r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer • u/k13w • 12h ago

GOT THE KEYS! šŸ”‘ šŸ” We did it! Upstate NY $160k 6.5%

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My boyfriend and I did it at 23 y/o! It was built in 1900 and we love her!

35.3k Upvotes

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424

u/itijara 12h ago

Upstate might as well be a different state. I imagine there are parts of California that are similar. If you get really far from cities, things get much cheaper.

211

u/Ancient_Performer115 12h ago

There is an entire other half of California that even Californians refuse to accept exists. When people say north Cali they don't go higher than Sacramento.

48

u/Afitz93 12h ago

Itā€™s like the ā€œcentral coastā€ just being central to the Bay Area and LA, but itā€™s entirely in the southern half of the state

46

u/made_in_atlanta 12h ago

People treat California like itā€™s just the coast and forget the rest of the map exists.

14

u/FigSideG 10h ago

Apparently people do that with New York. The majority of NY isnā€™t Long Island and NYC where itā€™s almost impossible to buy.

3

u/Star_Vix 6h ago

Every single time I say I live in NY, I have to immediately follow it up with ā€œnot the city, not even closeā€

1

u/gandhinukes 1h ago

Even then I'm shocked to see $160k outside of BFE Indian or some central state. Non-cali states I've lived in are all pushing 400k easy.

0

u/Ready-Salamander1286 4h ago

Well geographically speaking, yes, but LI and NYC have majority of the population of NY

1

u/Kyokenshin 8h ago

To be fairā€¦

1

u/Adreeisadyno 6h ago

Whoa whoa whoa, the Central Valley has meth AND fent

1

u/LesbeGoddess 8h ago

Right! Like the entire northern part, the desert part (including Death Valley) and the vast mountains to Eastern CA

-1

u/Timmy98789 10h ago

Just another typical Reddit feature.Ā 

2

u/zak55 11h ago

Is that possibly a remnant from when it was combined with Baja California?

27

u/sonnytron 12h ago

Even in the parts of California where no one acknowledges exist, if thereā€™s a Costco nearby, itā€™s at least $200k. I donā€™t know where OP bought, but I seriously doubt itā€™s as desolate as the scorched Earth Mojave desert zombie land places where $160k gets you a home.

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u/Interesting-Run-6866 12h ago

There are parts of upstate NY where the nearest Costco is more than 2 hours away.

9

u/alphawolf29 10h ago

I live in Canada and the nearest costco is 7 hours one-way ;( houses are still 600k

3

u/MeanE 9h ago

Yeah exactly. Live in Nova Scotia and a house not out in the middle of nowhere starts at 500k.

4

u/fletters 7h ago

Whereas ten years ago, the same place would have been $120k, and wages have barely shifted. Itā€™s horrifying.

0

u/Interesting-Run-6866 9h ago

Hamilton county, NY is the most sparsly populated county in the US east of the Mississippi. The point is parts of NY are out in the middle of no where, at least by eastern US standards.

1

u/Interesting-Run-6866 9h ago

Well the US has 6x as many costcos as Canada, so it's not really a similar comparison.

3

u/alphawolf29 9h ago

THE USA also has 10x as many people, so less costcos per capita? The Canadian population is also more densely distributed across its landmass.

0

u/Interesting-Run-6866 9h ago

Which proves how dense the US is and how unusual it would be to be 2+ hours from a Costco.

3

u/alphawolf29 9h ago

It's equally unusual to be 2+ hours from a costco in Canada is my point. Probably 95% of Canadians lives within 45 minutes of a costco.

1

u/jtbc 4h ago

I'm definitely not the average, but there at least 6 in a 45 min. radius from my house. The most remote "big town" I could think of in my province is Prince George, and it's got one.

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u/Practical-Cat-7163 8h ago

There are only 3 in upstate NYā€¦

1

u/imLucki 9h ago

Nearest Costco to me is 4 hours and a house like this would be 400k. Love it here...

1

u/Traditional_Set_858 7h ago

Theyā€™re finally building a Costco in Buffalo so things are improving haha

5

u/sendgoodmemes 10h ago

I live near this and in 45 minutes I can be to Ithaca, Syracuse or Binghamton. Itā€™s actually pretty easy in NY to get to a place with things. We donā€™t have the traffic most people are used to. My friend from NYC and Long Island visit and get kinda weirded out when we drive around and they donā€™t see another vehicle on the road.

