https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 09 Apr 2026 06:18:19 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-17471 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:59:00 +0000 BSB 17471@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh, before I moved out to Seattle, we were house shopping in the suburbs of Philadelphia (Chester County). We were looking at starter homes in the $200k range. We were looking for homes in the $190k range. We had to look in cities where the school system wasn't the best. It would definitely be a starter home for us since we would have to move before we put kids in school. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-17465 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:46:12 +0000 mrskc 17465@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm in the central valley of California, and homes in my neighborhood are going for the low 100s. You can definitely find a decent home for under 150k. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-17446 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:14:45 +0000 meaganceleste 17446@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're in Dallas and we've been looking at smallish homes (3/2, less than 1500sqft) in the $150-$200k range in the city. We're trying to stay in a decent school district without moving to the suburbs because we love being close to everything, but we haven't found a house we love yet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-17425 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:49:59 +0000 yoursilverlining 17425@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We’re in southern Maine and a decent home in the areas we want will be $300k+ for 3bed/2bath. We bought a condo several years ago for $250k which has retained (and gained) its value, thankfully. Putting 20% cash down on both purchases (plus equity for the second home) helps, luckily we live in an area where its not impossible to save 20%. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-17092 Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:13:51 +0000 808love 17092@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>400k for a 3bdrm/ 1.5 bath. That is a good deal. Maybe a couple neighborhoods slightly cheaper, almost all way more expensive. Very simple home...outer suburbs. We said it's going to be our forever home. That was 2 years ago. Hmmmm, that may change one day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15971 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:12:39 +0000 DillonLion 15971@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>WOW I am thankful for where I live. We are in our starter home and it is a 3 bed/2 bath single family home in a nice neighborhood and it is about 5 years old. 1700 sq feet. It cost us $127K, It was in perfect condition and needed absolutely no work. We are in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15954 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:55:37 +0000 lavender 15954@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We live in a suburb 45 mins south of Boston, and bought our starter home 3 years ago (at the tale end of the housing bubble). It was built in 1994 and is 1700 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath with a finished basement for just over $300k. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15951 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:52:13 +0000 keiki_mama 15951@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We live in the bay area (California) and a starter home will cost us somewhere in the ballpark of $500,000. We're still saving our pennies for a down payment. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15949 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:47:11 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 15949@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I live in Northeast Houston. My husband and I just bought our first home. It has 2200 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 2 car detached garage. It was built in 1984. We bought it for $139,900. The standard of living in Texas is amazing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15928 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:14:21 +0000 Rescuemom10 15928@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I live in Northern WA. I decent starter home would be around 220-250k around here. We bought ours a little over a year ago now. We wanted more land, and wanted something we would stay in and not a starter. So we got a 3 bedroom 3 bath 2330sf on 2.5 acres. was valued and for sale at 340k, which was low. They took 300k. Motivated sellers. we lucked out. Wife was already in HI and waiting on her DH (retire) so they said YES when we offered 300k. Very lucky. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15926 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:09:26 +0000 Mrs.KMM 15926@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DH and I are looking to move (and buy a house in) Atlanta soon and we're looking to spend around $200K to get a nice (aka new-ish and has some extras like hardwood, granite, etc) 3-4 BR, 2+ bath house. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15904 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:54:06 +0000 LAGS 15904@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>In Central Maine you can get into a 3 bed house starting around $100,000 if you want to do some work. Otherwise, you could find a moderately updated starter home for about $150,000. Although I'd NEVER encourage anyone to move to central Maine despite the cheap homes! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15867 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:10:47 +0000 twodoghouse 15867@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I live in Central IL where the cost of living is extremely low. Our starter home was about $220k in 2008. It's 4 bed, 2.5 bath, finished basement but needed some work (we've put on a new roof, completely changed the landscaping, etc.) </p> <p>I have noticed though that the idea of different people's "starter home" really varies. I know a married couple that bought in 2010 and they have a much smaller (2 bedroom), older house, but it is in really good shape. They bought it for around $70k. The cost of homes really varies around here depending on what neighborhood/school district you're in. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15851 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:28:14 +0000 LuLu Mom 15851@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We bought our first home a year ago in Lincoln, Nebraska, 3 BR/2 1/2 Bath for 150K, and it is only 5 years old. We are looking to build new in about 5 years and we are looking at 250K for a 4 BR/3 Bath with some land. We are fortunate to have a lower cost of living here! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15846 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:23:49 +0000 kayakgirl73 15846@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>In the DC burbs in a good school district you need at least 500,000 and that still at least a 45 min commute into the city. We own a condo about 4 miles outside of the beltway near metro but not quite walking distance and my hubs paid 352,000 back in 2005. It now would sell for 270,000. We are doomed. Almost makes me want to scrap TTC and be a DINK. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15810 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:56:48 +0000 HLK208 15810@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For our starter home we decided to buy a flipped house. It's 1500sqft and sold for 121k before it was remodeled. The location is prime though for being south of Seattle. We live near a golf course that will be hosting the US open in 2015 so we're banking on our neighborhood's value increasing.<br /> We bought the 1/2 acre property for around $230k. It's decent but we'd rather be in Seattle. Townhomes in Seattle start at $200k. