Can you buy a house for less than 100k where you are?

[gumball37]

I'm in rural Pennsylvania (USA). I bought our house this past summer (August) for $70k. 4 bed, 2 full baths, play room, dining room, and office/gaming area for my teen off of the living room. Has a large yard and garage. Here you just go to the local school district (catchment if you will).

I had a frozen pipe which is costing me 4k to fix and redo kitchen. Put about 2500 into random things for maintenance and aesthetics. 5400 for new carpet. I estimate another 20-25k for more updates in the next few years.

It seems most of the posts I read on here are about palaces 300k and up. So I was just curious.

To be fair, there are places in not far from you where that wouldn't buy you much. A zillow search of NYC with a max of 100000 dollars gets you a few 1 bed condos in dodgy areas to choose from.
You live a state over from a city which is consistently ranked one of the world's most expensive.

As with anywhere, different areas have different prices.
In parts of Scotland - 100,000 would buy a huge old castle.
Where I live in the South East of England it would buy a houseboat or a very small flat in a less desirable area.

The distance between London and cheaper housing is no further than you and NYC.

My little house (two bedrooms, two small reception rooms, tiny kitchen, tiny garden, no parking) in a very dull boring (but safe) town is worth £150k ie approx 135USD.

Theres nowhere in the UK you could get a house such as you describe for what you paid - £200k at least Id say.

Quite a few 1 bed flats for £70-80k going it seems!

@gumball37

I'm in rural Pennsylvania (USA). I bought our house this past summer (August) for $70k. 4 bed, 2 full baths, play room, dining room, and office/gaming area for my teen off of the living room. Has a large yard and garage. Here you just go to the local school district (catchment if you will).

I had a frozen pipe which is costing me 4k to fix and redo kitchen. Put about 2500 into random things for maintenance and aesthetics. 5400 for new carpet. I estimate another 20-25k for more updates in the next few years.

It seems most of the posts I read on here are about palaces 300k and up. So I was just curious.

What you describe would cost £1m+ here.

£100k is a good deposit here. Not a house purchase price. I've just done a search and there are zero properties available here for less than £100k.

In the UK - at least in safish places with decent schools and good transport links/ job opportunities, on that kind of budget you'd get a very, very small flat, at best.

Inner London here. You'd be lucky to get an undeveloped garage for that. Not even a basement studio with flooding.

Not London and a South East town that's often stated as one of the most affordable areas in South East....

It can be deceptive looking at properties In 10 miles there's 70 listings on rightmove as under 100k. However some of these are the same thing listed twice and broken down:

things that aren't a residence eg parking spaces, land etc:12

Caravans: 29 ( not permanent residences, Unmortgable)

The rest are all flats:

Shared ownership for over 65s :3

Shared ownership flats:2 (both you'd own 30% of a one bed flat)

Unmortgable/ cash buyer only:8 (for various reasons)

Auction:3 (studio flats, auction is a tricky way to buy for a ftb if you need a mortgage, and obviously properties may sell for over this price)

Which leaves 3 properties you could buy

One is a one bed flat with tenants in situ (so you have to pay to evict).

The other 2 I suspect are Unmortgable one bed flats, although the listing doesn't state that. They are in a flat block that other flats have needed cash buyers because of the cladding and the fact the yearly service fee is over £10,000!

I really appreciate the responses.

Oh yes I would never go leasehold either. It comes with sooooo many charges for sweeping shared stairs and cutting grass of a shared formidable garden.
Lucky you 🙂

I'm sorry you're going through this, Chelsea, but you'd be better starting your own thread than posting here. I wish I could be more helpful.

The cheapest ordinary properties in my city are one-bedroom flats for £190,000.

There are retirement flats for the over 55s and shared ownership buying schemes that are well under £100k.

And there are 2 park trailers for just under £100k.

@HootOwl

£100k is a good deposit here. Not a house purchase price. I've just done a search and there are zero properties available here for less than £100k.

In the UK - at least in safish places with decent schools and good transport links/ job opportunities, on that kind of budget you'd get a very, very small flat, at best.

Simply not true. In my area, in the UK, very safe, excellent schools, an international airport within 20 minutes and a major city half an hour by car/45 minutes by train you could get a three bed end of terrace ex LA (good garden) for £90k.

No, not at all. Even studios are a minimum of £200k plus round here. Family homes in decent areas are sought after, and priced accordingly.

On average, prices in my part of (very outer) West London look this:

3 beds 1930's semi (if you can get them), go for £675-750k, more if it's a (tiny) Victorian cottage.

4 bed 1930's semi, £730-800k, again the Victorians with dormer loft conversion go for more.

5 bed 1930's semi, £800-£1.2m, and in this category Victorian cottages are around the same price, mainly because 5 beds mean they generally have 2 dormers and the rooms are small.

I'm most familiar with the 1930's stock as that's predominant in my area, although we do have lots of Victorian too, especially around the old railway stations.

P.S. I love the £300k palaces typo!

I did a search in the whole of Leeds. There was one, one bedroomed flat. I think it had issues.

Detached 4 bed where I am - upwards £1.5 million (london). It's nuts.

No

We live semi-rural, dead in the middle of 3 major cities and direct trains to London. Every school in the town is outstanding except 1 primary and 1 secondary which are good. 75k could get you a 1 bed terraced. A house like you described here would go for around the 165k mark.

Nope. Can't even buy a garage in a row if garages around here for that.

This floorplan is typical of what £300k gets you in a not very nice bit of my area. I really feel for those trying to get on the ladder now, property in London is unaffordable for those on average wages, even with a deposit of £50k!

In my city I could get a semi in a suburb just outside the city, probably an unrenovated Victorian. In my area, I could get a decent flat. A small house would start at around £150k.

A quick look on Rightmove shows me a 1 bed ‘retirement’ (over 55’s) flat for 78k
That’s the only one under 100k

There is a two bed flat for 112k and a small 2 bed terrace for 120k.
They are the cheapest.

Cheapest actual building is a studio flat for £200,000.

South Yorkshire in some very dodgy areas you can get a house for 60k

Northants, cheapest is one bedroom flat for 75k, small terrace house £140k in my town