You can't buy a building lot in my town for that price.

220K will get you a beautiful home in my part of the country. That's high end in my town. LOL

Anyone have a link to the article?

Depending on area of town, $220,000 will get you anywhere from 1800 sq foot recent build, to 2800 square foot built within last 10 years.

a condo or small house on no land outside of the town.

In my area on the central coast of CA for $220,000 you can get an older mobile home in a park or a 35 yr. old condo that is less than 1,000 sq ft. We were suprised to see a couple of single family houses in the paper last week for $390,000. In the last 5 years there haven't been any under $400,000.

In my town it will get you a nice building lot (not on the water) or a little house, needing work, on no land.

I sold my mom's house for $226,000 a year ago. It was in Flowermound, Texas near Dallas. It was an eleven year old one story with 2,340 sq ft.

It had a huge covered pavestone patio, 3 car garage, and a master bedroom with a sitting area and fireplace. The master closet was as big as a bedroom. The local schools were excellent. It was a lovely home.

You couldn't buy diddly with that where I live (Orange County). Maybe almost half of a house in a questionable neighborhood. With another $30 or $40k, you could buy a run-down, very small condo.

Well, I'm not particularly fond of log homes, but this one is kind of nice, only 3 years old, 2500sf, and sits on 7 acres.

It may not have a lot going on, but property sure is cheap in Missouri! There's no way I could afford to move home to California, despite how much I dislike it here.

Can't buy anything for that price in my area (NYC burb). Maybe a run-down 300 sq ft co-op in a very undesirable neighborhood but not much else. I wish housing was more affordable here but with our jobs and family in NYC, moving isn't an option.

We're in Oklahoma. 220k will buy you anything from an older, larger home in an established neighborhood to brand-spankin' new construction on an acre.

We bought our "fixer upper" last year for 225k.

-3325 sq feet
-4 bed/3 bath
-2 living
-2 dining
-pool

Just for fun, here is a listing in our area:

Here is a link that might be useful: House on nearly an acre/pool

I was just getting ready to ask if anyone had a link as I couldn't find it yesterday, but I refreshed the page and now see it.

Will read it later. We have another showing today then an open house tomorrow.

Here is a link that might be useful: How much house can you get for $220,000?

This is what you can get here.

Here is a link that might be useful: House for $220k

That's probably a little under the median for this area, but not much.

For $220K, you can get a home built within the last five years, with 1500-1800 sq. ft. finished and maybe some expansion space in the lower level. Or you can get a house that's a little older (maybe 15-20 years old) but completely finished. Both of these would be on roughly a 1/4 acre lot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to a typical house in this price range

My area is geographically somewhat near and similarly priced to berniek -- that is, $220 buys you a nice new townhome, maybe 2000 SF or an older rancher type of home in a good neighborhood that's maybe 2200 SF. $700K buys you a lovely "executive" home. It's nice to be in an low cost of living area.

I would imagine in California, it would buy you a tiny little box to call home. It's amazing how the same house can change price depending on where you place it.

Maybe something like this:

{{!gwi}}

HAHA....That's some nice grass though! Imagine all the family bonding you could do in that! Do the chairs come with it?

There is this beauty in an historic city neighborhood that is doing its best to make a comeback -- but the schools are iffy:

Here is a link that might be useful: Eastlake house

Or this one, a fairly upgraded recent construction garden home in a second-ring suburb with good schools:

Here is a link that might be useful: Trussville house

I have an issue with articles like this one. It COMPLETELY matters which neighborhood you are buying in. The article mentions that you can get a 3/1 in Chicago - south side. However, that same $220k won't get you much more than a 2/1 condo on the north side. If you travel to the burbs you might be able to get a 3/1 post war ranch/bungalow in rough shape - but only in the mid range burbs.

Now, travel further north to the less desirable burbs and you can get a LOT of house for that much. We have a 3/1 1500sqft with an unfinished basement and partial attic, bought for $80k less!

