What should I look out for, what should I make sure I keep in mind
about buying a home with HUD? Im here in Seattle where the starter home
is 250K. I'm curious about auctions and VA auctions. Definitely not
picky, I just want to get into a place and start fixing it up slowly,
because we are definitly getting old. The prices are so cruel, however
it is not as cruel as in California where starter homes are half a
million dollars I realize.

In article .com,
"sally" wrote:

What should I look out for, what should I make sure I keep in mind
about buying a home with HUD? Im here in Seattle where the starter home
is 250K. I'm curious about auctions and VA auctions. Definitely not
picky, I just want to get into a place and start fixing it up slowly,
because we are definitly getting old. The prices are so cruel, however
it is not as cruel as in California where starter homes are half a
million dollars I realize.

HUD homes are houses that have been walked away from by the
previus owner. They are normally vacant for a long time,
trashed, and often have significant and costly structural
problems. Be sure to carefully inspect any home you consider
buying, and be sure to get a qualified house inspector to
give it the once-over.

As far as prices go, that is a regional thing. Here in the
midwest, you can build a brand new 3 bed 2 bath with 3 car
garage for $125K, or buy used houses in the city for $25K.
Granted, you will not have all the hustle and bustle of
the west coast, but then again, you will get a quiet crime-
free way of life.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 10:51:55 -0600, someone wrote:

As far as prices go, that is a regional thing. Here in the
midwest, you can build a brand new 3 bed 2 bath with 3 car
garage for $125K, or buy used houses in the city for $25K.
Granted, you will not have all the hustle and bustle of
the west coast, but then again, you will get a quiet crime-
free way of life.

If you have a job or other income (obviously).

A lot of the people paying big coastal city housing prices, have big
coastal city jobs.


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

In article ,
(v) wrote:

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 10:51:55 -0600, someone wrote:

As far as prices go, that is a regional thing. Here in the
midwest, you can build a brand new 3 bed 2 bath with 3 car
garage for $125K, or buy used houses in the city for $25K.
Granted, you will not have all the hustle and bustle of
the west coast, but then again, you will get a quiet crime-
free way of life.

If you have a job or other income (obviously).

A lot of the people paying big coastal city housing prices, have big
coastal city jobs.

Yes...just think how well off you would be if you had a
big city job at 2/3 the salary, but a nice home at 1/3
the housing cost. You would be sitting pretty. We
have lawyers, doctors, and realtors here in the midwest.
In fact, the factory down the street is planning to get
a computer this year. They might need a computer whiz
to turn the crank on the side of the computer to make
it run.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

In article , "John A. Weeks III" wrote:

Yes...just think how well off you would be if you had a
big city job at 2/3 the salary, but a nice home at 1/3
the housing cost. You would be sitting pretty. We
have lawyers, doctors, and realtors here in the midwest.
In fact, the factory down the street is planning to get
a computer this year. They might need a computer whiz
to turn the crank on the side of the computer to make
it run.

Mmmm-hmmm. About fifteen years ago, I was at a computer conference where a
handful of guys from New York City, about my age and doing the same kind of
work, were bragging about their high salaries (about 75% higher than mine).
Finally, I'd had enough. I asked the biggest loudmouth how much his house
payment was. Seems he doesn't *have* a house... he's paying $1200/month for a
750-sf apartment.

So I described where I lived at the time: rural area 15 minutes outside
Indianapolis, 1700-sf 2-story farmhouse with 2-car garage and 2000-sf 2-story
barn on nine acres of land including a fenced pasture where we kept our own
horses, little over a mile from an interstate on-ramp, 25-minute highway
commute to work, 35-40 minutes from the center of downtown.

How much, I asked, would that cost in New York?

$800K, the guy answered, to be immediately corrected by his friends: "never
mind the house, the land alone is worth over a million" - "*two* million" said
another - "IF you could even find it, that close to the city" said a third.
Spirited debate ensued among the New Yorkers. They finally concluded that such
a property, if it existed in the NYC area, might be worth $2.5 to $3M.

I said, "I paid eighty thousand."

I didn't hear anything more about high NYC salaries the rest of the week. :-)

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 10:51:55 -0600, "John A. Weeks III"
wrote:

In article .com,
"sally" wrote:

What should I look out for, what should I make sure I keep in mind
about buying a home with HUD? Im here in Seattle where the starter home
is 250K. I'm curious about auctions and VA auctions. Definitely not
picky, I just want to get into a place and start fixing it up slowly,
because we are definitly getting old. The prices are so cruel, however
it is not as cruel as in California where starter homes are half a
million dollars I realize.

HUD homes are houses that have been walked away from by the
previus owner. They are normally vacant for a long time,
trashed, and often have significant and costly structural
problems. Be sure to carefully inspect any home you consider
buying, and be sure to get a qualified house inspector to
give it the once-over.

Also know your own skill level on fixing up the house; what you can
handle and what you can't. Plus it will be useful for you to get to
know house values in all the neighborhoods you're interested in so
that when a house comes up you'll know what to bid. When I bought
my HUD house I went thru a realtor and I'd guess that's the same in
every state. Look around for the right realtor and he/she can help
you understand house values.
It's not too common for a nice house to come up in a nice neighborhood
thru HUD or VA because upscale homes are less likely to go into
foreclosure. When one does come up in such a neighborhood the
bidding can be pretty competitive. I just missed a VA home that I
really wanted and suspect I would have had it if I'd bid 3K higher.
Good luck!