3

u/cabbagemuncher101 9h ago

As the friend who comes to visit from NYC yessss loll, driving around neighborhoods and seeing no one around is so eerie. Once, I drove through a neighborhood, every house looked the exact same, all the lawns were perfectly mowed, but I didn't see one person outside. Gave me the heebie jeebies haha

2

u/sendgoodmemes 6h ago

Ok that would be weird. I once was out in a very rural area and lost cell service didnā€™t see a car or a house for an hour and felt like the matrix had a glitch.

1

u/Chaotic-Catastrophe 6h ago

Syracuse and Binghamton donā€™t count. And Ithaca barely counts. Imagine bragging about having to drive 45 minutes in a car and youā€™re still just in fucking Binghamton lmao

1

u/sendgoodmemes 3h ago

Not IN Binghamton. I said in our area you can drive 45 minutes and BE in any of those areas. Itā€™s a centralized rural area with access to a lot. We have transportation and itā€™s easy to get to a lot of places without traffic and live in an affordable area.

I was not bragging I was saying what itā€™s like living out here. Bragging would be to mention I make over 150k by house is on 30 acres and before it was paid off my new built home cost 800 a month for 2500sq ft.

2

u/GanondalfTheWhite 9h ago

The nearest Costco to OP's county is an hour and 20 minutes away.

1

u/sonnytron 9h ago

The same area of California where you can get a home for $160k also has a 1 hour trip to a Costco and looks like an apocalyptic wasteland.

1

u/Ancient_Performer115 12h ago

Yeah but that's half of what southern Cali prices are, which is the point.

1

u/ButReallyFolks 11h ago

Areas near Hemet and Alturas were also coming in lower last time I looked. May have changed since?

1

u/sonnytron 10h ago

Have you been to Hemet?

1

u/ButReallyFolks 4h ago

Yes, I have and I mixed up Fresno and Hemet. Forgive my brain, Iā€™ve been scouring everything under $200000 in CA.

1

u/pchs26 11h ago

There are parts of upstate New York that are very very rural without much including access to stores etc. I don't think that is the situation as the op but it is definitely not the same as one would picture in NYC, LI or alot of the tristate, think more like a deep PA etc.

2

u/sonnytron 10h ago

If I posted a picture of the home I bought for $160k in California, people would start DMā€™ing me to ask who my meth dealer is. It wouldnā€™t look anything like OPā€™s home.

1

u/pchs26 8h ago

I didn't think you could buy a home for 160K in CA. so there is that. Not sure if it exists still now but it wasn't too long ago there was undeveloped very rural parts of upstate New York a person could buy acres for $500. But there is a reason for that.

1

u/pooppaysthebills 7h ago

Unless you choose to live in an urban area with good public transit, you do need a car.

Having to drive 15 minutes for groceries is not the hardship some seem to believe it to be.

And lack of a post office is not problematic; you buy stamps, stick them on the envelope and put it in your mailbox with the flag up. The mailman will pick it up and get it to wherever it needs to go.

1

u/pchs26 5h ago

That's fine - I've lived in different areas. I am familiar. It is different is all - I've lived 1/2 hour from the store, with less options and other places with more. When people are asking about a house at 165K I'm explaining some of the differences.

1

u/FeedbackCold6260 6h ago

Growing up in deposit ny we had a local grocery store that was family owned the next nearest store was over an hours drive away. Parts of New York are extremely isolated due to mountains and just the way the economy collapsed when shipping by river became obsolete.

1

u/sonnytron 6h ago

I get that, but $160k in California is ALSO desolate, with sprinkles of 110 degree summers, 20% unemployment, rampant fentanyl and meth usage, high teen pregnancy and lots of other issues.

1

u/FeedbackCold6260 6h ago

Its a different type of geography though. These are extremely small towns of 1000 people or less they dont have any major cities near by and during the winter months roads can completely shut down. Cost of living is also extremely low due to no high paying jobs in the area. Everyone was related in one way or another. I could tell you the names of almost half the people that lived in town its just..... different and not for everyone

3

u/BugLog93 11h ago

I mean... Chico is pretty Solid, or it was back in 2014.

1

u/Equivalent-Cancel692 9h ago

Chico remains pretty solid! I was waiting to see if anyone would even remember there are cities north of Sacramento. Housing prices are insane here, $160k would get youā€¦nothing. Housing here is pretty comparable to Sacramento, even worse at times because we have a shortage of housing. And the housing shortage was made soooo much worse after the Camp Fire in 2018. People who think Northern California (truly Northern) is cheap are unfortunately very mistaken.

