Location, Location, Location
1. Here's what you can get in Flint, Michigan for $395,000 (pictured above): A castle of a home. Quality stone construction with slate roof. New
kitchen, excellent condition with 2 new boilers and central air. Grand
halls with walnut floors, ornate plaster ceilings, 9 foot ceilings,
towering circular foyer. Library, Morning Room, Sitting Room, 6
bedrooms, 8 bathrooms and a five-car garage on 2 acres.
Price per square foot: $65
2. Here's what you can get in Washington, D.C. for $395,000 (building pictured below): Spacious, 863 square feet, bright 1BR + den and 1 bath condo in The Cathedral Park. Beautiful wood
floors, newer kitchen with granite counters, huge walk-in closet in bedroom with closet organizer, updated lighting and beautiful built-ins in LR.
Price per square foot: $458.
Property is much less expensive in OIHO, too.
ReplyDeleteWow I'd really consider that if I had $395k on hand. Always wanted to live in a sophisticated stone mansion, and have a nice plot of land.
ReplyDeleteDoug-
ReplyDeleteA bunch of us could go in together and buy it. Then, we could have a battle royale to determine who owns it. I mean, if that building doesn't scream "battle royale", I don't know what does.
Backs up to a golf course too.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the "Add to Cart" button?
better check the heat bill...bad vibes on that..
ReplyDeleteWe just bought 1600 sf on 2 acres for 60k in MI. No more mortgage for us!
ReplyDeleteTwo awful places to live for the same price - choose your poison!
ReplyDeleteI know that neighborhood in Flint, and it's actually quite nice, I have a few colleagues from UM-Flint who live there. It's in the city of Flint, but the whole neighborhood is old mansions like this one, so it's pretty safe. It's the neighborhood where GM and Buick executives used to live in the old days, before GM consolidated its corporate headquarters in Detroit.
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ReplyDeleteThis is what you can get for less than $400K?
Well, now I understand why everyone is wailing about the suffering American middle class. How can anyone be expected to survive that hideous wallpaper!?
This is the rocking manse you can expect for the same price in a suburb half an hour (by train) from London.
Well purchasing that $400K house in Flint is only the beginning of the owner's expenses...
ReplyDeleteThere's still the necessary expense of turning all those windows into rifle loop holes that has to be added to the overall cost of that castle...
"Property is much less expensive in OIHO, too"...
ReplyDeleteche! che! che!
Cruel che but funny...
I sold a condo in a building similar to thst in the Cathedral area. Made something like 60% on it when i sold it for $65k.
ReplyDeleteWonder what the owner of that mansion made?
Then there is the question of jobs and how you pay for it. It is not just the location of the house after all: it is the location of your whole life.
Eight baathrooms. Just what you need for pissing away money.
ReplyDeleteEVer try to repair a slate roof?
ReplyDeleteEight baathrooms. Just what you need for pissing away money.
ReplyDeleteI see your point, Hydra. We have eight bathrooms and not having to wait in line to pee or brush your teeth when the whole family is here for the holidays really sucks!!
I really miss the good old days in Moscow when a communal apartment of 6 families queued up for one toilet...which worked most of the time. Why piss money away on the little conveniences of life, eh?
I am now seriously considering moving to Flint! Anyone know if there any job openings for a CPA?
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference in taxes?
ReplyDeleteYou can find the property tax information at the links provided in the post:
ReplyDeleteFlint: $5,500
DC: $2,630
Flint: $5,500
ReplyDeleteDC: $2,630
wow.. that seems obscene...
are you sure they are not reversed?
DC is a high cost of living area and there is much more infrastructure and facilities to pay for.
I was wondering why the Tax Assessment was only $122,500 on the Flint property. Our tax district is hitting 90% of value or better.
ReplyDeleteI think property assessments in Flint are based on 50% of "market value." Zillow's estimate for the house is $268,000.
ReplyDeletein Manhattan or san francisco, you'd be lucky to get a good parking space for that.
ReplyDeleteIn Virginia, the tax assessment is 100% by state law!
ReplyDeleteand localities have to do re-assessments at least every two years.
What's a boiler?
ReplyDeleteWhat's a boiler?
ReplyDeletea furnace that burns dollar bills
"What's a boiler?
ReplyDeletea furnace that burns dollar bills"
nonsense.
i have 2 in my house. they are very, very efficient, run on nat gas, and heat my house for very little money using glycol lines in the floors as radiant.
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,1548320,00.html
they are far more efficient that forced air.
they are also WAY more efficient that a standard hot water heater and provide essentially infinite hot water on demand.
compared to having baseboard heat and multiple hot water heaters, i probably save 50% heating, quite possibly more.
"I think property assessments in Flint are based on 50% of "market value." Zillow's estimate for the house is $268,000"
ReplyDeletethat does not sound like it could be right in terms of the taxes on that flint house.
first off, "market value" always resets when you sell.
so that number would be 395k.
5500/395k = 1.4%, which is on the high side, but plausible.
if it were half, then you are looking at a nearly 3% property tax rate. that seems very, very high to me.
Prof. Perry,
ReplyDeleteSurely you know that Washington DC is not the most expensive place in the US. Not by a long shot.
The two most expensive are :
Manhattan.
SF Bay Area.
And while a New Yorker can live in Queens, Hoboken, or Brooklyn at much lower cost and still commute into Manhattan, in SF, no cheap housing is available within a 60-mile radius. You have to commute 80 miles or more if you want a house that is still as expensive as Los Angeles...
The problem is, we know why the Flint mansion is just $395K...
ReplyDeleteThe entire economy of the region collapsed.
So even if you live in that stone mansion, do you really want roving bands of heavily armed black gangs breaking into your house to rob you?
Didn't think so.
Now, a part of Michigan that is doing better, Ann Arbor, is considerably more expensive. But considerably safer too.
What's a boiler?
ReplyDeletea furnace that burns dollar bills
Hahahaha nice
What is the affordability index on these two homes: price of the homes divided by the average income for the area?
ReplyDeleteThis is weird that you found this. It seems like the cheapest feet per square foot housing is in Colorado (Bennet, Aurora, Denver). I think this may be true partly because of the shooting their. I don't think many want to live there. Plus, last time I went, it seemed as though a larger push for the free market existed than in most states.
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