OTM: Comparison Shopping the Average
According to our friend and intrepid realtor Marguerite, the average listed home price in Tacoma is $239k. So we wondered, what can we get in Tacoma for $239k (or so) in the various neighborhoods? To answer it, we went to the Internets and started our survey. As our research continued we made an executive decision to skip central Tacoma, as this neighborhood is really a story in itself. This price point seems to have a lot to offer in that neighborhood. However, around the rest of the city, quality and size varies. Here’s a completely unscientific sampling of what we found:
West end
We’ll begin our look in the West End.
We found this 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath circa 1968 rambler with 1331 square feet on an 8,250 square foot lot for $234k. The interior photos remind us of visiting someone’s grandma’s house … With a little updating, it just might be right.
Listed with John L. Scott
North End
Tacoma’s North End does offer a bit of a challenge at this price point. Options, when compared to the other neighborhoods are limited. But, the land of Volvos, golden retrievers, and Metropolitan Market does offer homes at the city average $230k.
Here’s one with 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1158 square feet of home on a 6,000 square foot lot for $229k. And, it has apparently be remodeled relatively recently with a new deck, wiring, furnace, roof, and paint. Not too bad. The house and lot are a bit smaller than some of the area neighborhoods, but maybe it’ll work for you.
Listed with Coldwell Banker
East Side
Many of our friends seem to be buying houses on the East Side.
Are you looking for a little more dirt than the 6,000 square foot north end lots? With the largest lot in the selection, this house has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, in 1444 square feet on a 12,197 square foot lot. Jetted tub. New wiring. Only $230k.
Listed with John L. Scott
South End
The South End seems to be another increasingly popular home for many of the people we’ve met recently. Maybe it’s the size of home available for the price …
Here’ a 5 bedroom, 2.75 bath home with 2196 square feet on an 8,276 square foot lot for $232k. It’s a lot more space and rooms than the others.
Listed with Keller Williams
Downtown Tacoma
Ahhh … downtown Tacoma. The place we work and the projects we pass every day. We searched the MLS from the North to the South and discovered … not much. However, there is a home available in one of our favorite buildings:
How about a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 734 square foot condo on the 6th Floor of the Vintage Y. A mere $240k for downtown Tacoma living. If you work for the city, your commute could be like … 50 yards.
Listed with Action Real Estate
We know there are many more neighborhoods including Browns Point and Central Tacoma. Maybe we’ll continue it again next week.
Disclaimer: We didn’t actually visit any of these properties. Also, the listings were chosen using a very unscientific process of determining relative cuteness versus busyness of streets and a fresh coat of paint. No realtors were involved in any way.
14 comments
T Thorax O'Tool January 16, 2009
Now, what average is that? The mean, the median or the mode?
With house prices, the median is way more accurate.
Now my question is, what can we get for the top of my price range… namely $175K.
N nbowling January 17, 2009
I wonder if you could go into more detail of the decision to exclude Hill Top (Central Tacoma) from the survey. Is it that there are so many choices at their price point or that the choices were unsatisfactory or what? Just curious.
D derek January 17, 2009
I wonder if you could go into more detail of the decision to exclude Hill Top (Central Tacoma) from the survey.
It’s the former. We had a lot more choices in several distinct neighborhoods – all technically in central Tacoma. Just below 6th Ave. Hilltop. Near Allenmore. The post was getting really long and we were having a hard time choosing between the properties. This is truly the neighborhood where most of our friends are buying right now, but it deserved its own article given the distinct areas.
TOT – It’s the median and a bit of casual writing. My quantitative analytics professor would not be happy right now.
J J. Cote January 17, 2009
Nice piece, Derek. It really shows the differences that a neighborhood and a reputation can make in the “value” of a home.
One bedroom for a quarter-mill??? Gee, I wonder why they can’t sell them!!
T Thorax O'Tool January 18, 2009
@ Derek
Sorry to have nitpicked, but your timing was bad.
Earlier that day, I had gotten in a pretty heated discussion about pricing with a friend, and he kept bringing up the mean prices of condos in Seattle to illustrate that his condo in Capitol Hill had not lost value comparatively… it’s actually now valued $100K lower than he paid for it in 2006.
Anyway, the argument included why the median is more accurate than the mean, etc, etc. And then coming home and seeing just “average” listed set me off.
My bad.
A altered chords January 19, 2009
Go south young man (woman). Thorax – if you are serious about a house check out my neighborhood. There are places for sale in the area bounded by I5 to the west, M street to the east. 38th street to the soutn and I5 (it curves) to the north.
I paid 170 for a 3 br in great shape. 1500 sf. That was in October. Most likely would go for 160 now?
I don’t think it’s smart to buy a house at the “top” of your range. The last thing I wanted to do was buy a nice place in the north end and then have no $$$ to take a girl out on a date. “sorry dear, lets just eat pbj’s and drink tap water at my nice house in a nice neigborhood” “oh, sorry, I’m out of jelly and bread, let’s just eat globs of peanutbutter”
T Thomas January 19, 2009
I just sold our 3bdr, 2bath 1600 square foot home on a 9,000 foot lot in University Place for $204,000.
You don’t have to pay even the average price for a great home in a great neighborhood…
M Marguerite January 19, 2009
I showed a 2 bedroom house that was 99k and perfectly livable a few blocks off McKinley this morning. Another client who’s budget is “Under 135k” who needed 3 bedrooms had his pick of several nice places when we went out this weekend. He made an offer on a nice foreclosure with a garage and a fenced yard for his dog (fingers crossed!). There’s a lot to look at out there, and if you’re buying you have lots of choices.
T Tora! Tora! Laura! January 19, 2009
Altered Chords:
A guy your age shouldn’t be dating girls – you can get arrested for that…
A altered chords January 19, 2009
TTL – poor choice of words. Should have used the more generic “gal” or “lady” or “women” but “woman” can be plural and although not leading to arrest can lead to large headache.
A altered chords January 19, 2009
altered chords:
What are you talking about?
That last comment was dumb.
(mofo style of dialogue w/ self)
T Thorax O'Tool January 20, 2009
@ Altered Chords…
The $175K isn’t the top of the price range I can get pre-approved for, it’s the top of the range that I’m willing to pay.
I do not like long-term financial commitments (that’s why I don’t finance cars), so I plan on getting a 15 year fixed.
I furthermore don’t want to give up fun things like boarding with my gf or having lunch with friends just so I can make the mortgage payment. Spending so much of my income on housing that I do not have anything left at the end of the month is not reasonable.
My rent is currently 14% of my monthly gross, and if I can buy a house for under $140K, I can keep my housing output under 20%. I am not going to give up the things in my life that I enjoy just to be a debt slave on an over-priced property.
I’ve been eying houses in your hood as well as foreclosures across the board. I likely won’t make a move towards buying till either late ’09 or 2010. Right now is a terrible time to buy… wait till the s**t hits the fan with the Alt-A’s and Pay options recasting this year.
A altered chords January 20, 2009
Thorax – makes sense.
T Tacoma Computer Repair January 20, 2009
I think the Lincoln District offers the most bang for your buck. Nice, older craftsman type homes for under $200k and just mins from everything (downtown, mall, I-5, etc)