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Texas is still a pretty low buck housing area. Where I live, $250k won't buy much of a house, but there are still distressed properties with deferred maintenance. I took a quick look at Craigslist in your area, FSBO, and it took less than 5 minutes to find this:
It sure looks like a starter home to me, for only $89k. Yeah, the seller is obviously running a scam and plans to repo the house ASAP, but if you have your nuts in one sack, it's a start. In the DFW area there must be dozens of available homes that anyone with a job can afford.
Didn't look at the crime map, did you?
Another issue in the Dallas area is the shifting clay soil that requires homeowners to water the foundation during the dry months. If that hasn't been done, it's guaranteed, absolutely guaranteed that in 20-30 years the slab foundation will need major repair work. In addition, because the plumbing is embedded in in the slab or below it, it's also going to need major plumbing work (because of the shifting concrete) that can't be done by an amateur.
Another issue in the Dallas area is the shifting clay soil that requires homeowners to water the foundation during the dry months. If that hasn't been done, it's guaranteed, absolutely guaranteed that in 20-30 years the slab foundation will need major repair work. In addition, because the plumbing is embedded in in the slab or below it, it's also going to need major plumbing work (because of the shifting concrete) that can't be done by an amateur.
There are no surprise good deals around here.
Yeah, all of the sub-100K houses around where I am in DFW (Closer to Ft Worth) are either in the ghetto or else they probably need 100K worth of repairs.
I do still see houses in parts of my neighborhood under $150K, they do need some work, but not an insane amount, and they're in decent areas (not as nice as the more expensive ones but they're fine). So that's good...but prices are obviously still rising. Heck back in 2011 I was looking at houses in Grapevine, Keller, midcities area, that were in the $130-150K range that now sell for over $200K...I should've moved here sooner.
Research is showing that the millennial generation is forgoing the once cherished tradition of purchasing a home. For many of us 'Baby Boomers' our greatest asset is the equity we have built up over the years by buying rather than renting. In my case several hundred thousand thousand dollars. If I had chosen to rent through the years and perhaps taken the easy route (no maintenance, freedom to move at will, etc) I probably would have payed about the same in rent as I did in mortgage.
I can see singles or childless opting for urban rentals and walk to work and bars but I can't really understand why families would choose to rent.
Lots of very smart folks on this CD forum so I would appreciate insight. Maybe things have changed and I am looking at things totally wrong.
Millennial are making the mistake of not thinking about the future. They suffer the Peter Pan syndrome where they are too footloose and fancy free, unaware of their own future.
They are the grasshopper, their parents are the ants.
Millennial are making the mistake of not thinking about the future. They suffer the Peter Pan syndrome where they are too footloose and fancy free, unaware of their own future.
They are the grasshopper, their parents are the ants.
LOL. Hardly. We Boomers (erzatz ants) are the ones who precipitated the Great Recession. Nothing antlike about that.
After working 5 days a week in a physically demanding job (nursing), the last thing I'm going to do on my days off is home repairs.
And "stay away from 30 year mortgages"??? For real???? I WISH I could afford a 30 year mortgage, but I'm spending what should be my down payment on student loans.
I wish things weren't so hard for my generation.
I wish your generation would stop generalizing that you're all overburdened with student debt as if the onus for that was on someone other than yourselves.
NYC is expensive because of the accumulation of capital, not because people get paid more. If you can find a rent controlled apartment you can do pretty well, but the majority of people in NYC live in squalor that would be unthinkable to most of the country, spending a fortune for living quarters that are little more than a well padded prison cell.
Move to Charlotte for a year. You will never go back.
It costs a fortune because of the massive demand to live there. People from al over the world dream of living in places like Manhattan, not Charlotte. Sure living quarters are small because that is part of urban life. When you live urban you're spending most of your time out doing things in the city. The apartment is basically just a place to sleep. There are people out there who absolutely love living in NYC and are willing to basically live out a closet to do so.
We live in queens in a great area. Major difference in rents though from manhattan.
The closer you get to the east river the more insane the rents get
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