California, Here I Go : Record Numbers of Southland Residents Are Moving to States With Cheaper Real Estate, Where They Get More House for Their Money.
Maybe it’s human nature to wonder if the grass isn’t greener, not just on the other side of the fence, but across the state line as well.
Even with the Southland housing market still colder than an Illinois winter, thousands of Californians apparently still fantasize about the palace that their mortgage payment might buy in Chicago or Portland or Taos. The picture usually includes at least a mansion on three acres and stops just short of a rooftop helipad.
The lure of cheaper real estate was certainly among the factors that helped a record 354,842 Californians decide to leave the state in fiscal 1991-92--the first time in 20 years that more people left than moved here from other states. Nearly half of those departing--a whopping 166,775--were Southlanders, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles, which tracks driver’s license address changes.
As it turns out, cities in each of the top 10 states they moved to boast lower average housing costs than here--often far lower. So while the biggest incentive to move is still a job, getting a lot more house for the money is certainly icing on the cake.
As Phoenix realtor Jerry Lukes put it: “There are two kinds of real estate--California and the rest of the world. And everybody in California knows it.”
If they didn’t know it a year ago, Kim and Vernon Baker know it now. Early in 1991 the Bakers sold their tiny Burbank canyon home at a profit and moved to an exclusive suburb of Atlanta where, for $178,000, they bought a new, 2,800-square-foot, four-bedroom ranch house on one-third acre. The new spread--nearly three times bigger than the Bakers’ old place--includes a spa in the master suite and a community pool and tennis court. “We really love it,” said Kim, who is definitely not homesick for Los Angeles.
Transplants Sergio Palleroni and his wife, Ana, hope to find happiness in Seattle, where they just bought a 7,000-square-foot, eight-bedroom Colonial Revival mansion atop Capital Hill. The price: $650,000. That’s $300,000 less than the Palleroni’s received for their 3,000-square-foot Santa Monica canyon tract home, sold in October.
Their only problem now is figuring out what to do with the new pad’s six bathrooms.
Does your housing dollar really buy more elsewhere? To better answer the question, we asked realtors in the top 10 cities for California transplants about available homes in the mid-$200,000 range, or slightly more. (By comparison, the median price of an existing house in the greater Los Angeles area is roughly $220,000 to $240,000. The median is the price at which half the houses cost less and half the houses cost more.)
City by city, from first to tenth in popularity, here’s what they said:
No. 1. PHOENIX--Desert in every direction, but talk about great deals. Phoenix’s median house sells for $87,200, a figure that virtually assures you of finding a 3,200-square-foot, four-bedroom suburban spread complete with tile roof, formal dining room, pool, spa and, if you get lucky, a perch on the fairway of one of Phoenix’s 100-plus golf courses.
For a Spanish-style house with an acre of horse pasture and prime views of Camelback Mountain in the Paradise Valley area, subtract 1,000 square feet for that price. Closer in, houses cost less, not more--say $50,000 to $70,000 as a starting range. Golfers may prefer nearby Scottsdale, where the superabundance of posh greens adds $30,000 or more to the average sale price.
No. 2. RENO--With a median less than half that of the L.A. area, ski slopes half an hour away and an expanding job base, it’s easy to see why this brush-country gambling resort ranks No. 2 with Southlanders. Not to mention you can pick up a piece of country living--say a semi-custom, 3,200-square-foot ranch-style home on 1.25 acres of horse pasture (with ample watering) backed up on the Truckee River and featuring views of the Sierra--for under $250,000.
Closer to town, $230,000 will fetch a new, custom-built suburban house on a triple-sized lot with gourmet kitchen, spa in the master suite and mountain views from five second-story bedrooms. “Almost everywhere you buy in Reno you’ll get beautiful views of the mountains,” said realtor Gary Canepa.
No. 3. SEATTLE--Fifteen minutes from downtown Seattle, the Puget Sound retreat of Vashon Island offers five-acre country homes for the price of the average Southland tract house. You had better like the water, though, because it’s the only way off Vashon. The island’s 8,000 residents commute by ferry, if at all. Less extravagant deals are also available on the “mainland,” where a high inventory has kept Seattle’s median hovering around $146,000 for two years.
Our price--$220,000 to $240,000--will nab a three-bedroom, two-bath, remodeled, 1940s bungalow in Greenlake, a charming, lake-spotted neighborhood 15 minutes from downtown. Homes with a view of the city and surrounding Olympia Mountains start at $300,000. But the rare waterfront condo can be found for our price--say 1,500 square feet, a fireplace and, as Seattle realtor Karen Lavalee puts it: “Nothing in front of you except Puget Sound, Mt. Rainier and sunsets.”
No 4. DALLAS/HOUSTON--Pull on your cowboy boots and kick back in your own private hacienda, Texas-style. In Dallas’ sprawling suburbia, that means four bedrooms, formal dining room, two-sided fireplace, 3 1/2 baths, built-in wet bar, pool and spa. Better buy now, though, because Dallas is getting popular.
Houston’s once-desolate real estate market is also gaining speed, but Texas’ southern metropolis still offers some surprising deals. Among them: a 26th-floor, three-bedroom condo, complete with panoramic downtown views and an upgraded marble kitchen. For $239,000. Or try a 3,000 square-foot suburban home on one-third of an acre with cathedral ceilings, hardwood floors, pool, spa, deck and brick construction, for $225,000.
