Mon 12 May 2008
Colossal Castle or Humble Home?
Posted by Marlow Harris under Pacific Northwest/Regional, Real Estate
I had written before about the Home Price Comparison Index compiled by Coldwell Banker Real Estate that allows one to approximate how much your home might cost in different areas around the U.S.
For instance, here in Seattle, $800K-900K might buy you a 100-year old house in a nice in-city neighborhood with 1800 sqft and 3-4 bedrooms and 2-3 baths and a 1-car garage on a 3000 sqft lot.
Just 50 miles South in Tacoma, with the same amount of money, you can buy a newer 4BR/4Bbth home with 5000 sqft and a 3-car garage. On 20 acres.
In Colossal Castle or Humble Home, Neha Grey finds similar examples of home values all around the world.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Great link, Marlow. Drills home how distorted our real estate perspective is when you see what $1m gets you in other parts of the country and world.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I thought it was all about location, location, location. Say…. those locations do not look so bad to me.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:32 am
It is a fascinating read, however, we can’t forget that the author is distorting the data a little bit. Not to say that those properties are not for real, but they are in areas where you probably don’t want to live. I would like to see a truer comparison. If you are going to compare New York to another city in Mexico, then how about Mexico City? I think that would give us a better idea about how the markets really differ. Also beyond that you also have to take into account the neighborhood factors and so on. An apartment in Manhattan is not comparable to a place near the dump in Mexico City. If you are looking at the best area in New York, look at the best area in Mexico City.
Again I enjoyed reading the article, it was very entertaining, but I’d love to see a more real life comparison.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I wouldn’t really say that lower house is in Tacoma. Not sure where it actually is but you don’t run across 20 acre estates in the city to often. And since Seattle is about 35 miles from Tacoma and you say that home is 50 miles away it must be out there a ways.
In the actual city of Tacoma you are for $800k-900k you will be looking at a 2800-4000 sqft homes in the Stadium District, Old Town, and Prospect Hill. The homes I just looked up were a lot more stately, then the Seattle home pictured above plus most of them have Puget Sound Views.