cheap. My neighbor sold his 20 year old 3BR house for 250,000, that is dirt cheap for a house.

yea, but what is the annual income of the area????? because if that itself is low then you will be listed, its not per house cost, its a ratio.

MIKE

 

[Electrode]

According to that list, I live in the 10th most affordable housing market. I find that pretty easy to believe, since one can get a hilltop mansion in Grand Haven for the cost of a cheap apartment in NYC...