Monte Hayward's Rootlet ~ The Relocation Blog: 5/28/06

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Impromptu Rain Wear

Puddles to dodge along the route to the $3 parking lot.

After work surprise shower, Seattle, May 31, 2006.

April showers brought May torrents in sunny Seattle, WA. Caught unprepared, I grabbed a mailer from the DHL bin as I left work.

2 Comments:

At Saturday, June 03, 2006 8:34:00 PM, Anonymous said...: So how goes the search for a new home town? I live in Chicago but am currently looking to move to the San Diego area. I work for a major airline in customer service but looking to change jobs as well as locals! I do have a few friends in CA so I wouldn't be totally "alone" but of course I'm nervous about the prospect of moving. I'm hoping that my kids will soon take some interest in following me out there (22 and 25, both out of college and on their own). So......are you actually looking to meet someone or just "cruising" for local tips?!
At Sunday, June 04, 2006 1:51:00 PM, Monte Hayward said...: Anonymous,
I'm actually looking to meet someone. I'm interested in both friendships and romance. Regarding your kids, hey, when I was twenty I surely would have visited the folks more if they lived in San Diego!

Thanks for popping by.
--Monte

Sunday, May 28, 2006

TownScores™ Housing Affordability

A friend from San Diego complained that salaries were not keeping up with house prices in her city. I decided to punch up the numbers myself for comparison. I suspected that Miami would prove worse off than San Diego in terms of house affordability.

Percentage of Monthly Budget Devoted to Mortgage Payments	76%	28%	38%	124%	73%	42%
1. Metro Area	Seattle	Austin	Atlanta	Miami	San Diego	Tucson
2. Med. Price	459,800	167,900	185,100	387,800	491,000	175,100
3. Med. Income	46,650	45,508	37,385	24,031	51,382	31,901
4. Yrs to earn House	10	4	5	16	10	5
5. Median Mo. Income	3888	3792	3115	2003	4282	2658
6. Est. Monthly Payment*	2942	1074	1184	2481	3142	1120

Percentage of Monthly Budget Devoted to Mortgage Payments
Metropolitan Area
Median Home Price
Median Household Income
Years of income to earn house
Median Household Monthly Income
Estimated Monthly Payment*

It would appear that, with income nearly as robust as Seattle, and the lowest median home price in the group, Austin has the most affordable housing measured here. This may be due in part to Austin's ease of expansion, thanks to its surrounding acreage of development-ready farm ground.

Notes

Figures are in United States Dollars ($US). Item 1, "Percentage of Monthly Budget Devoted to Mortgage Payments" expresses how much of an average household income would be devoted to house payments, if the family were to purchase a median-priced house. Clearly, at 124% of monthly income, many Miami families would not qualify for home ownership. * Item 6 is a simple calculation mortgage only, not insurance, property taxes or other additionals. An interest rate of 6.62% and a 30-year mortgage is assumed. Also, Full median home price is financed, as opposed to assuming 10% down payment. Figures are meant for comparison only.
http://mortgages.interest.com/content/calculators/monthly-payment.asp
Mortgage rate source: Freddie Mac

8 Comments:

At Tuesday, June 06, 2006 8:12:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Oh dear, you're exceedingly practical. However I must selfishly say that I find the data presented to be quite helpful as I am considering a move and Austin, Atlanta, and Tucson are on my list of possible cities. Those as well as Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis or back to Seattle. I currently reside in San Diego.

Why leave the this idyllic setting? Good question. My main motivation is financial. Unfortunately I haven't been able to build any sizeable equity so I must find another locale where the opportunity exists. My secondary motivation is weather. This may sound insane but I enjoy seasonal changes.

I've almost reached the point where all the statiscal analysis I've performed has made me rather paralyzed. I just need to put all the cities into a hat and draw one.

I've enjoyed your reading your entries with the knowledge that I'm not alone in my quest for another abode.
At Tuesday, June 06, 2006 11:47:00 PM, Monte Hayward said...: :: exceedingly practical
I'm told that I'm a typical Capricorn.

