I love this show and I’m jealous of some of these people. What I really don’t understand is where these people get the money to buy the houses that they do.
Just watched an episode where a couple with 2 children, looked like normal people. I gauge this by their dress and manner, look like typical America. They are in Bend, Oregon looking at a top of their budget house of $850K down to $760 or so.
Other episodes I have seen houses range from $200K and up. The $200K is for an apartment in Chicago.
I think I live a pretty good life, work hard, make almost double the national average. There is no way I could afford almost all of these houses they show. Given it’s just me, myself, and I in Boise, Idaho but the cost of living difference can’t be that much. Also the factor of down money but honestly how do people afford a $2K-$4K monthly house payment? I bought this summer, got a great deal, put down 10% and I’m more than happy with what I bought for $191K. Details 2400 sq ft, built 2005, 4 bdrm, 2.5 bath, 3 car, on standard 1/3 acre subdivision lot.
I guess it just really amazes me that people buy these houses. Are they leveraged to the hilt? Is what I have so far out of wack from the national averages? Is the regional differences that much. I know certain cities there is a big difference but wow.
Anyway just want to hear from the masses on the house price differences and affordability of them. I’m hoping that these programs are not demonstrating the past lending differences vs. today.
In my town $191,000 will get you a 1200 sq/ft fixer upper built in the early 70s with no garage where it actually says something like “needs to be cleaned” on the mls listing.
I wonder sometimes too. We like to watch the older folks who are buying places in Central America and the Carribean. My guess is that they’re selling their paid-off place in wherever to pay it.
I hope everyone stays the hell out of Boquete, Panama for the next 15 years until we can pick something up!
In my mind they have to be selling off something and have a huge down. Otherwise there is no way in hell I would sign up for a monster payment based on what ever current salary was.
I know that there is a big difference in regions but salary scales only go so far. What about security for a rainy/bad day.
South America is interesting for investment, if I had my way I’d go to China. Dirt cheap for a nice house and a business to support it. Obviously not HK of Shanghai. I saw one show where a 1br apartment in HK went for 1.5M HKD for like 600 sq ft and it wasn’t fancy.
I don’t know about that show but 200k in Vancouver will get you a burned out shell of a crackhouse/meth lab after it’s been raided by the cops and fully trashed, several times over, and located in the middle of gang war turf.
300-350k will get you a small (<1000sf) condo somewhere in a decent neighbourhood.
This is *current *market pricing, not what it was like as recently as 6 months ago.
As far as HGTV goes, I don’t have a TV or cable - but from what I have seen, I’m a big fan of this gal:
I honestly don’t know how people afford it either. We make quite a bit over the national average and there is no way in hell I’m taking on a 4k mortgage. That’s insane. Job stability being what it is?? Nuts.
Nice pic. So for the area that you live what is a standard house payment? Draw a few lines, Sq ft? land? City, burb, country?
My hind isn’t around those numbers for the huge house. The bigger mind is there is no way I would sign up for that mortgage. But everyone is different.
I rent an ~800sf apartment in a pretty nice neighbourhood. To buy this place as is I’d probably be looking at a little under 300k. The building is old and not brilliantly upkept, but the neighbourhood is solid and there aren’t any *major *issues. (When I moved in I replaced the electrical outlets with grounded ones - they were nearly all 2-prong ungrounded and there aren’t nearly enough circuits for modern living, etc. Plumbing is okay at best. Insulation is spotty but I like it cool anyway. Ventilation is shared ducting with the other units and there is a fair amount of “cross pollination” going on. Etc, etc.)
A 300k mortgage with 10% down at 6% over 25 years works out to $1855/mo. I earn a decent living but would be extremely reluctant to agree to that, knowing that there are still all the other costs of home ownership to be paid as well (hydro, water, garbage, property taxes, etc…) I’d be signing myself up to be extremely “house poor”, and I don’t like the idea of that at all.
If you want a “house”, small townhouses start at ~$500k - and those are definite fixer-uppers.
Mind you, this is centrally located in a nice part of town, in one of the most expensive cities in North America. If I were to move somewhere else this could quite possibly change.
My wife and I just put an offer of $230000 on a house that is 3000sqft with an attached 860sqft garage. We live in the middle of the good old USA in a town of 50,000 and not some major metropolis. I could not imagine paying $800000 for a 1000sqft condo. Hell were moving from about a 1350sqft house that the wife thinks is way to small (well at least the kitchen.)
I live in Naptown (Indy) where $191k would buy you a damn nice house, albeit with crummy schools. My mortgage payment is $691/month and that includes the fact that my property taxes have doubled in the last few years. There’s two of us paying it, so I THINK we can swing it (ha!) Ya gotta love the rustbelt Midwest with no mountains, beaches, or much to do at all…
Since House Hunters started to venture out from Southern California, they have shown a pretty wide variety of homes and buyers, and sometimes do show the first time buyers with a budget of $125K or less, but their usual buyer is on their second or third (or more) home purchase and has some equity to play with.
