I know in Alabama our housing costs are low in comparison to other locales but...

I had some free time today. It was beautiful top-down weather & I got off work early so I went cruising up through Ballantrae, a somewhat ritzy new subdivision in Pelham(not full of manisons or anything just nice new brick homes). I was peeking in the window of a newly built home when a real estate agent pulled up. He wanted to chat about my Mini & then even though I told him I wasn't buying her offered to show me a few of the homes. They were very nice w/lotsa extras like corian & detailed millwork. Most were too big for me but he showed me one that was 1850 sq ft. It was gorgeous & the agent said "It's not that expensive, how much do you think it is?" I was thinking $200-$225K but I am glad I kept my mouth shut. It was $300,000 for an 1850 st ft home in Pelham (you know the place where everybody used to move because housing was still affordable ) That's over $150 a sq foot . I told the agent I had hoped to find a new home one day for under $200K & he asked me if I was willing to move to Calera . He wasn't being mean or anything he was being serious.

I mean how in the hail how do people afford homes now-a-days?

 

yes, but you get to have our mayor, hizzonor, as a neighbor. And you can be he doesnt live in any 1850 sq ft place.

 

Maybe they charge and extra $50/sq ft to live near him . I mean around here I honestly always thought I could build a home of good quality & finish for a max of $100/sq ft. I am just in shock & my new-house-one-day dream has been trampled on a bit Hell to me $300K for 1850 sq ft more like a Hoover price

p.s..I was going to try to vote for the mayoral opponent last year but I believe the only options were a drunk & a guy that had just been arrested for beating someone up so I didn't bother voting

 

Hon, I wish I could find a nice house at that price in SoCal! You'd have to move out to the desert, and not the nice part of the desert, to come close to finding anything AT ALL in that price range.

 

I know Clo. A $250K home here would run about $3 million in LA (which is utterly ridiculous ) but still for here in Alabama when you look at our median income vs the payment on a $300K home there aren't many who could afford it & yet most new homes they are building are costing so much I just don't see how the majority can afford them. I mean I make what would be considered a very decent salary around here. The payment on a $300K loan would almost take my entire income excluding my bonuses .

 

My father lived in LA for two years. He did his required work and left. He said even though he was making more, he had less in the end because of the cost of living.

My area is running just at $100 a square foot. Rediculous for the area but if it's all to choose from. Plus everything around here is built on old fields. Since my wife and I were the second ones to purchase in the neighborhood. We are the only ones with trees. No one else has any unless they plant some themselves.

 

Check out Bluff Park.

 

Isn't it crazy though SB??? Everyone started moving to Pelham because it was far enough out that you could get affordable housing but unfortunately many got sick of B'ham & now with everyone moving out here housing costs are going thru the roof. I guess Hoover is the new Mtn Brook & Pelham is the new Hoover (cost-wise)

 

Yucca Bluff Park is Hoover (isn't it?) & my uncle lives there. Houses are way mega high priced there & when I buy next I want it to be a brand new house. Isn't Bluff Park built out? I didn't think there were lots for sale there. Plus I have grown to hate Jefferson County politicians & I want to avoid them

 

PPE here. Yucca didn't actually post. I did. Bluff Park is the very northern tip of Hoover. The houses were all built in the 60s or so (except for a few new developments). The yards are big and the trees are old...not like the new houses that are crammed in together. I think the prices are very reasonable, because the houses don't generally have the huge rooms and elaborate bathrooms, etc... that people like to see in new houses. Did you want a brand new house? Maybe I didn't read closely enough. There are still houses here under 200,000, but they aren't brand new. We like it a lot. I consider Bluff Park to be sort of separate from Hoover since you are sort of secluded in an old neighborhood rather than in the middle of all the business. Doesn't feel like Hoover to me. The mall feels like Hoover to me.

 

Even though I now know I can't afford a dang thing I was still thinking of riding around next Sunday (the 24th, movie day) for the Parade of Homes. If anybody else wants to go let me know. The houses are open from 1PM-5PM. I was mostly interested in looking at the homes in my area but I wouldn't mind looking at other areas

 

Yeah PPE, if I move I want a new house & my dream is to have one with the large open great room/kitchen with very high ceilings (like 2-story in the great room). Otherwise I will just stay in the cheap little dump in which I currently reside. I can afford it

 

Ooh...no open floor plans here. We would love that too, but they weren't built that way back in the day! We have more of a "den" than a "great room". We dream of adding on some day!

 

I always thought it would be a waste to spend $25-$35K to add vinyl siding, rewire, upgrade plumbing, & build a semi-garage at my little dump but heck if a new house is $300K I may be stuck here & $25-$35K for home improvements isn't looking too bad (since I only owe $68K more where I am now). I just really wanted something a bit bigger one day

 

I love our house but more room for the zoo would be nice. It is a loooooong way off for us though.

 

I know what you mean, here in Cahaba Heights, homes were once reasonable (few still are if you have twice as much $$$ to bring them up to date) ever since we annexed into Vestavia, the homes around here are outragous.
Parts of Bluff Park are also in Vestavia. Lets not forget about Liberty Park, those homes are unreal to the average person

 

Here is a funny story about the price of a House. 20 years ago my Parents build their house for the price I paid for my MINI. About $24,000. But they did all the work and even thou I was 8 I helped too. Now the house is worst about $60,000.

 

Here are a few of the houses that I looked at for around $300K. They don't have the 1850 sq ft one I looked at listed online (it was the smallest home they had) View is great & finishes are very nice. I wish I had $300K

House 1

House 2

House 3

 

I gotta get out of New Jersey......

 

bama if you want to check housing trends in your area, just go to http://www.zillow.com and plug in an address

Its pretty cool

 

On zillow.com it shows my house at the tax assessed value which in Alabama isn't usually near the value of our houses. I dunno whay they do it that way here but at least it means our taxes are lower

 

If you click throught the screens, there should be a chart showing how the values go up and down.

Once your street addy is hyperlinked, click that and the chart should be on the right

 

Reno Nevada...over $200 per sq ft (down from 225!)

Of course nothing is selling now, unlike last year when there were bidding wars as soon as a for sale sign went up!

Got my "little" 1900 sq footer on 1/3 acre 12 yrs ago for $85 per sq foot...thought that was ridiculous too....so I am NOT moving! Now we cope with rising taxes and utilities...NO WIN!

 

I like the street look of those houses, Bamatt. They have character.

My wife and I, before we moved, looked all over the place for a house. We loved ours but the drive was getting to be too much. We were in the market for a nice older home near the historic district but the prices were rediculous because they had announced that the area was being looked at by the historical society. We didn't care about that. We just wanted a house with character that wasn't thrown up in a week with cheap materials hidden out of site.

Our house now has character, built by HPH of Birmingham, but I can't see the thing lasting for more than 30 years. That's the problem with the high prices they are asking these days. Builders use materials that are sub par and hire workers that are only there for the money. No pride in their work. Just good enough to pass code or have someone pay off the inspector.

What was I going to say before I got off on a tangent? Oh yea. My wife and I would love to move to Fayetteville, Tn. It's a small town that offers very good prices and the homes are nice looking. Some that we liked do need to be fixed up but having real wood under your feet is a wonderful feeling compared to concrete or pressed wood floors.

For example. The house below. It's under $50k so most would consider it a junky house or something you would rent. No! The house has potential to be a great house for under $100K. There are a few neighborhoods where the houses are around $30k. If you could get in there and fix up a couple of houses to live in, not rent, then the neighborhood will come up in value. It just takes that initial step...........and a temporary garage for the MINI.

 

zillow gives me the wrong info, so I might take it with a grain of salt