What $300,000 + Will Buy You in Houston

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What $300,000 + Will Buy You in Houston

By JLP | March 16, 2006

I talked earlier this week about the possibility of my family relocating to the Houston area. My wife went online and started looking at houses. From the sound of the comments I received on my other two posts (here and here), I would say that $300,000 for a house isn’t a bad deal. Take a look at what $300,000 (give or take $15,000 for upgrades) will buy in the Houston area:

Here’s the floorplan for this model:

Now, what’s crazy is this EXACT floorplan goes for $380,000 + in the Austin area. Granted, Austin is a “hipper” area to live but is it $80,000 hipper?

Topics: Housing Market |

Comments to “What $300,000 + Will Buy You in Houston”

Seattle Simplicity Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 1:18 am

BEWARE! I hail from Houston and I’m currently researching purchasing investment property there. There are two hidden costs involved with purchasing a home in Houston:

(1) Insanely high property tax rates (Texas has no state income tax).

(2) Electric costs - I’m talking about the 8-9 months a year you’ll have to air condition that sucker. It’s not insignificant - something like $400 per month in the hottest months.

Dave Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 3:21 am

I am so jealous…that house in the UK, you would be talking at least £400 000 in the cheaper areas of the UK.

Good luck in your re-location.

jim Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 6:07 am

I think I’m going to throw up.

» What $300,000 + Will Buy You in Howard Co. (Baltimore) on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 6:17 am

[...] That was the title of the post in which JLP posted a picture of a gorgeous house located in Houston. While I doubt he intended for something like this to go viral, I think it’s a fun comparative game along the lines of Cap’s What’s In Your Wallet so let’s see what $300,000 can buy you in Howard County, a county south of Baltimore and the one in which I live. [...]

Dave Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 7:40 am

Great idea, i scoured the net for a place in London for similar price and I found a nice hou…err…property.

RS Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 9:09 am

That house would probably be about $450,000 - $500,000 in NY where I am. So to me that sounds like a steal. I am going to have to post what you can get around here for $300,000.

kassy Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 9:47 am

Something like that house would be at least 500k or 600k in the part of Seattle where I live.

Here’s an interesting but long article from Governing.com about the gentrification of neighborhoods in Houston and how one man is trying to stop it. Doesn’t really apply to house values but it is about Houston so I thought of you.

http://www.governing.com/articles/3houston.htm

Nick Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 10:12 am

Rockville, MD. About 20 miles north of Washington, DC…

http://kweee.blogspot.com/2006/03/what-300000-will-buy-you-in-rockville.html

Jared Allen Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 10:42 am

“(give or take $15,000 for upgrades)” .. beware on this one, a house of that size makes 15k go up in smoke instantly. I’m closing Monday on a house in that price range/size in Phoenix AZ and we spent $30,000 in upgrades WITHOUT upgrading any flooring or countertops. Some things will just have to wait.

SingleMom Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 10:50 am

WOW - that’s beautiful! Something like that will cost close to million in my area.

Dus10 Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 10:56 am

Wow! That is a little pricy, from my neck of the woods. In the metro Indianapolis area, you could probably get something like that for $250K, and maybe be spared some on the property taxes and the air conditioning. We run our air conditioner for about 4-5 months. However, we run our heater for 4-5 months too. We have a couple of months in the Spring and Fall where we can get by without anything.

I will have to do one of these too.

DD Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 1:09 pm

Dang I’m jealous. Place is absolutely beautiful for that price.

Mighty Bargain Hunter Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 10:44 pm

What $300k will get you in King George County

Following JLP’s lead:
For $300k you can get a 4-year-old house with just shy of 1800 sf, 3 BR 2.5 BA on under 1 acre.
Or, you can get a 50-year-old, 1000 sf, 3 BR, 1 BA house on the Potomac river.
Property taxes are quite low here — mine we…

Consumerism Commentary Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 12:31 am

What $300,000 Will Buy You In My Town

JLP from AllThingsFinancial unknowingly started a meme observing what $300,000 or so can buy in various locations around the country. Here’s what $285,000 will buy you in my town….

debt monster Says:
March 31st, 2006 at 2:09 pm

I love in a Houston suburb. The prices in town are much higher than this house. This type of house you can get in the burbs. My house is a 2600+ 2 story house and I bought it 2 years ago for $180K. Housing prices in Houston are much cheaper than many other cities but yet Harris County is one of the richest counties in the country (on a top ten list that jsut came out).

Punny Money Says:
April 2nd, 2006 at 8:14 pm

[...] JLP over at AllThingsFinancial commented on the price of homes in Houston, TX–specifically, how much house $300,000 will buy you. [...]

Debt Free Says:
June 15th, 2006 at 6:42 pm

You’ve no idea how nice that is for $300,000. I live in the Seattle area. If you’re lucky enough to live outside of the really expensive areas, you can still get a nice 30 year old, 3bd/1.75b, about 1700 sq ft, on a 10,000 sq ft lot, with a 2 car garage for that price. That home you’re showing in Houston would be around (depending upon the quality of the interior finishes)$600,000 - $700,000 around here.

Financial Freedumb - Sometimes it takes a little bit of dumb to achieve financial freedom. » What $300K Will Buy You In Honolulu, HI Says:
July 27th, 2006 at 4:31 pm

[...] Houston, TX courtesy of AllThingFinancial [...]

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What $300,000 + Will Buy You in Houston