Cheap home prices ?

psycosteve · May 11, 2016

I am currently renting but I decided to look at some of the for sale listings and I have to wonder how can people sell houses this cheap? 20,000 for a fixer upper 50,000 to move in. I can own cheaper then I am paying in rent for. Is there some kind of catch I am missing or what ?

dieselfarmboy · May 11, 2016

location location location

Matlack · May 11, 2016

Where are these homes located? In the city? If so you dont want them. If you are talking about some place like Kentucky, then yeah MD homes are just overpriced. In many mid west states you can have a 2 story, 1 acre plus, multi car garage, and in ground pool for mid to low 100K's.

Doctor_M · May 12, 2016

You can probably get a row home for 2-3K in some places in Baltimore..... might as well set your money on fire before you do that.

gamer_jim · May 12, 2016

I would love to do this for our next house. We had friends who bought an abandoned house for $120k, put about 6 months and another $100k into it to turn it into a beautiful $400k home. It was very hard work for them so I would probably hire a lot of contractors to do it. But I love the thought of taking an existing home and making it mine.

Something I learned from watching my friends go through this is that nowadays wall location doesn't matter. They have better material and techniques to add support braces if a wall happens to be a load-bearing wall that you want to remove.

t84a · May 12, 2016

psycosteve said:
I am currently renting but I decided to look at some of the for sale listings and I have to wonder how can people sell houses this cheap? 20,000 for a fixer upper 50,000 to move in. I can own cheaper then I am paying in rent for. Is there some kind of catch I am missing or what ?

These are scams.

iH8DemLibz · May 12, 2016

Sounds like 1996, behind Little Italy, pricing.

For 20 grand today, the house may come with it's own labor force.

Crackheads, Hookers, and Squatters.

lx1x · May 12, 2016

Or it's in a trailer park..

Armati · May 12, 2016

You can buy a very nice banondominium in the city for a few grand. Pour another few grand into a rehab, and rent it to hipsters, single JHU staff, and art students at MICA.

It's like printing money.

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PapiBarcelona · May 12, 2016

Right, until some Ambulance chaser finds a mirco newt meter of lead. I hear that's quite the gimmick down there in the City

Armati · May 12, 2016

PapiBarcelona said:
Right, until some Ambulance chaser finds a mirco newt meter of lead. I hear that's quite the gimmick down there in the City

I would personally avoid the Section 8 set unless you have a lot of experience with that element.

Art students and hipsters tend to be much more manageable.

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montoya32 · May 12, 2016

psycosteve said:
I am currently renting but I decided to look at some of the for sale listings and I have to wonder how can people sell houses this cheap? 20,000 for a fixer upper 50,000 to move in. I can own cheaper then I am paying in rent for. Is there some kind of catch I am missing or what ?

Rent is definitely more expensive than owning when you compare straight costs(rent vs mortgage payment). Rates are so low and rental inventory is so low that prices are way up. Less responsibility(rental), less commitment(rental) and inability to purchase because of credit have a cost associated with them.

You can find some inexpensive homes, but you get what you pay for and in real estate, location is the one thing you cannot improve upon. You can always rehab a home, finish a basement, add a deck, but you can't just pick up a house and move it to a better area.

fidelity · May 12, 2016

montoya32 said:
... but you can't just pick up a house and more it to a better area.

Most of the time

...

Houses from Canada were transported by barge to Washington State in August. Credit Nancy DeVaux

Old Houses From Canada Find a Home in Washington State

FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. — Here in the San Juan Islands of northwest Washington State, where a severe shortage of affordable housing threatens the economy and the community, a small nonprofit group has found an unlikely way to help anchor families that are struggling to stay — by lifting up unloved houses in Canada, hoisting them onto barges and hauling them to where they are needed.

The houses are small by modern standards and old, built in the early to mid-20th century in a booming suburb of Victoria, British Columbia, where eager buyers are now clearing the land to make way for new construction. But the structures had what builders call good bones, and the group, the San Juan Community HomeTrust, discovered that the cost of transporting them across the Haro Strait from Canada and restoring them here was comparable to the cost of building from scratch.

outrider58 · May 12, 2016

Biggfoot44 · May 13, 2016

What everbody said about derilict abandoned homes in the 'hood.

But since this is in the Penna subforum, maybe you really mean in Penna. Other than just over Md border or Phila metro area, prices are indeed much less than used to in Md. In certain depressed rural/ small towns, the prices are unbelievably low. Mainly because there are few local jobs, and the existing residents are leaving. ( Substitute extreme southern WV for same idea.)

If you are retired, or make your livelihood by computer with out making a physical presence, great opportunities for you.

traveller · May 13, 2016

fidelity said:
Most of the time ...

Old Houses From Canada Find a Home in Washington State

Last week I flew out to the San Juans from Seattle and saw one of those house barges. It was heading north so I figured someone was moving a lodge up to Alaska.

fidelity · May 13, 2016

traveller said:
Last week I flew out to the San Juans from Seattle and saw one of those house barges. It was heading north so I figured someone was moving a lodge up to Alaska.

Beautiful area. Used to live in Seattle and spend time in the San Juans during summer and fall.

The second season of Alone (still being played out on the History channel) was filmed on Vancouver Island again, far away from Victoria of course.

Were it not for the earthquake risk, it would be an area that I would consider retiring to in the future. Old news, but recent (Pulitzer winning) article on the topic ...

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

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traveller · May 13, 2016

fidelity said:
Were it not for the earthquake risk, it would be an area that I would consider retiring to in the future. Old news, but recent (Pulitzer winning) article on the topic ...

This is an area I would love to have a place for the summer. A boat on the mooring buoy, a plane at the local airport......

Real estate prices are nuts, at least for the waterfront stuff. You can get a little shack in the woods for a lot less. WA doesn't have a state income tax, so if you split your time between WA and FL, you are good from that aspect. Now, that side of the state is infested with liberals, so far they haven't managed to turn the place to shit, but I am worried.

I think the Cascadia subduction thing is overblown. Of course, if it happens, everything along the Oregon and WA outer coast is done for, I wouldn't expect much of a tsunami inside of Puget sound. For retirement, all I want is a ranch to start with, I'll just have to build it earthquake proof.

Name Taken · May 13, 2016

t84a said:
These are scams.

You can buy "homes" in Lansdowne and Dundalk all day for 50-60k.

The difference between rent and buying (note I didn't say owning) is the small kick in the nuts bills that creep up.

We put 350 extra each month away for our house needs and it's been spent every month for 5 years. Rather it went towards saving for a roof replacement, replacing the stove, fridge, washer, dryer, sink, replacing lawn mower, buying new furniture, carpet replacement, replacing garage door, replacing front door, replacing both sliding doors, and on and on.

I would strongly encourage you to save for a GOOD down payment to avoid PMI and to also keep your mortgage close to 25% of your pay.

I know I'll have plenty of folks living in massive amounts of debt grab that quote above and say it's impossible...nope....they are just over strapped, living house poor, and likely carrying massive credit card debts, driving over paid for and over valued cars, and not putting a dime away for retirement.

Mr H · May 20, 2016

I have seen what seem to be legitimate bargains in the Allentown/Whitehall area, but not having pursued them further I have to rely on my son's opinion that they appear legit.

I guess anything is possible, if you do your homework.

Cheap home prices ?

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