Don't worry, if you get paralyzed, life has a way of forcing the issue. Chuckle.

Care to share any of your statistical analyses?
At Sunday, June 11, 2006 11:50:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Austin hi's and low's

It's really hot during the 'dog days' of summer and may not be as liberal as seatle, but you can get into a nice house for under 180k, close into to town and in an appreciating (10%+) market.
At Sunday, June 11, 2006 11:52:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Austin is great. Similar to SFo and very trendy. artsy and liberal. RE should go up there quite a bit.
At Sunday, June 11, 2006 11:54:00 PM, Anonymous said...: correct, used to be hookers on SOCO....

the SOCO area and E/central (french place area) are the cooliest areas. i'm from here. i remember when hookers used to stop us on S. congress and Monroe and you could pick up a property for 50k.
now your average cottage soco house will run 300k+
At Monday, June 12, 2006 9:32:00 AM, Sssamiam said...: You posted a comment and a question to my blog in March. I never got an email notifying me of it and just now found it. Your question was about why Austin rents are so low.

First, some more current stats: the median home price in Austin in April, 2006 was $175,000. This was up 8% over April, 2005. Sales in April were up 12%, listings down 9% and pending sales up 22%.

Why are homes cheap in the Austin area? North, east and south are all flat and builders can get homes up as fast as they can unload the supply trucks. There were 16,876 starts during the first quarter of 2006. This is an increase of 40% over last year. Finished vacant homes have under 2 months of inventory.

Rents are low because homes have been so affordable and interest rates have been low.

See more at my site at www.austinrealestateguy.com.
At Thursday, November 02, 2006 3:41:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Austin is pretty nice. Its hot in the summer but it cools down. We have a ton of music and art/film festivals. People are often surprised that we have a bunch of trees and lakes. People are pretty laid back generally. There was some study that Austin was the most impatient city in the US. That is pretty much a bunch of crap. I wrote about it here Austin is impatient. It turns out that have wifi = being impatient. Austin is generally pretty affordable. If you want to live right downtown prices are higher. But there are still houses 5 to 8 minutes from downtown that are pretty affordable.
At Wednesday, April 02, 2008 9:56:00 AM, attagirl said...: My husband and I are considering a move to Austin. Northwestern PA where we currently reside is pretty depressed. Employment is scarce, prices are high, yayaya.

How has the Austin housing market held up under the most recent national downward trends? Is it possible to buy a 1-2 bedroom rural home that is structurally sound on 3-5 acres for under $120,000? (I know you are not an RE agent, but this is just an initial inquiry of Austin and we're not ready to hand out our contact info to any property peddlers yet.) What are gas prices? My husband is a geologist, so is it safe to assume your Texas newspaper classifieds are teaming with "geologist wanted" ads? (We hear you have some oil down there.) I am an artist, so it sounds like the trendy social climate would lend itself to my "type." Is that a safe assumption too?

Thanks in advance for your help.

from, attagirl

Atlanta Campaign "Dicey"

Campaign button from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce

I was delighted to find this promotional graphic. Does it make you want to move to Atlanta? Before I read about the campaign that this graphic represents, I'll share my impressions based soley on the graphic.

Moving to Atlanta would be dicey
Atlanta city fathers are gambling with its future
Atlanta must be run by old-school fat cats, like the Monopoly guy
Atlanta is competing with other cities in a game

Now I'll go and read up on the promotional campaign. Here's a quote:

The 2006 Chairman’s Committee Fundraising Campaign will soon START. This year, 150 volunteers from more than 25 corporations in metro Atlanta will SPIN their Rolodexes, ROLL their knowledge around and MOVE AHEAD, selling memberships, advertising and sponsorships, to FINISH at the $2.8 million goal.

So, it would seem that the Atlanta Chamber is promoting itself by milking both Rolodexes and gambling metaphors in bold capital letters. Lame committeethink. Though Atlanta grew up as a major railroad center, it would seem that the clue train has not made a stop there.