Could you afford to buy a house in the neighborhood you grew up in?

[PanamaMike]

I grew up in a single income family. Dad went to work. Mom stayed home and looked after three kids.
My parents bought a modest house in what has always been a popular part of town. They paid $35,000 four decades ago.
Last week the house two doors down sold for almost $900,000. Houses a block away go for over $1 million. People spend $600,000 to buy teardowns.
I still live in the same city.
I earn more per week then my father ever did.
I don't have a family to worry about.
There is no way I could ever afford to buy a house in my old neighborhood.
How about you?

 

[SC Minnie]

Yes very easily. Houses in the town I grew up in, which is only an hour away from where I am now, are about 1/3 to half of what they are here. I live in basically a suburb of Charlotte. The town I grew up in you have to drive at least 60 miles to get to a decent job.

 

[doxdogy]

I could afford it, but I wouldn't want to live in there. It was a nice neighborhood when I was growing up. But it is now a dumpy neighborhood.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Easily.... Their are homes there that still are 34,000.

The house I grew up in is in the 70-90,000 range.

Now I wouldn't want to live there for fear of getting shot to death.

 

[RealMickeysGirl]

Yes, it isn't as nice as when I lived there though. It is one of those neighborhoods that had semi inexpensive houses to start with - I think my parent's paid about 15000 for it in the early 60's. I could probably buy it now for somewhere around 45000.

 

[Chicago526]

Nope. With the housing slump it's come down a bit I'm sure, but when I looked about 2 years ago, the same model house in the neighborhood I grew up in was about $400,000. That in itself was $150,000 more than what my father had sold it for in '94 when we moved away. It's worth double what DH and I can afford.

 

[rkandmjsmommy]

Could I? YES
Would I want to? NO

 

[FigmentFinder]

Sure I could. I grew up in a *cough* blighted urban area.

 

[okeydokey]

Not even close. I grew up in a small older home in a suburb of Boston. These homes are twice the cost of the home I currently have in FL , which is much bigger, and IMO nicer. I don't think a family just starting out can afford a home in my old neighborhood.

 

[GoldieSaysMeep]

I grew up in a suburb about 20 minutes south of Boston.

The average home price there is around 300,000 for a small one.

I literally don't know anyone who can afford that, unless they already own a home and can put the money from selling it towards the mortgage.

 

[rentayenta]

Could I? No

Would I want to?

 

[froglady]

Sure I could. I grew up in a *cough* blighted urban area.

Same here.

But DH could not, as despite the fact that he is in the same profession as his father, he is (when adjusted for inflation) making far, far less.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I could buy 10 houses where I grew up would I? Heck no!!!! The slums aren't for me.

 

[Buckalew11]

I grew up on LBI in NJ. There is no way I could afford a house at the beach on that island. Few people I grew up with could stay there. Most moved away at least over to the mainland.

 

[mamamary]

Could I? No
Would I want to? No

So that works out. I was born in Brooklyn, NY. My parents still live in the same house. They could sell their house for about $1.2 million. They bought it for $18,000 in 1969. Pretty amazing.

 

[Enchanted_Mama]

nope.

My parents paid 49k for their house in 1975. It would go for about $500k if they were to sell it now. Even if I could manage to swing that mortgage, they pay well over $10k a year in property taxes.

 

[MoniqueU]

Yes and it would be a huge step down for me.

 

[lvanleer]

Well my parents' house could probably sell for close to $500K with a little bit of work and no we probably couldn't afford to buy it now....however we didn't have to.....my parents passed away in 2006 and we moved in....it's paid for and we only have to sell our townhouse which we're renting out right now.

 

[golfgal]

Yes I could and yes I would if my family didn't still live in that town . I grew up in home that is on the National Historic Register and would love to live in that home or similar again.

 

[MushyMushy]

I grew up in a single income family. Dad went to work. Mom stayed home and looked after three kids.
My parents bought a modest house in what has always been a popular part of town. They paid $35,000 four decades ago.
Last week the house two doors down sold for almost $900,000. Houses a block away go for over $1 million. People spend $600,000 to buy teardowns.
I still live in the same city.
I earn more per week then my father ever did.
I don't have a family to worry about.
There is no way I could ever afford to buy a house in my old neighborhood.
How about you?

My mom and dad paid $2000 for theirs in the 60s. And had a fairly long-term mortgage. I know they'd taken out second mortgages for updates and remodels, but they really have no concept of the outrageous sums of money people pay for houses today. They go on and on about how irresponsible people are today because they have so little left over after mortgage payments. In many cases they're right, but in so many more cases, they just have no clue.