There is a tier of shows specifically focusing on the first time buyers (Property Virgins, My First Home, My First Place) where the prices tend to be lower and it’s not all about the holy trinity of granite, stainless, and hardwood floors. My First Home filmed in my metro area a while back and showed the episode a few weeks ago. The family ended up buying a 1400sf house on about a 50x90 foot lot for around $176K. (generally safe area with good schools)
And home prices here are some of the most expensive in central and north Florida because the Air Force owns 90-95% of the most desirable land south of I-10.
Why are you using the word envy? You say you paid barely over 100k for 2400 sq ft. I paid over 3.5 times that for 1350 sq ft on a 60 x 100 foot lot in an ok neighborhood (in no way great by Long Island standards)…5 + years ago when the market was on the way up but no were near its peak. I assure you I am envious of you and anyone that has “luxuries” such as a usable garage, basement, and neighbors that aren’t on top of them. I often find myself cursing at the tv when they show certain areas. Luckily I was able to sell it before the price crashed all the way down (however it is still worth a bit more than I paid in 2003) and have been renting it back from the guy who bought it (he bought it as an investment property so even though I am paying high rent, high as in 3 times your mortgage payment) he has been absorbing the equity loss for the last year and my rent is still 700 bucks less than my mortgage payment. Once we start seeing some signs of a turn around we will start looking for something new which I can assure you will not be 2400 sq ft, so even my trade up house will not be what you have and even with the buble bursting will still cost nearly 4+ times what you paid.
I’m guessing the envy should belong to those of us who can’t get a house like yours for that price where we live
If you watch the show enough though, I think you get a pretty wide range. Last week I saw a YOUNG couple (early 20s, maybe) with a budget of $900,000 looking in Portland…and the I saw another younger couple (not THAT young, but young), looking in a suburb of MPLS for about $250-275.
The cost of living varaince is HUGE (as far as housing, anyway). It can be huge within a single metro area.
Chemist, 8 years experience → $72K
Engineer, 2 years experience → $72K
Combined take home pay → $7,600/month
Live in townhouse 5 years old. Bought for $180K with 10% down. Have $20K in savings. Selling price = $200K. After sale of house +savings, minus closing costs, $65K is left over (note, a second loan was taken out to cover 10% of house. That was paid off as well).
$525K house - $65K down = $460K mortgage.
Factor in taxes, interest rates, and PMI, payments → $3,360/month.
$7,600 - $3,360/month = $4,240/month left for bills, cars, food, entertainment, etc. This also does not include yearly bonus checks.
Seems pretty do-able. This would be living like a couple who earned a combined income of $75K BUT had no house payment at all.
In addition, this fits on the cusp of the “28% rule.” Its tighter in the first couple of years, but you figure that the couple should expect $200-$300/month (combined) in raises per year. Combine this with a habit of buying affordable cars that they drive into the ground. Their current fleet costs a total of $38K (Nissan Versa and base model Toyota Rav 4) that they expect to carry out for 10 years each. In three years they’ll have no car payments and should be making an additional $750/month. At that point their total debt (house, property taxes, cars, student loans ($200/m) = 27% of total income. The recommended value is to stay below 36%. If they are really good with their money, they won’t have to pay PMI anymore after 5 or 6 years, saving another $170/m.
Also, I suspect that a lot of the HH reruns we see were filmed during the peak of the loose lending era. There are some homebuyers that give me the vibe that they did some sort of interest only loan or neg-am mortgage with a teaser rate to get the house for that mortgage payment for the first two years (the Las Vegas couple with a toddler where the wife needed a special room for cake decorating come to mind)
Also, I suspect that a lot of the HH reruns we see were filmed during the peak of the loose lending era. There are some homebuyers that give me the vibe that they did some sort of interest only loan or neg-am mortgage with a teaser rate to get the house for that mortgage payment for the first two years (the Las Vegas couple with a toddler where the wife needed a special room for cake decorating come to mind)
True.
I find it increasingly difficult to watch these shows. I cringe every time I see a family over-extend themselves to buy a home they really can’t afford. There was one family who bought a home with no down payment and 100% financing. They even had to finance the closing costs. The new mortgage payment was almost double their current rent. So, if the family can’t save money while renting, how will they ever afford their new home?
Maybe envy was the wrong word. I really like some of the finishes, counter tops, hot tubs etc that these people get. That doesn’t mean I would pay for them myself.
It really is amazing the differences in house prices from one city to the next and what you get for the money.
I mainly watch the programs for ideas on things to do to upgrade my own home. Over time, little by little I will keep improving and hopefully increasing the resale value. On the list currently is hard wood floors for the lower half, paint all the base boards, hang window casing (only sills currently) and the big one is crown holding. I will do all this work myself so I’m in no hurry and will only pay cash so my wish list will take some time to accomplish.
