1 million $ not enough for a house

Just to highlight how expensive it is to live in a big city:

New builds in Phoenix are $200 -$250 per square foot. If you don't want a new build it's $175-$200.

For a million dollars you could easily get a 5,000 sq foot home with a pool on half an acre in a good part of town.

I personally think PHX is overpriced. Imagine what you could buy in Wichita for a million.

Natick may be a good place to look

Lots of steals for under 500k in Lynn right now. buy fast before everyone else catches on.

welcometolynn wrote:

Lots of steals for under 500k in Lynn right now. buy fast before everyone else catches on.

Who the hell wants to live in Lynn?

Just took a look at some other areas. If someone tossed in Natick Id suggest looking at Medfield/Holiston/Medway.

Just did a quick search on Redfin lots of options around 750-850 that look promising.

Is still prefer Norwood/Dedham/Walpole though for ease of getting into Boston via MBTA

I grew up in California my childhood home was $1,800,000 it was 3,000sqft. I live in Michigan bought my first home at 37 currently 38 paid $500,000 for my home it is 4,420sqft and fully loaded. In the states you are talking about my home would be about $3,000,000. Sometimes housing is over priced. My dad lived in a condo in the palisades and spent $8,000,000 on it and complained I told him that is on you.

The answer is Newton. There are less expensive parts of Newton, like Thompsonville, where houses are below a mil. And you have access to good Newton schools. Now your neighbors may not be the same as the neighbors in Chesnut Hill, but I think it’s hard to do better on a $/school/proximity to Boston. Brookline would be good too but pricey if you want a yard.

dhdbsvshsvgyhb wrote:

The answer is Newton. There are less expensive parts of Newton, like Thompsonville, where houses are below a mil. And you have access to good Newton schools. Now your neighbors may not be the same as the neighbors in Chesnut Hill, but I think it’s hard to do better on a $/school/proximity to Boston. Brookline would be good too but pricey if you want a yard.

You missed the point. Everything in Newton is 1m. OP doesn’t want to spend that much.

I think we will see another housing correction during the next 5 years. Prices are so high because rates are under 3%. That won’t last. Once rates go up, so will mortgages. Existing prices will decline along with home equity.

I hope current buyers aren’t overextended, it won’t end well.

I don’t think there’s enough stimulus left after covid for another housing bailout.

Rainy Day wrote:

I think we will see another housing correction during the next 5 years. Prices are so high because rates are under 3%. That won’t last. Once rates go up, so will mortgages. Existing prices will decline along with home equity.

I hope current buyers aren’t overextended, it won’t end well.

I don’t think there’s enough stimulus left after covid for another housing bailout.

This. 100% going to happen. Also the economic effects of COVID will eventually catch up. A housing hangover is a sure thing.

life sucks, get covid wrote:

I live in an east coast city. Realizing that a $1M budget with a 300k down payment just isn’t enough for a decent SFH in a decent neighborhood.

I forgot what thread I opened, saw SFH and thought it was about Suzy Favor Hamilton.

I heard she was $500-$1,000 a pop.

Looking for a decent SFH myself.

life sucks, get covid wrote:

I live in an east coast city. Realizing that a $1M budget with a 300k down payment just isn’t enough for a decent SFH in a decent neighborhood.

Not looking for anything crazy, just some space and a yard in a place that isn’t crime-plagued. But a million dollars is not enough for that.

I'll never understand while people like you don't just move twenty minutes further away from where you're looking. Prices do go down.

No offense, but you can't get me to feel bad for someone who thinks they have it rough when they don't like what they're shopping around for with a $1 million budget. That likely puts you in the $400k+/year club which is top-2%. You can't find a place to live that's safe? Try being in the other 98%. We have bigger things to address in this country. Try making the tiniest fraction of your income and being told you can only rent for your entire paycheck.

If you're in any east coast city not named NY then you're just lying. The suburbs around Boston/Providence/Hartford all have plenty for you. DC & NY are maybe different but you're also not trying to buy like an average person. Things might be relatively expensive for you but you can rent some amazing property to set yourself apart from the pleebs. Or just live within your means and buy something smaller and stop caring if people think it's nice enough. You're doing better than almost everyone in the US. I'm sure whatever you find will be good enough to throw up on FB & the Gram.

