My casual comment about housing costs in my small tired and rusty Midwest town were never meant to be a grenade. With the pin pulled. and rolling into the middle of this thread...
I haven't read anything posted that I really disagree with. Yes, the reason houses are so cheap here is because the local economy sucks, the job prospects are few and poor. But there are folks that make pretty good money and choose to live here. The mail carrier probably makes the same salary as any other but lives in a house for much less than an urban counterpart.
Food, fuel, health care and insurance, appliances and vehicles cost the same or maybe more.
Most everything else is less.
I have a nice 4 bedroom, 3 bath house on 40 wooded acres with a creek. No close neighbors. Attached heated 2 car garage, barn and outbuildings and a greenhouse. I could reasonably expect to sell it for $300k on a good day. I like living here and I accept the trade offs.
The problem with really cheap houses in town is that they become section 8 subsidized rentals and the demographic changes accordingly. Our school district is 75% children at poverty rate.
