much of the new housing in florida is built like a tank... cider block first floors tied down roofs... (chinese drywall... just kidding) .. the houses in CA seem like junk because they have bend and sway for earthquakes. No brick allowed here. whereas Florida is built to withstand very high winds.
You are making my point. I would never move to some cheap mid west city because it's cheap because I know it's relative and there is often a reason why things cost what they do. Housing on the coast costs what is does because people would rather be there than Iowa. The ocean view from Corona Del Mar beats anything the Mid West has to offer, but that's my opinion, maybe Maverick74 would disagree.
I live in the Austin, TX area and there are plenty of good paying jobs and a nice 3 br/2ba family home in the close in suburbs can be had for $200k. To each his own but I also greatly prefer the lifestyle and people here in central TX compared to the DC area where I spent a lot of my life. Could use a few less Californians, they have a tendency to recreate California and its problems everywhere they go in numbers.
I love ocean view, but a lake view in MN is pretty friggin beautiful too. Great bang for the buck, to each their own. You betchya
We won't grow to the levels of Europe any time soon, because we keep running through a vicious cycle...one that is starting to repeat now. Step 1 Real estate starts to move up at a stronger than usual pace - slightly parabolic on the charts (1997 - 2000) Step 2 Prices start to overshoot income growth, so traditional mortgage lending ratios get stretched (1998 - 2001) Step 3 Banks require higher credit scores to compensate for the increased risk (2000 - 2002) Step 4 Minorities are disproportionately affected by this and the gov't forces banks to write more C, D and E paper (2003) Step 5 Technology - coupled with human fear and greed - allows the "subprime" tranches to get spliced and diced and repackaged. CDOs and CDSs are formed to "reduce risk". (2001 - 2006) Step 6 Eventually the market collapses under it's own weight. Inflated home prices in some markets are cut in half in the span of less than two years. Foreclosures soar. (2006 - 2009) Today, the market is stirring to life once again. There is precious little supply and the builders are hesitant to commit capex until the rally has serious legs. This is pushing up home prices and will cause a quick rebound. Lenders are almost all requiring a 720 FICO and 20% down. If you can do 15%, you still need a high FICO. We're already part of the way through step 3 and it's only a matter of time before someone notices that minorities are the ones getting left out of the next wave up and the gov't forces banks to pony up. And we do it all over again.
My Florida 1961 Ranch home is built like a bunker, you do not hear anything from the outside due to the construction. CBS, Wirelathe/plaster walls inside, Tounge and groove roof, wide concrete tie beam attached with metal straps to florida pine. Them old homes are nicer, also the architecture is nicer in my opinion. With big yards/privacy.
I did not address the old ones... because I was not as familiar with them... sounds like Florida had good building practices going back a while.