Hellobee Boards

I'm in central Ontario, and it sounds like house prices here are a little cheaper. There's NOTHING for $100,000, at all. Maybe an empty lot on a lake or something.
$200,000 is probably a 1 bedroom, with $250-275,000 being what we paid for a fairly new, 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house.
$400,000 could get you a 4 bdrm, most likely with LOTS of space.

probably a studio or a 1 bedroom for 400,000...nothing at all under that! I'm in NYC.

Southwestern Ontario
$100,000 gets a 2 bed condo or small small house
$200,000 gets a 15 year old 3 bdr 2 bath 1800 square foot raised ranch in a family friendly neighborhood
$300,000 a 2000 square foot 2 story with 3-4 beds and 3-4 baths on a big lot

I just searched redfin for my zip code.
100k: nothing
200k: about 1 acre of land to build on or 1200 sf 2 bed/1.5bath condo
400k: 2k sf 2 bed/2 bath, or 1850's single family on the main road 4k sf 4bed/3 bath short sale.
There is like 1 single family, 3 condo, and about 5 pieces of land available for under 400k.

In my neighborhood, none of the above. In my city probably some pretty decent houses!

Housing prices are a little tricky to look-up here because all sales are basically an auction. They often list it for a lot less, hoping for a bidding war. So I looked up the actual sale prices and found this:

As far back as 2009, a few plots of land approx 14,000 sq ft each sold for $36k. Then from 2011-2013 three small plots of land sold for almost double the price. Homes built on those plots have not been on the market.

100k: townhouse (915 sq. ft.), sold on 2008
200k: house (12,475 sq. ft), sold on 2008
200k: townhouse (550 sq. ft), sold on 2012 (on the same street as above)
300k: house (7,900 sq ft), built in early 1900's, sold on Feb 2013

I love looking at houses! I can't believe the price differences in these areas. I feel pretty lucky - we bought our house for less than $100K (it was a foreclosure that we did a lot of remodeling to), and it's 2,000 sq ft, 4 br, 2.5 baths. Lots of work though...

My small MI town has the following:
$100K - 3br, 1.5 bath, 1560 sq ft, .5 acres
$200K - 5br, 3.5 bath, 4200 sq ft, 2+ acres
$400K - Actually, there was nothing in my county for this price. Generally speaking, one could buy a modest waterfront house on a lot of land (50+ acres), or a large house (4000+ sq feet) on a modest plot of land.

I live in Michigan also, in a suburb of Detroit.
For 100k-- 2bd 1 ba condo, 950 sq ft, nice, walkable neighborhood.
For 200k-- 3bd, 1 ba single family home, 1500 sq ft, same neighborhood, all recently updated including kitchen and baths.
For 300k-- (actually 285k but the 300k were ugly) 4bd, 3 ba 2400 sq ft impeccably kept house but has some wall paper issues, super sweet street with lots of young families.

@oliviaoblivia: Move here! I love it. I've lived here all my life and don't plan on leaving

Nothing for any of those price ranges. Studios in my neighborhood start in the high $400k's. Sometimes I'll see a 'share' of an apartment for under $400K, but that makes me shudder to think about.

100k: land that is not in-town or anywhere near the water. The land would need well and septic, so you’re looking at an additional 40k-50k for those, plus the cost to run electricity. No homes/condos in that price range.

200k: more land (still not in-town, still need well/septic), and a couple of very small homes in need of repair (major stuff, not just like ugly wallpaper).

400k: choice of a couple of custom build packages or older, stately homes in the 2k-2500 SF range. Our home was just under 400k and is 4 bed, 3 bath, full basement, upgrades, etc.

@Mrs D: West Michigan, between Grand Rapids and Lansing. I limited my searches to my school district, but districts within 30 miles or so can be much more expensive.

@Mrs D: I am in Grosse Pointe, similar to your area, if you move to the next, non GP town (St Clair Shores) you get a lot more for your money but schools aren't quite as nice and I feel like the community here is a bit better.

$100, 000 -- 1400 sqft, 2 bed and 2 bath, HORRENDOUS neighborhood. The closest home with this price is about 15 miles away from where I live.

$200, 000 -- 3 bedroom, 2.75 bath, 1400 sqft. Needs updating (totally outdated inside) but in a decent part of town, close to downtown).

$300, 000 -- 2000 sqft, 3 bed and 2 bath home built in 2003, nice neighborhood. Great schools, within walking distance of community pool and park. This house is my "neighbor."

$400, 000 -- a 1300 sqft condo on the water. Newish construction.

@Mrs D: I love it here! We aren't from Mi so it was a but of a guessing game for us but it has worked out really well. You are in a great area too though, Birmingham was a consideration but we got about double the house here! I am still in shock though that we actually found an area that is walkable, has good schools and has lots of different, pretty houses.

For 100K around the Central Florida area, you'll get a newer home, probably in a new neighborhood, on a lot. Good starter home. Probably 1500 sq ft.

For 200K, you can get a larger home (either new or old) in a much nicer, established area. May also get you an acre or less. Probably 2,500 sq ft.

For 300K, you'll probably find similar features to the 200K house, plus some added sq footage, but you'll be in a really really nice area.

@Cole: Ya, we wanted to be in Birmingham but just were not pleased with what we could get for our money. So we found this awesome niche in Troy that has Birmingham schools (for the price of Troy and Troy taxes) which sold us! Now we'd like to move up to Rochester and settle in to a bigger house...

@Mrs D: Rochester is great too, I am in love with all of the cute little "Main Street" areas, Michigan does those really well! I love spending Saturdays mornings visiting different ones and checking out the coffee shops and cute little shops.

House 1: $100,00 - 2 bed, 1 bath, 1,319 sq. feet

House 2: $200,000 - 5 bed, 2 bath, 3,406 sq. feet

House 3: $400,000 - 4 bed, 3 1/4 bath, 4,476 sq feet