((FWIW housing is too expensive, even for someone like you. But you're coming onto a message board as someone who is doing better than most to complain about a problem we're facing tenfold. Try some perspective.)0

Would you give away 4 weeks of vacation time? Because that’s the annual cost of adding 20 minutes each way to you daily commute. 160 hours or so.

Plus it impacts childcare. I have to able to be home by the time daycare closes (5 pm right now due to stupid COVID rules, 6 pm normally).

20 minutes is also about one third of the daily free time I have to spend with that kid (not counting the dinner/bath/bedtime hour), so I’m not too eager to give it away.

HH income is about 240-250....not 400. Around the 90th percentile for the Boston area...which is part of my point. And we have a pretty good down payment. If I can’t afford a house, how can anybody?

life sucks, get covid wrote:

HH income is about 240-250....not 400. Around the 90th percentile for the Boston area...which is part of my point. And we have a pretty good down payment. If I can’t afford a house, how can anybody?

I’m in a similar spot. I don’t really get it. We were approved for a loan twice what our mortgage is. My guess is people are house poor trying to keep up with the Jones in the immediate suburbs of Boston just like they are in northern VA & bethesda / west Chester county in NY.

That being said a house is worth what someone is willing to pay and because schools are so highly rated in the area a lot of people may be willing to extend themselves a little further than they probably should.

Not everyone sticks to the “rule” that mortgage should be roughly 1/3 of your income.

I’m sure a lot of people have doubled down multiple times over the last 10 years with refis too.

The problem in most of these expensive cities is that they're in high demand, have low density, and slow/block new housing in the area. For example, Somerville MA is full of apartment buildings...almost all of which are illegal under its current building codes. Most of the other Boston suburbs block dense housing altogether. There's been noise about fixing this, but it's going to keep getting more expensive until we make a serious effort (or until no one can afford a mortgage).

That said, a SFH near a major city is always going to be expensive. The land is valuable, not the house.

Ho Hum wrote:

The problem in most of these expensive cities is that they're in high demand, have low density, and slow/block new housing in the area. For example, Somerville MA is full of apartment buildings...almost all of which are illegal under its current building codes. Most of the other Boston suburbs block dense housing altogether. There's been noise about fixing this, but it's going to keep getting more expensive until we make a serious effort (or until no one can afford a mortgage).

That said, a SFH near a major city is always going to be expensive. The land is valuable, not the house.

True about the land being valuable. I'm in the process of unloading a dump of a house left in inheritance. Even though it needs to be gutted we're able to get much more than we imagined.

life sucks, get covid wrote:

Would you give away 4 weeks of vacation time? Because that’s the annual cost of adding 20 minutes each way to you daily commute. 160 hours or so.

Plus it impacts childcare. I have to able to be home by the time daycare closes (5 pm right now due to stupid COVID rules, 6 pm normally).

20 minutes is also about one third of the daily free time I have to spend with that kid (not counting the dinner/bath/bedtime hour), so I’m not too eager to give it away.

Ya Boston is expensive, but was recently found to be "fairly valued" by multiple studies, whereas cities like NYC and SF were "over valued" - so don't expect much of a correction. Also, interest rates aren't going anywhere for 3+ years - don't be the guy that waits around forever for the next "housing crash."

And I agree on the commute - it's NEVER worth it to have a bigger yard, more house, blah blah blah. Buy a townhouse in the city. Spend time with your kids, take them to parks, walk to work.

Just my two cents.

Land value as a component as your overall property value isn't bad as it doesn't depreciate or require maintenance to the extent of the building. Additional land is relatively cheap anyway (I live on 5.5 acres, but since it can only be zoned for one house, its about the same price as a 1 acre lot in the same neighborhood). I can get more privacy or also put in a 0.4 mile run/bike trail loop without any additional investment that the 1 acre lot. Plus the space is great for summer parties! (When we are allowed to have them)