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Would $300k get you a nice house in a good school district where you live?

  1. jaguar

    pomegranate / 3764 posts

    @ScarletBegonia: That's it exactly! Unless you're planning on either downsizing, or moving further away from the city, you could sell for a profit... and then end up paying even MORE for a new place. Seems pointless, really.

    *sigh*

  2. birdofafeather

    pineapple / 12053 posts

    @pregnantbee: i remember that article... and i just looked on redfin and it says it's gone up in value from last year.... $122K!!!!!!!! 😱☹️

    i would love to see a pic of it now though for reals. i'm assuming they tore it down and are building something new.

  3. AprilFool

    nectarine / 2591 posts

    Nope! We paid more than that for our townhouse and the local school isn't great.

  4. loveisstrange

    pineapple / 12526 posts

    Yes, you totally can!

    We have a situation in our city where the city magnet schools (some of the are in the best in the Midwest) have a desegregation program, which means non-AA kids from the county who live in certain districts can attend them. So if you take that into account, even more so.

  5. ValentineMommy

    pomelo / 5791 posts

    Yes. $300k will get you a decent home here, although $350k would be a bit more comfortable.

    That being said, the taxes on a $350k house in my area is approx 12k a year. So, while your mortgage payments might not be that bad, you'll be paying an extra $1k in taxes a month.

    I'd much rather have to pay a bigger mortgage, which can be paid off, with smaller taxes. Even when my house is paid off, I'm going to be dealing with those taxes forever

  6. travellingbee

    hostess / papaya / 10219 posts

    Nope. Not even a tear down for that. Not in the city. You could get a nice condo but not zoned to good schools. But in the burbs you could get a nice house for that!

  7. 2littlepumpkins

    grapefruit / 4455 posts

    No, but if we were willing to commute maybe 1.5 hrs then maybe we could do it for 500? Real estate (including the rental market) is tight here.

  8. Umbreon

    clementine / 854 posts

    Yes, I'd say it's doable where I live. $320-350k is probably the average cost of homes in a decent area.

  9. Mrs. D

    pear / 1852 posts

    Yes! 200 would be enough here, sadly we'll be shopping between 150-175, but they'll still be decent districts.

  10. Mrs. Lion

    blogger / grapefruit / 4836 posts

    @oliviaoblivia: I would just have to live somewhere else. Holy moly!

  11. stiletto_mom

    persimmon / 1183 posts

    Haha hahahahahhahahahhahahahahhahahah

    I'm in Toronto. No way.
    I'm in the burbs and townhouses here are 600. Small detached homes are 1 MIL.

  12. Mrs. Lion

    blogger / grapefruit / 4836 posts

    @jape14: I thought Apex was on the higher end of property values, but I am finding tons in this price range. This one is not too far from where we are. It isn't super upgraded but I would definitely consider it a nice house. Are the houses more expensive in Raleigh? This one is listed at $265K.

    http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/327-Grassy-Point-Rd_Apex_NC_27502_M58648-36053#photo0



  13. oliviaoblivia

    pineapple / 12793 posts

    @ScarletBegonia: close. Down the hill in the neighborhood realtors call Leslieville that is NOT Leslieville.

    @Mrs. Lion: it's pretty much listed for land value. So awful spending $600k and still having to spend another half mil building a house.

  14. jape14

    pear / 1586 posts

    @Mrs. Lion: in my experience, yes but it really depends on which part of raleigh. my guess would be that it wouldn't work anywhere inside the beltline or a lot of parts of north raleigh. northeast or southeast raleigh, yes, but then you run into school issues (again, relatively speaking) or "sketchier" neighborhoods.

  15. mediagirl

    hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts

    @autumnleaves: @MrsLion: @jmarionsmith @jape it ALL depends on what part. You could always move to my part of town where 5 bedroom 2600sf houses are going for $235k. But then you wouldn't have the good schools. If I want the same house in North Hills or ITB, I would pay $450+ for what I have now.

  16. looch

    wonderful pear / 26210 posts

    @oliviaoblivia: But, salaries are higher, right, in order to support those kinds of prices?

    None of this surprises me at all. I mean, when you move to a location, your salary has to support the cost of living there. So, if you're relocating to an area with cheaper housing costs, there's a high chance you will need to accept a lower salary (although, I have seemed to notice that people are making more than I thought in the NC area, so I would assume at some point, housing prices are going to rise, especially if more companies relocate there). Just as a person relocating to an area with more expensive housing costs would need a salary more in line with that area.

  17. sunny

    coconut / 8430 posts

    @looch: that's the thing with Toronto (and Vancouver, Seattle)--salaries and home prices are starting to decouple due to an influx of money that isn't earned via local wages. The money is coming via an external source of investment and is driving up real estate prices.