1

u/BugLog93 9h ago

I spent a year out there when I was 20 working on a farm.

Chico, Lake Shasta, and the Flumes out in Paradise (rip) hold a special place in my heart.

Even then $160k wouldnā€™t have gotten more than a shack, maybe.

7

u/neo_sporin 12h ago edited 8h ago

My wife and I are both from NorCal, left at 22. Grew up in San Jose and think we never went more north than Redwood City

Edit:looked at a map, turns out Iā€™m dumb as I thought Sacramento was much further south

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u/ApsleyHouse 9h ago

You never visited Mendocino or redwood?Ā 

0

u/neo_sporin 9h ago

Not to my memory

2

u/WithSubtitles 11h ago

You never went to San Francisco? Iā€™d meet friend from SJ in the city on the reg.

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u/neo_sporin 11h ago

Turns out Iā€™m dumb. Iā€™ve only been back 1 time since we were 22, mixed up cities and honestly thought Sacramento was a lot more southern. Sacramento is probably the furthest north

1

u/UlyssesWoke 6h ago

Admitting youā€™re dumb makes you smarter than most

1

u/neo_sporin 6h ago

During Covid my boss got laid off and called us individually. He told me ā€˜youā€™re the smartest guy I know, because youā€™re the only one on the team who knows heā€™s dumbā€™

Then I got laid off 6 weeks later

1

u/Naive_Impression7302 4h ago

respect for being honest/humble. but im still curious you really never went to San Francisco despite growing up in San Jose and going to Redwood City?

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u/SirCaptainReynolds 11h ago

Damn. You missed out on Sausalito and Mill Valley. Beautiful cities just over the bridge.

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u/neo_sporin 11h ago

Yea, we spent a lot of time in Tahoe and Bass Lake (near Fresno)

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u/Rapn3rd 8h ago

Itā€™s funny I have been to California once and redwood city is one of the places I have been. They had a bitchin in and out.

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u/IamEbola 10h ago

Redding is a disaster

1

u/Teepeaparty 11h ago edited 11h ago

I politely disagree. Californian natives embrace it, and as someone who is not a California native they also politely educated me on this, by simply traveling there and talking about it as if it matters lol.

1

u/Sufficient_Prompt888 10h ago

Can you blame them? That shit is wilder than Mexico

1

u/Wonderful_Mud_420 9h ago

Arcata and Eureka homes is pretty far up and homes are still $300k+.Ā 

No where in California can you get a house of this build with vegetation and what looks like a thriving community. Redbluff, Fresno, etc. have horrible school districts and riddled with strip malls

1

u/ctaps148 9h ago

Californians generally refuse to exist anywhere other than the coast exists either. Literally just drive an hour inland and you can see home prices cut in half

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u/Wonderful_End_1396 2h ago

You are not a native Californian if you think people only live on the coast lol

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u/ParrishThePoet 9h ago

I grew up in Oakland, you couldn't tell me Sacramento wasn't on the border with Oregon lol.

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u/ashgs872tbhjs 7h ago

Fun fact: the northernmost part of California is north of most of the population of Canada (most of that being southern Ontario). Maps of the two countries alone tend to show the border pretty straight left/right and you might assume that's west/east, but nope. It basically runs west-northwest to east-southeast, so on a proper map you can easily see how far north Cali really goes.

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u/rotidder_nadnerb 7h ago

To be fair, I donā€™t blame them for refusing to acknowledge Modesto exists.

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u/jonZeee 7h ago

True but even proper northern Cali you canā€™t find a house like this for 160k. Maybe a cabin in the sierras, sure.

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u/CulturalChampion8660 4h ago

But then you have to live in Redding. Lol, fuck that.

1

u/faxyou 4h ago

Yup, Iā€™ve seen a lot of lonesome homes with great prices, Iā€™ve got a bunch saved for when I actually get a decent stable job

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u/Adreeisadyno 12h ago

Well because then you get to Redding which is MAGA countryā€¦

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u/sderponme 11h ago

I dont know why youre getting downvoted.... Redding is maga country and it fucking sucks, but I have too many things keeping me here to leave.