No. 5. PORTLAND--This former lumber town on the Willamette and Columbia rivers has blossomed into one of the West Coast’s most alluring and cultured hot spots. Which explains why Portland’s median home price jumped 12.6% this year to $97,000 (the fastest appreciation among the top 10 and way ahead of the L.A. area’s 3.6% decline, according to the National Assn. of Realtors).
The real estate grail, an “Old Portland” 1920s-30s bungalow 10 minutes northwest of downtown, starts at $130,000. Another $100,000 earns a sweeping view of the city and surrounding mountains from Portland Heights or Kings Heights, where our price will fetch a three-bedroom, two-bath Tudor with fully remodeled kitchen and baths.
For more yard, head 15 minutes south of downtown toward Raleigh Hills, an affluent suburb with hundreds of modern four-bedroom homes in our price range, including custom amenities such as hardwood floors and half-acre lots. Don’t expect to snag an Oregon horse ranch near Portland, though--two-acre country estates start at $350,000 in Ashdown, 25 minutes south of downtown.
No. 6. DENVER--Once ranked among the nation’s most depressed housing markets, Denver is on the rebound. So while the Rocky Mountain dream house may be unrealistic in our price range, its facsimile can be found in Denver’s foothills. Here, 30 minutes west of downtown, our price will fetch a relatively new, four-bedroom, three-bath home on a woodsy, one-third-acre lot. Features might include cathedral ceilings, two wood-burning fireplaces and a redwood deck.
Fifteen minutes farther up, mountain communities such as Evergreen offer the same house with four acres of mountain pine forest and nights so quiet you can hear the bears snoring. For you city folks, a two-story, historic register Tudor can be found on triple-sized, forested city lots along the shores of Denver’s Sloane Lake--say 2,500 square feet, three bedrooms, hardwood floors, fireplace, remodeled baths, walk-in pantry, lake and city views--for under $200,000.
No. 7. SARASOTA/PORT CHARLOTTE--A tropical climate and some of the world’s most beautiful white sand beaches make this resort area on Florida’s west coast a favorite among California retirees. The Sarasota area has an impressive mix of suburban and waterfront housing, but ocean views are unattainable in our price range. Expect to find a 40-year-old, 2,000-square-foot house that needs work, but which nevertheless has its own private dock on a sailboat canal leading to open seas. Deals are more plentiful inland, where you can find large, semi-custom homes backing onto a golf course in one of the area’s master planned subdivisions.
Things get even better in Port Charlotte, 30 minutes south of Sarasota, where our price will nab a three-bedroom, fully remodeled canal-side home with pool, spa and unobstructed sailboat access to Charlotte Harbor’s pelican-spotted barrier islands and the Gulf of Mexico. “There’s a lot of small town to this place,” says realtor Jim Walsh, who moved to Port Charlotte from Boston 14 years ago. “It isn’t the Garden of Eden, but it’s close.”
No. 8. NEW YORK CITY--The Big Apple squeezed past equally chilly Chicago into eighth place, testament to the metropolis’s continuing ability to attract jobs, or at least job seekers. This isn’t a cheap spot, though--the area’s median price ranges from around $150,000 to $190,000. And if you want to cut commute time by moving to Manhattan, prepare to be disappointed. Our price would barely net a smallish, one-bedroom condo in prime Manhattan neighborhoods such as the Upper East and Upper West sides.
Step out to the boroughs, though, and things get better fast. Like a five-bedroom home in a prime Queens neighborhood such as Forest Hills or Bayside with a two-bedroom first floor that can be rented out. Or a four-bedroom, brick Tudor in the elegant Park Slope area of Brooklyn. Out in commuterland, though--say Mountainville or Cornwall, 50 miles from Manhattan--the same money would buy a rambling, four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath brick house with stone fireplace on a wooded half-acre lot.
No. 9. CHICAGO--”Boy, could I go crazy with $240,000,” said Chicago area realtor John Kmiecik. “You give me a buyer who’s serious with that kind of money and I can get them something they can stay in for a long, long time.” The Windy City’s growing southern suburbs offer the region’s best housing deals, with an abundance of rambling, four-bedroom contemporaries for our price--including a bonus office or den, back yard deck and above-ground pool, all on a half-acre lot. Closer to downtown’s job-central “Loop” district, most homes are sold within a few days of listing. Commute-shy young professionals have been snapping up old Victorians in McKinley Park and Brighton Park, once predominantly blue-collar neighborhoods, and redecorating them for living and renting. A nice, historic register three-bedroom here goes for $130,000. “I could probably get you a couple of them,” quipped Kmiecik.
No. 10. ATLANTA--The city that Sherman burned may be short on antebellum mansions, but Atlanta and its environs still offers some of the choice buys. For $230,000 you could get a two-story Colonial Revival behind a white picket fence in Buckhead, the city’s most prestigious neighborhood, four miles from downtown. “Scarlett O’Hara would have lived in Buckhead,” said realtor Amy Norman of the area’s vast rolling lawns and Tara-like architecture.
Country living can be found less than half an hour away in rural Cobb or Cherokee counties--minutes from the Blue Ridge Mountains--where two acres and five bedrooms with a pool go for under $250,000. And the same price range will put you in a lakefront or golf-course suburban home with four bedrooms, formal dining room, hardwood floors and a rec room in the basement.
