CNN Money put out an interesting article comparing what kind of homes you can get for your money with $163,000 — the current national median home price. You won’t be surprised when you read that what you get in Texas is much different than what you get in Los Angeles, but you might be surprised how different.
In North Dallas — only 12 miles from the city center — a homebuyer can purchase a 3,000-square-foot four-bedroom home with vaulted ceilings, a converted garage made into a playroom with a kitchenette and full bath, and an indoor atrium with a fountain.
In L.A, you get a one-bedroom, one-bath fixer-upper on a short sale.
Yikes.
The little home, which is selling as-is and needs a lot of work, is being sold for cash. No financing is available. That should give you a hint at how much elbow grease buying this home, which is 11 miles east of downtown LA, would require.
On the scale of median home prices, compiled here by Trulia, Texas is 30th with an overall median of $144,900, while California comes in third — ahead of New York — with a median of $452,000.
Texas, which saw home prices hold much steadier than those of California during the crisis, has always had affordable homes, in part due to a huge amount of cheap land.
California, on the other hand, isn’t quite so lucky — even though we’ve heard a lot about people moving away from the state in droves. With major metropolitan areas spread evenly throughout the state, it’s pretty difficult to find a place far enough away that you save money by not being in a desired area.
Alas.
On another note, according to AOL Real Estate, not a single city in the state of California makes the top 10 “manliest cities.” They were all evidently too hipster to make the list, and were outdone by the manliness of such cities as Toledo, Ohio; Houston; Memphis, Tenn.; St. Louis, Mo.; and Oklahoma City.
So, if you are a burly male looking for an affordable house in California, you better keep looking. You might find some lovely locations in Houston, where the homes are cheap, trucks outnumber minivans and the rivers are full of fish.
jhuseman@housingwire.com
@JessicaHuseman