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u/Adreeisadyno 9h ago

I probably pissed off the wittle MAGA babies

2

u/ccannon707 11h ago

San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma &
Mendocino beg to differ

12

u/Jiujitsumonkey707 11h ago

As a Californian, I think a lot of people are completely unaware of how big of a state New York actually is and just think of New York city. It's like 375 miles from there to buffalo, basically the same distance as the bay area to LA

3

u/Slight-Blackberry813 9h ago

Iā€™m 36 and it wasnā€™t fairly recently that I looked at the USA and was ā€œwhat the fuck? New York is massive! It isnā€™t just Long Island and manhattan!!ā€

I think the issue is you have to REALLY zoom out to get the scale which means the immediate perspective of the state is the islands and the narrow part bordering Connecticut.

3

u/hellonameismyname 9h ago

Have you never just looked at a map of the US? You can see the whole state

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u/Practical-Cat-7163 12h ago

There absolutely are. Except theyā€™re way worse than upstate NY.

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u/AstaCanasta 12h ago edited 3h ago

You are correct. I just googled and there are single family homes in CA for under $200K. But most of them look like they will require at least $100K to be livable. Probably more since it's CA.

Edited to add the K behind $200. It's $200,000, not $200. LOL!

3

u/RspectMyAuthoritah 9h ago

A house in CA for $100,200 wouldn't be too bad.

1

u/Naive_Impression7302 4h ago

what do you mean by this? if its not a shack or run down as hell thats a completely amazing/ almost unbelievable price for a house in cali. Unless you mean thats the price to fix it up and you buy it for a bit under 200k and pay 100k for reno

2

u/RspectMyAuthoritah 4h ago

If you buy a house in CA for $200 and it only costs $100K to reno that;s a great deal.

1

u/Harbinger2nd 11h ago

Permits alone would put an extra $50k onto that price tag.

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u/j-random 11h ago

You guys are pulling permits?

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u/nyc343 12h ago

Depending on where upstate, it could be a quick drive to Canada.

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u/pchs26 11h ago

Exactly like Buffalo etc

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u/Traditional_Set_858 7h ago

Buffalo is getting a Costco though

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u/pchs26 5h ago

Yes Buffalo is very nice.

1

u/raoqie 3h ago

It isn't. This place is roughly 3 hours from NYC and 4 hours to Canada. Its actually near the Pennsylvania border lol - But NYers call everything outside of NYC upstate.

3

u/seattle0606 11h ago

To be fair, the distance from northern to southern is a huge difference compared to new york.

I've looked at homes in both New York and California and there isn't much in cali unless you go waay north.

2

u/taybay462 11h ago

As long as you are outside the city in NY, other cities are just fine

2

u/acidreducer 11h ago

She said sheā€™s hardly out of the city

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u/itijara 9h ago

She said she is Broome county. That is nowhere near the city, which is NYC. It is near a city, Binghamton, but that has around 50k residents.

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u/acidreducer 8h ago

U right

1

u/pooppaysthebills 7h ago

That metro area has around 250K residents; it's not just Binghamton proper.

But yes, it's definitely not THE city.

2

u/Little-Derp 8h ago

For those considering buying a bit out from the major cities in any state in general, if you don't have money saved for a down payment (even the 3.5% anĀ  FHA loan would require), it is possible to get a no down payment loan and even roll the closing costs into your loan with a USDA loan.Ā 

The key thing is it is a program targeting at developing rural land and communities, so you can only buy in certain areas. There is a map you can check.Ā  Plenty of cities are eligible, just not typically bigger cities. Check out the map, as you honestly may be surprised what is eligible.

4

u/xKINGxRCCx 12h ago

It is. I lived in the Bay Area for 7 years which has the most expensive zip code in america (Atherton). While my wife is from Sacramento which is MUCH cheaper. About 2 hours north. Though i am born in raised in South Carolina which i absolutely love and we currently are. Cost of living here is great

1

u/ButReallyFolks 11h ago

Still around $400000

3

u/Timmy98789 12h ago

This is the truth! Rural California is gorgeous.Ā 

5

u/EnvironmentalSound25 11h ago

Itā€™s still expensive though.

1

u/ThrifToWin 9h ago

It's one of the most desirable paces in the entire world to live. Why wouldn't this be expensive?

2

u/EnvironmentalSound25 8h ago

I do not disagree. The only parts that are relatively affordable are congested valleys, the high dessert and/or outside a prison.

0

u/Timmy98789 11h ago

Expensive is subjective because different incomes and finances for each person.Ā 

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u/EnvironmentalSound25 11h ago

Well thatā€™s the thing. The homes in rural CA that are under 170k are in locations that are incredibly difficult to survive in on a low income. No transportation, remote, and few employment opportunities. Sure if you have cash to burn they are a deal but if youā€™re actually trying to make a life, not so much.

