Buying A House: C or D?

My work is potentially portable/doable remotely once I get more experience, sometimes I'm sort of fascinated by the idea of just moving to anyfuckingwhere cheap and saving up a ton of money. I do have a family to think of though.

well you could share some of that money with them

I dated someone for a bit who moved back to central Iowa but was still working remotely for her workplace in DC, and getting paid DC wages. Not bad if you can get it.

My work is potentially portable/doable remotely once I get more experience, sometimes I'm sort of fascinated by the idea of just moving to anyfuckingwhere cheap and saving up a ton of money. I do have a family to think of though.

Funny thing is sometimes I'll start looking up rural Arkansas property, like these 136 acres for http://www.landsofarkansas.com/arkansas/land-for-sale/136-acres-in-Pike-County-Arkansas/id/197645380K, and start thinking the same kind of thing.

Did I miss a memo on URL formatting?

test

How rural is that? Because the satellite shot makes it look totally remote.

I don't get touring bands AND there are no houses in the metropolitan area for $55k that aren't burnt out shells.

A friend's retired parents just bought 200 acres in rural Missouri. They've never lived anywhere but the city or suburbs and never outside of Texas or Louisiana. Should be... interesting.

http://i.imgur.com/WZSCgXz.png

So remote that if you broke your leg, the bald eagles would feast upon you for days before the ranger showed up.

http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2014/10/14/_680_000_home_built_.html

Oof.

Oof.

I was wondering how one lot could cost so much more than its adjoining lot, but I guess it makes sense.

http://i.imgur.com/O7c32w3.png

http://i.imgur.com/gFDaiuu.png

$55,000 will buy you something near a Midwestern city, but it will probably be in a neglected area and need repairs.

Feeling pretty good more than a half year on about my house. I keep looking at real estate in the areas I was originally looking at and most all of the houses in the price range I paid for mine are crappy and I'd likely still be living in an apartment if I hadn't bought this one.

That's all. I'm just pretty pleased with myself. :)

you have to live in Orange, but, come on, can you even buy a studio apartment in a big city for this price?

http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Town-of-Orange-MA/house_type/56140630_zpid/397132_rid/500000-_price/1838-_mp/days_sort/42.675747,-72.142239,42.54739,-72.447796_rect/11_zm/0_mmm/1_rs/

That's bonkers. I'm tempted to gather up 13 friends and pool our money so we can live there "Real World" style.

Love the kitchen.

I can't imagine the upkeep and heating costs in MA.

Not to mention the Ghost Removal fees.

I have a friend in Orange whose house is not quite so nice as that.

it must have at least 10 fireplaces. your manservant would be really busy in the winter.

why is 'mother-in-law' listed under features

lol It just means there's a "Mother-In-Law Suite" in there somewhere.

nah, she comes with the house

also she's dead

Explains the ghosts then

This is the house one block north of mine that they've been doing a spectacular renovation on. Now it's listed and it's even more dope than I suspected it would be. Who wants to be my neighbor?!

https://www.redfin.com/GA/Atlanta/2976-Park-St-30344/home/24760330

Just fwiw,
Top: October 2014
Bottom: Present

http://i.imgur.com/O4hjNTZ.jpg

Meh. The new windows are ugly.

I probably would've gone with a more period-specific style window too (I know they're available, because my house has some), but I'm just happy to see one more vacant house get a rehab.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/720-Drummond-Dr-Arlington-TX-76012/28965534_zpid/

Man, I just don't get some listings. Same area, a slightly smaller house sold for $79k recently... only it was nice.
At $80k with $20-30k in work needed (minimum), I can't imagine ever recouping.

Man, that thing is rough. Doesn't even look liveable in its current condition, so I'm super surprised they're asking anything higher than $25k.

I wouldn't even buy that house if I could set it on fire and collect the insurance.

It looks like there's a significant mildew problem (which is probably followed closely by mold). It would just be easier to level it. That said, ain't nobody paying $80k for a lot in a crummy neighborhood.

Mildew would probably put out the fire, come to think of it.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/712-Houston-St-Arlington-TX-76012/29002642_zpid/

LOLWTF$235k
Aluminum siding, no garage, ancient appliances - but they slapped some weathered wood on one wall!

http://photos1.zillowstatic.com/p_h/ISxnslpwswhxss1000000000.jpg
http://photos2.zillowstatic.com/p_h/ISphq97qoo90ts1000000000.jpg

I like the 4 bedroom/2bath listing where the remodeled shed out back - which doesn't have a usable kitchen so can't be rented out - is included as half the baths and probably half the bedrooms.

lol that kitchen

Blinded by beige

if all that stuff was to your taste it'd be a pretty cool house, but I have the feeling that is not the taste of anyone other than the current owners

I found the house because I was driving through the neighborhood and saw a sign - when I looked through the window I thought that if they listed it cheap enough I could rip down all the wood on those exterior walls.

Man, there's a lot of nice things about that house: the floors, the yard, the pergola over the back patio, but wtf were they thinking with all those finishes?!

lol I kind of dig it all tbh

anyways my wife and I are really talking about what it would look like to buy a house or condo in Boston, and the answer is not good. single family s
within a reasonable commute is just not going to happen, they are all at least 450k, most in the neighborhood we rent in now are like 550k or 650k. even the condos in the two family houses we are looking at are like $350k, many are 400k. if we are honest with ourselves the most we could really afford is like 250k, mayyybe 300.

Now that city living is popular again, people with more modest budgets will get pushed out to the burbs. Ick, the burbs.

so many of our friends are buying places now but each couple has like an engineer or something. as a social worker/librarian combo I guess we are just priced out

One good thing about having a house right now instead of renting is that I'm currently (and unfortunately) making ends meet with unemployment benefits. My mortgage is about $250 less per month than renting an apartment would be, so I'd be totally fucked if I were still renting.

Is that log cabin modern style? And lol at Zillow's estimate for that house at $96,600.

So I did my taxes last night and came up with this scenario:
We pay $12K +/- annually over what we paid as renters. With the deductions for interest & property tax, we are able to well exceed the standard deduction, which we never did as renters. Were we to take the standard deduction we'd be looking at paying about $5K more in income tax. So it appears that for $7K annually we are able to build equity and live in our own house.

Now of course, the house has many, many outstanding maintenance issues, and we have some pretty big remodels planned. But this is the first time in our 4 years in it that I've ever felt like owning the house has seemed like a 'good deal'.

Also my math may be way off base and someone could shatter this illusion.

Don't forget homeowner's insurance in your calculations.

That's bundled into my monthly payment and is included

For just the first year, or for the length of your mortgage?

Anyway, I've had a love-hate affair with the house but as I look around at the rental landscape of the Bay Area, and we've been here for a while, I feel a little more at peace, if not at ease, with the whole home ownership thing.