The price of housing

One of the young folks my kids went to high school with is looking for an inexpensive house.  He is living in an apartment in Lansing and paying about $900/month.

That fact popped into my head as I had a conversation with an older gentleman who was walking his Beagle.

I like Beagles.  I stopped and chatted with him.  He let me pet the pooch.  I got his story for free.  He had recently moved into the apartments near where I drink coffee.  His house had gotten to be too much for him to maintain.  He was letting it lapse for back taxes.   It was "sort of" for sale but it had many years of deferred maintenance that needed to be addressed before it was in tip-top shape.

I asked him how much he had to have for it.

Preparing for sticker shock

It always help to look at prices at other places in the country to get a frame-of-reference.

There are two houses in this photo.  The one on the right has an asking price of $2,200,000   Venice, California

The structure is 108 years old.  Selling price was $1,200,000. San Fransisco, California

And here is a lot with a 25% grade listed at $1,000,000.  Yup, that's right.  No house.  Just an eroding hill side.

Prices are much more reasonable on the East Coast.  Here is a 740 square foot lot for a mere $99,000 in Washington D.C.

The property in Eaton Rapids, Michigan:

The bottom floor is 40 feet by 22 feet.  Roof is in great shape.

It has natural gas and municipal utilities.

The back yard has a storage building.

Full garage and that looks like the stack for a wood stove sticking out of the back.

This house is on a quiet residential street and is half a block away from a convenience store.

$8,500 and it can be yours.