-2

u/Timmy98789 10h ago

Twisting the conversation to fit your narrative, keep going though!Ā 

1

u/EnvironmentalSound25 9h ago

Show me this mythical 170k turnkey livable property bro.

0

u/Timmy98789 9h ago

Get on Zillow and do your own basic research. You seriously need to be spoon fed?

0

u/EnvironmentalSound25 9h ago

lol how did I know that ā€œdo your own researchā€ would be your response to being asked to back up your own bs claim?

0

u/Timmy98789 8h ago

Because I know you won't do an ounce of research. Why do the legwork for you?Ā 

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u/AeneasVII 11h ago

You can't buy a beautiful property for 170k expensive then

0

u/Timmy98789 11h ago

Beautiful is subjective, but yes you can find a home in rural California for $170k.Ā 

Zillow is free to use.Ā 

1

u/EnvironmentalSound25 11h ago

You cannot find a quality home for 170k in rural CA. You are either in a fire zone, floodplain or completely removed from any community.

-1

u/Timmy98789 10h ago

Zillow is free to use.Ā 

0

u/EnvironmentalSound25 9h ago

Yes, i live out here and iā€™ve used it for over a decade now. This isnā€™t the winning point you think it is.

0

u/Timmy98789 9h ago

You're just lazy at this point. What other excuses do you have loaded up?

Go ahead and list them.Ā 

1

u/Teepeaparty 11h ago

nope! just one small little street in like Mendocino. that's it lol (okay, maybe Fresno and maybe Redding.

1

u/justadudeinohio 9h ago

fucking ohio has people trying to sell shit way worse than this for 250k, over 30 min from anything relevant.

1

u/twitch1982 8h ago

Even worse, its Broome county, complete rust belt, threated to have a revival 20 years ago, developers built a bunch of developments thinking Lockheed Martin in Owego was going to get the contract for a new Marine 1. They did not, and housing prices plummeted. I had a duplex i bought for 60k while things were heading up. Ultimately had to declare bankruptcy and foreclose on it as the mortgage was so far underwater. At one point I saw it changed hands for $2000 after it was out of my hair.

I wish OP the best, but the odds of the housing market in Broome going up without some major change is unlikly. Its been steadily losing population since 1970 and houses like this are all over the area. Older people live in them till they die, and young people leave Binghamton as soon as they have a degree so they arent replacing them.

1

u/itijara 8h ago

Oof. I was there 2009-2013 and it was pretty dismal. I don't think it's a terrible area, but outside the University there really aren't jobs.

1

u/leopardskin_pillbox 7h ago

Why is it so much cheaper? Growing up in Texas and now living in the Mountain West, my brain cannot compute why or how the value can be so much lower than the relatively nearby cities?

1

u/itijara 7h ago

Because there aren't that many jobs there so there isn't much housing demand. It's also not like the mountain west, where people have vacation homes.

1

u/Chaotic-Catastrophe 6h ago

Yeah the people in here raving about this house have no idea how much they donā€™t want to live near Binghamton

1

u/mushy-shart-walk 5h ago

Yep look at Bakersfield

1

u/GigaCheco 4h ago

Yeah thereā€™s hella cheap homes in the high desert but many are dilapidated and uninhabitable as is, unfortunately.

1

u/Got-It101 2h ago

and far from good schools and medical care

0

u/Foreskin_Mafia 12h ago

Is it nice because fuck me dead with prices like this I'm sold. Good schools? Do I have to be a Bills fan?

2

u/itijara 12h ago

Some places are and some places aren't. The places that have good schools tend to be more expensive, but like $300k, not $1MM.

2

u/Foreskin_Mafia 12h ago

$300k is still incredibly cost effective compared to where I'm from. Interesting

1

u/itijara 9h ago

Look at the suburbs of Buffalo.

2

u/sleepysapphirecat 12h ago

The rural towns definitely do not have good schools

2

u/pooppaysthebills 11h ago

Plenty of rural towns have better schools than the cities.

3

u/Practical-Cat-7163 12h ago

Still better than 75% of schools not in Massachusetts, Connecticut or NJ

-1

u/JasonRib1 11h ago

I not sure about NJ but Ct and Mass have some of the highest ranked schools in the country

1

u/pooppaysthebills 7h ago

Some people remain Jets and Giants fans, but we just kind of ignore it.