Do any of yall actually live in the country? How can anyone actually afford to live in those areas? In SC and GA the reason, besides wanting to live in the country that people actually live here is that it is affordable compared to city property. Those prices might be correct if i were to buy an acre in the cities here in SC. Say columbia or Greenville, not downtown but inside the city limits, but in no way come close to what property is around here. I thought there was no way i could afford property at $2K/acre and then have a decent house on it, i am right. But those prices how can anyone own anything?
A little math:
3 acres at $15K= $45K
Build a $140K really modest home no upgrades and around 2000sqft. Your at 185K. Dig a well, i dont know $10K?? Septic another $10k??? Were at $205k for a stick built throw it up quick home on 3 acres.
Using the first morgage calculator i found on yahoo:
Assuming 3% down
1.25% (was its default) property tax
.5% PMI
4.75% interest
30 year loan.
YOUR PAYMENT is $1250/month!
Yea this is not much higher than my esgrowed payment of $850/month but its still $400 more dollars a month. This just seems way high to live in a vynal (have no idea how to spell it??) sided contractor grade home on 3 acres and still have anything else in life. Im talking about the average person, not some of you who are doing very well in life it seems. Taking that average family salery of $60K/yr. Thats $1,150/month before taxes. Take out $500/month health ins. $200month power $500 month food $100 month cell, $150month cable inet cable. And assuming a withholding rate of 30% thats 3500/month takehome pay. Take your $1250 morgage out of that and your left with $2250 take the rest of those bills out and your left with $800/month. This is whats left to buy your gas pay a car payment any other deby payment you have pay car insurance any other life insurance etc, child care if you have one and both work. Maintian your property and home etc.
My point here is who is buying this land? Who can afford it? I donth think the economy will get better soon as there are tons of people that can make it like i have shown, tight but making it, now what happens as all these boom houses over the last 10 years start needing work done to them and these people cant afford to do it, or they do and default on paymets because of it.
Ane lastly this is only 3 acres and kind of the midle of the road crazy price that yall have trown out there. Use a city price at $50k?acre same math, use $30k/acre it will double the price for land i showed. I personally dont see how this can keep up, i guess there are enough people with hundreds of thousands of extra dollars to invest on just buying land but it almost seems the days of the average person buying their dream is gone after reading these figures.
All this said, i do own my own home which sits on .75 acres.