Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Buy the cheapest houses in your market.

If you're an average buyer looking for an average-priced house, you may be interested to know what a typical house costs in your town. But what if you're not an average buyer? What if you want – or need – to spend as little as possible? And I am sure that spending less is always on all of our minds.

In honor of frugal buyers and cheapskates, we've put together a collection of houses that are the cheapest of the cheap in their market. This is a great way to always come away a winner.

Keep in mind that while the cheapest house in town may only cost a buck in Detroit, you'd have to cough up a lot more than that to live among movie stars or rich geniuses — think Bill Gates.

We looked for single-family homes that could actually be lived in, though some will need quite a bit of work before that's possible, and we talked to real-estate agents about why they're priced so low.

Median sale prices are as reported by the National Association for Realtors for the third quarter and are for existing single-family homes in the indicated metropolitan statistical area.

From the desk of Edward E. Cambas through MSN Real Estate.

Saturday, November 26, 2011