Ah the trade off's of realty.

you certainly can buy more in the midwest for 220,000 but typically the more you can buy with less - the less it appreciates.
No making a 100,000 on a house here.

In my area you could get a 1 BR condo or studio in an OK area.

a building lot in a less desireable area 20 miles away.

You guys have to stop posting homes you depress me. My house is a 2/1 that needed a full gut renovation that cost 330K, 4 years ago.

where i lived in NJ, the town has ZERO homes less then 350k, and that home is a disaster..here in Pa, 220k gets you a home that needs upgrades all around but at least there are homes in that range for those who shop that price point

In the last 2 towns I lived in Mass there is nothing you can buy for $220K. There is a 70 yr old, 900 sq.ft ranch going for $250K. The listing says to bring your contractor and your imagination ... so I'm assuming it needs lots of work!! The median price in these towns is around $700K+.

Having always lived in the Northeast it is hard to imagine being able to buy a nice house for $220K!

$220k will get you a 30 year old condo, or a 700 sq. foot house in a not so hot area.

I'm all about that log house . . . .

Sorry I forgot to include the link! Duh! Thanks to the person who did provide it.

You can get a pretty nice house in my area too for $220k. Our house is 2600 SF on two levels, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, double garage, 2 living rooms, bonus room, large deck, large yard full of trees, great location, nice neighborhood, built in 1970s, and we paid $170k. Another $50k would get you a newer house with upgraded features and more square footage.

Of course, we live in the middle of nowhere...rural area of Iowa. Not very exciting. But I love it.

I know I'm very late to this party, but, $220k might buy you a parking space in NYC (Manhattan) if you're lucky.

Even though this article is from last summer, the price has only gone up.

God, I love my city!

Here is a link that might be useful: PARKING SPACE

My house is listed now for 219k and it is a very nice completley updated 4bed 2.5 bath typical colonial in a established tree lined street in upstate NY. Its all location, we lived in Miami and there was nothing I would live in for 220k..

I just checked the MLS. Cheapest thing here is a 800 sq ft condo built in 1942 listed at 275,000. Single family homes started at 298,000 for 440 sq/ft cabin or a 460 sq/ft cottage for 308,000.

Here is a link that might be useful: tiny house big price

In my area, a middle-of-the-road one bederoom condo or a not-very-nice small townhouse. In the further-out suburbs, a middle-of-the-road two bedroom condo.

How about nothing? NYC burb here.

OK, maybe a co-op with high monthly maintenance fees, or a one-bedroom condo.

Maybe you need to move to state, NY. There are some in my town in the older section, but you will find a lot of homes cheaper in Schenectady.

Here is a link that might be useful: A listing of homes in 12309

Here's one in my small town.

Here is a link that might be useful: $220K house in Puget Sound area

This is an older home in my area - built in 1934, and beautifully updated. The big advantage it has is that it is in walking distance of downtown, so anyone who works at the Mayo Clinic would save big bucks on gas! The property taxes are $1,678 per year.

Here is a link that might be useful: $215,900 house

It, of course depends on the location. Some feel they have to live in a thriving city and they will have to pay big bucks to live there. In the midwest and south, you can get a very nice house for under $200,000 with some land. Maybe the schools aren't rated as great as in some of the big cities, but I bet they are as good and maybe better.

DH and I are considering retiring in the research triangle area of NC. It doesn't have all the cultural amenities of DC, but we can get a nice house for half of what it would cost in our current neighborhood in the 'far out' 'burbs of DC.

My house in the mid-hudson valley about 1 hour and 20 mins from NYC. Beautiful community and great schools.

Here is a link that might be useful: MLS ID# 441396 Realtor.com

Where I live right now in Dunwoody (northern suburb of Atlanta), the cheapest single family home on the market in the two good school neigbhorhoods is 295 and it's literally a wrecked split level dump that's been sitting empty on the market since 2005. A decent home here starts at 350.