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live/page/2#post-15793 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:29:32 +0000 prettylizy 15793@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We bought a 3 bdr 2 bath Raised Ranch in an established area for $190 2 years ago. Mind you, we're in a smaller town about a 30 minute drive from the nearest city. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-15792 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:25:49 +0000 Chillybear 15792@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We live in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia and we purchased our 1950's 1300 sq ft 3 brdm, 1 bath home for 230k 2 years ago. Currently our home value is just under 200k - thanks crappy economy! Where may parents live in South Jersey most areas are like 200-400k. when my parents built their house in 1983 they paid 72k. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-15771 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:41:07 +0000 mamafroggy 15771@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It really does vary. I live in West/Central Florida and you can purchase a bank owned, beautiful property for as low as 90k-110k, then drive 10 minutes in either direction and purchase a beautiful starter home for 200k-250k, and THEN drive 5 minutes from the bank owned property a block away from the water and spend millions. </p> <p>It's crazy. Our budget is around 100k, so I guess we can go with that figure. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-15769 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:38:43 +0000 heffalump 15769@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow, I guess where we live it's pretty cheap. I'm in the Tampa, FL area. We just bought a house about 6 months ago, 3 bed 2 bathroom. It was about $135,000, short sale. It's not a fancy neighborhood, but it's a very artsy fartsy community and has good schools so I love it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-15763 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:29:55 +0000 Mrs. Sunglasses 15763@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We purchased our first home back in 2009. At first we wanted to buy something 175 000 - 200 000$ but in our neighbourhood (which is up and coming and actually getting more and more expensive) it wasn't worth it.</p> <p>So we went a little over budget but got the house we instantly fell in love with for 224K. Seeing it was our first home and all we opted for a longer mortgage, but I can't wait to renew to lower it from 35 years (no longer available in Canada) to a 20 year maybe even 15. </p> <p>I love my house (split level) and even though it's not very big, I want to live in it for more than 10 years. I want my kids to grow up in it. Sure it's small but its do-able, and yes we will need to renovate the kitchen and upstairs bathroom but that won't be for another 5 years. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-15751 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 06:58:47 +0000 tessabella76 15751@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Where we live in rural NE Ohio, you can get a decent starter home for about $85,000 to $125,000, depending on how much work needs done/how much land.</p> <p>We just looked at a great colonial, kind of in the country (neighbors pretty close by) with just under 3 acres. For three bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 car garage, 1800 sq ft, and a full basement the listing price was $139,900. We would have put an offer on it but our house needs a few things fixed before we can sell for what we need to get out of it and the house is not 100% what we want (more land/trees &amp; less neighbors/traffic).<br /> We are lucky in that even though our house is very small, we don't NEED to buy a new house yet. However, we are looking and if something catches our eye, we'll take a closer look. We don't want to settle.</p> <p>I'm also thinking we very lucky to be living where we live! Some of your housing prices are crazy high! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-15678 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:38:02 +0000 StbHisMrs 15678@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>A decent home, nice sized that doesn't need work will cost you between $225,000 and $350,000. A smaller home is about $190,000 - $215,000.</p> <p>What we want (5 acres, a shop, clean and updated, 4-5 bdrms, 2200+sq ft) will cost us about $350,000-$450,000. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-11020 Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:42:47 +0000 Lozza 11020@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're in a suburb of DC and while our house is nice, the neighborhood and schools are kind of crap. We paid $325K... when we want to move to a house in a decent school district, I imagine we'll probably budget $450-600K. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-11012 Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:30:12 +0000 eeh 11012@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're pretty lucky that here in small town, Kansas our 2 bed/1 bath bungalow with a good size kitchen and living room as well as a mud room and laundry cost us right around $80,000 5 years ago when my husband bought it. It also has a nice, big backyard and a single car, detached garage. </p> <p>We're house shopping now at looking at 3-4 bedroom/2-2.5 bath houses with room for a shop and will probably spend anywhere from $130-165 depending the size of the lot and the condition of the house. </p> <p>I just posted on another thread that we HAVE to have a new house before a baby because we have no space but reading all these posts definitely makes me appreciate where we live and the space we have. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-11003 Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:24:31 +0000 Puddingpop 11003@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Average houses in Vancouver, Canada cost $750,000.<br /> crazy. 'nuff said! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-9524 Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:26:16 +0000 winniebee 9524@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Man I am jealous of all these great deals! We live in Boston and a 2 bedroom condo costs 400-500k! Single family homes are kind of out of the question (at least for us!) unless you are willing to move to the burbs. We bought a 2 bedroom condo about 2.5 years ago and plan to live there for another few years, then sell or rent it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-9519 Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:19:53 +0000 tequiero21 9519@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we have a house in richmond area, 4 br, 2.5 baths, 2400+sq ft for $270K. lots more house for the price the further you are from major cities. (i don't consider richmond a major city). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-9479 Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:38:26 +0000 SAHM0811 9479@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>as a New Yorker, this topic depresses me. we don't even watch HGTV anymore because we get so jealous about the prices in other areas, as mentioned above. we couldn't ever settle in any other city that's not in NY, CA or HI though. </p> <p>currently, we are somewhat happy renting in NYC for now... we will probably buy in CA in a year or two though. Expensive there too, but much better since our families are there. We've been looking at 2-4 bedroom houses around 2,000 sq ft for anywhere from $500K to $900K. I do like that there is a large diversity of neighborhoods to choose from in Southern California (LA and OC). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-does-a-starter-home-cost-where-you-live#post-9478 Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:34:52 +0000 HabesBabe 9478@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're in Orange County-- "normal" OC neighborhoods would be around $300-$350k for a starter home. We paid slightly more for that in November of last year. </p>