  18. Mrs. Lion

    blogger / grapefruit / 4836 posts

    @jape14: @mediagirl: I guess I was just thinking about the county overall, not just specific neighborhoods. I feel pretty confident that the schools are very good in all of wake county, with the exception of a few outliers here and there like you would have in any area. Just because you could spend more on a house (easily!) doesn't mean you have to to have a nice house with a good school.

  19. Mrs. Bee

    admin / watermelon / 14210 posts

    a mansion in el nido! but there are no good schools.

    in brooklyn... not even a studio apartment.

  20. looch

    wonderful pear / 26210 posts

    @sunny: I see, thanks for clarifying!

  21. oliviaoblivia

    pineapple / 12793 posts

    @looch: unfortunately no. Average income would need to increase by 275% for price-to-income affordability.

  22. ShootingStar

    coconut / 8472 posts

    @looch: I've actually been doing research on this because we're looking to relocate from MA to FL. Here in the Boston area we make salaries that on paper look great. But daycare is outrageous and so are home prices. As far as I can tell, we will make less in FL, but our salaries will go further.

  23. looch

    wonderful pear / 26210 posts

    @oliviaoblivia: Wow, that's really surprising, I had no idea about the situation.

  24. Raindrop

    grapefruit / 4731 posts

    @looch: Where I am (bay area) there is a lot of foreign investors driving up the market too. Someone posted this once. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Million-Dollar-Shack-documentary-Bay-Area-housing-6582122.php

    This was a while ago from my e-mail my friend sent me this on 2-25-2016 when this was going down

    This is about a yelp customer support person living in SF complaining about working wages. Writing an open letter to the CEO of yelp. Sadly she was fired within hours of her post.

    https://medium.com/@taliajane/an-open-letter-to-my-ceo-fb73df021e7a#.jm2q1tvqy

    This was written soon after the post above an open letter to the person above about how she should *NOT* whine about living in an expensive and she needs to pay her dues.

    https://medium.com/@StefWilliams25/an-open-letter-to-millenials-like-talia-52e9597943aa#.svjbq0b2i

    This person wrote in response to above saying watch it you don't even know how privilege you are.

    https://medium.com/listen-to-my-story/36-year-old-destroys-29-year-old-millennial-who-ripped-25-year-old-yelp-employee-who-got-fired-aa91972dedff#.14ikxu3h9

    Each read... makes you feel more sad about the person struggling just to live in the bay area. Especially if you have no family support... a low paying job... etc.

  25. Coffee-lover

    apricot / 340 posts

    Nope, it would be closer to 600k. But that is why we are looking to move to a cheaper state

  26. jape14

    pear / 1586 posts

    @MrsLion: @mediagirl: I totally agree that for the most part, schools are good at the county level. For us we wouldn't consider something a good school if there was constant reassignment in the area or insane commute times (both for kids on a bus or parents to work). Factoring those two things leaves us personally in the aforementioned expensive areas.

  27. NorCalWayfarer

    nectarine / 2134 posts

    AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA (takes breath) HAHHAHAHAH. Not here in the Bay Area....

  28. ScarletBegonia

    persimmon / 1339 posts

    @oliviaoblivia: that's crazy - when I moved to Sydney (where house prices have always been crazy) in 2005 my sister bought a 3 bdr in the pocket for $325k - one of the major reasons I always thought I'd move back to Toronto is affordability of housing as compared to Sydney...but they are honestly almost on par now for anywhere I'd actually want to live, and I make about twice as much here as a high school teacher than I would in Toronto (if I could even find a freaking job!)! Toronto and Vancouver are completely out of control!

  29. oliviaoblivia

    pineapple / 12793 posts

    @ScarletBegonia: my SIL is in Sydney and bought about the same time we did. She paid $200k more, but she's a doctor without kids and has more money than she has time to spend it.
    If I lived at home we would be waterfront for what we paid. wouldn't have jobs though!

  30. ScarletBegonia

    persimmon / 1339 posts

    @oliviaoblivia: aw that's tough - where's home? I actually think I might know who your SIL is, if she's still in Sydney! There can't be that many female brain surgeons with no kids in one city, can there?
    Anyway - thread jack! I do miss Toronto something fierce, esp as you head into summer - such a great place to live (when it's warm!).

  31. caterw

    persimmon / 1445 posts

    I live in Central VA, and you can get a pretty nice house for $300,000. I specifically look for 3 bedroom, rather than 4 and I would prioritize a nice yard over square footage. You are probably looking at a 20-30 minute commute for really really good schools though.

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