Bravo!! That's how I describe why I don't want to get that big promotion,
only to move to the big city and see my quality of life go down the tubes.

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "John A. Weeks
III" wrote:

Yes...just think how well off you would be if you had a
big city job at 2/3 the salary, but a nice home at 1/3
the housing cost. You would be sitting pretty. We
have lawyers, doctors, and realtors here in the midwest.
In fact, the factory down the street is planning to get
a computer this year. They might need a computer whiz
to turn the crank on the side of the computer to make
it run.

Mmmm-hmmm. About fifteen years ago, I was at a computer conference where a
handful of guys from New York City, about my age and doing the same kind
of
work, were bragging about their high salaries (about 75% higher than
mine).
Finally, I'd had enough. I asked the biggest loudmouth how much his house
payment was. Seems he doesn't *have* a house... he's paying $1200/month
for a
750-sf apartment.

So I described where I lived at the time: rural area 15 minutes outside
Indianapolis, 1700-sf 2-story farmhouse with 2-car garage and 2000-sf
2-story
barn on nine acres of land including a fenced pasture where we kept our
own
horses, little over a mile from an interstate on-ramp, 25-minute highway
commute to work, 35-40 minutes from the center of downtown.

How much, I asked, would that cost in New York?

$800K, the guy answered, to be immediately corrected by his friends:
"never
mind the house, the land alone is worth over a million" - "*two* million"
said
another - "IF you could even find it, that close to the city" said a
third.
Spirited debate ensued among the New Yorkers. They finally concluded that
such
a property, if it existed in the NYC area, might be worth $2.5 to $3M.

I said, "I paid eighty thousand."

I didn't hear anything more about high NYC salaries the rest of the week.
:-)

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

In article ,
Doug Miller wrote:

Mmmm-hmmm. About fifteen years ago, I was at a computer conference where a
handful of guys from New York City, about my age and doing the same kind of
work, were bragging about their high salaries (about 75% higher than mine).
Finally, I'd had enough. I asked the biggest loudmouth how much his house
payment was. Seems he doesn't *have* a house... he's paying $1200/month for a
750-sf apartment.

So I described where I lived at the time: rural area 15 minutes outside
Indianapolis, 1700-sf 2-story farmhouse with 2-car garage and 2000-sf 2-story
barn on nine acres of land including a fenced pasture where we kept our own
horses, little over a mile from an interstate on-ramp, 25-minute highway
commute to work, 35-40 minutes from the center of downtown.

How much, I asked, would that cost in New York?

$800K, the guy answered, to be immediately corrected by his friends: "never
mind the house, the land alone is worth over a million" - "*two* million" said
another - "IF you could even find it, that close to the city" said a third.
Spirited debate ensued among the New Yorkers. They finally concluded that such
a property, if it existed in the NYC area, might be worth $2.5 to $3M.

I said, "I paid eighty thousand."

I didn't hear anything more about high NYC salaries the rest of the week. :-)


Certainly your property sounds very nice, but consider that those guys
could probably afford to buy your house *and* live in NYC. One nice thing
about having a high salary, even when living in an expensive area (or
nation) is that one can put those dollars to work elsewhere. Lots of times
that happens at retirement. You might wonder if 'putting up with NYC'
is worth the 30 years of hassle, even if the payoff in the end is higher,
but there are lots of things one can find in NYC that one will not find in
rural Indiana. It depends on what is important to you. Not too many people
raise horses in NYC, but there aren't too many Broadway shows in
Indianapolis, for instance.


Dimitri

"John A. Weeks III" writes:

As far as prices go, that is a regional thing. Here in the
midwest, you can build a brand new 3 bed 2 bath with 3 car
garage for $125K, or buy used houses in the city for $25K.
Granted, you will not have all the hustle and bustle of
the west coast, but then again, you will get a quiet crime-
free way of life.

You're not going to build anything in a major metropolitian area like
Minneapolis/St. Paul for $125k unless you want to live way,way out in the
bonnies. The land alone costs $60k easy these days.

Brian Elfert

In article ,
Brian Elfert wrote:

"John A. Weeks III" writes:

As far as prices go, that is a regional thing. Here in the
midwest, you can build a brand new 3 bed 2 bath with 3 car
garage for $125K, or buy used houses in the city for $25K.
Granted, you will not have all the hustle and bustle of
the west coast, but then again, you will get a quiet crime-
free way of life.

You're not going to build anything in a major metropolitian area like
Minneapolis/St. Paul for $125k unless you want to live way,way out in the
bonnies. The land alone costs $60k easy these days.

The $60K lots (which are more like $90K lots this year) is
something that is unique to the twin cities due to the planned
shortage of sewer connections, which limits how many developments
are allowed to be opened.

This $125K figure is for a new home as I described within 2
miles of the city limit of a city that is 75,000 in population,
and is the largest city in central Wisconsin.

In looking at land, I have seen lots scattered around the
midwest for $1000 to $2500. Often these are lots that were
cleared by a city, and are being sold far under their value
to attract new tax base. It is out there if you want it,
but not in the twin cities metro area.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================