Some of the northern exurbs of Atlanta that I'm thinking of moving to at some point, 220 will get you a fairly nice house in a nice subdivision. By nice I mean 10-15 yo, 2500 square foot 4 bd 2 ba house in a swim tennis community.

There are some other parts of Atlanta where that number will buy you a dump or a palace, but a lot of it is tied to the quality of the schools. Here in Atlanta, good schools can be very good (six high schools in northern Atlanta score in the top 5% in the nation according to newsweek), and the bad ones are ATROCIOUS.

What a neat question.

I live in a NJ suburb of Philadelphia. My house here was just valued at about $225,000 by my real estate agent--so I figure 220,000 would be about what I could expect to get for it if it were listed now. So for that, here, you would get--an 80 year old, 2 story home on a 40 X 100 lot. 3BR, 1 ba, dining room, unfinished basement. 2 car garage--with a dirt floor. A shared driveway with the next door neighbors. On the upside--you would also get a fantastic school system. But you'd also be 2 miles from one of the most violent cities in the country. Oh, and property taxes of about 4600/year.

35 miles away, $222,250 will buy (the house we're buying)--1/3 acre lot. A house with 4 BR, 2 full baths, huge kitchen, fireplace in living room, 2 car garage (with a floor and an attic), a shed, fenced in back yard, huge deck, fully finished basement, first floor laundry (YES!)Italian tile in several rooms of the house, Beautiful Florida room. Loads of closets--all cedar lined. New paint and W2W throughout. Great driveway--you can park 12 cars on it without anyone being blocked in! Taxes are almost to the dollar, the same as the itty bitty property we'll be leaving, but we're getting so much more house. And it's in a really great area--verging on rural, but with all the shopping and services one would want. Also a town that knows how to maximize their funding, so the taxes have been and probably will stay a bit lower than other towns. Oh, and they have their own electric plant--much cheaper than other towns.

On the other hand, if you have to drive the extra 70 miles every day (not saying you do, but some people might), and you have a car that gets 20 MPG (no SUVs!) commuting, you will spend an extra $5,000 a year on gasoline @ $5/gallon and (worse) an extra 500 hours of your year sitting in your car (that's 21 24-hour days, or 62 8-hour work days, 12 work weeks, three full months of work days).

Everyone weighs those trade-offs, and for some people, "more house" is worth "less time" and for others the opposite is true.

I live in a small town 30 miles north of Birmingham, Alabama. It is filled with historcial homes, including mine. New homes here start at 250K. You know the ones, 5 styles to choose from. 2000-2200 sq.ft 3bedrms.,2.2baths, open floor plan, nice yard, etc. etc. etc.

I lived in Michigan and real estate use to be high, but now, it's very sad.

Jakabedy I didn't know East Lake was making a come back. I almost bought a house in Roebuck Springs in the historcial section some years back. I'm glad to hear things are changing for the better.

Greenbank, I didn't get into the details.

We're buying the house as a retirement home. For the next year or so, we'll be keeping both homes, so commuting won't be a problem (DH still has about 3-4 years until he wants to retire, although he can any time). He probably will commute for a few years after we move, BUT he has an economical vehicle, we live in NJ, so our gas is always some of the most reasonable in the country, and we've looked at all that, and consider the 'cost' to be well worth it. It's common knowlege that 'you get a lot more house' in the area where we'll be moving. If we didn't do this, we'd have to move out of state to be able to afford retirement. We're just thrilled that we found a compromise that will allow us to stay in state, relatively near family and friends.

Where are you looking for a home under $220K??

In my zipcode, $220k gets you one sorry little 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom townhouse (the front door is below ground-level).

A brand-spanking new single family, 4 bed, 3 bath, brick front home with a 2 car garage and lots of upgrades- SS appliances, granite, cherry cabs, etc. on a small lot in a subdivision where every other home looks exactly like yours, all the mature trees were cleared, and you can't even paint the front door or plant a petunia without asking someone if it is OK.

Or they could be my home and 2 brand new cars, but only 1 would fit in the garage, and you still have to ask permission to improve your own home.