How Much House Can a $300K Budget Buy You in Boise, Meridian and Nampa?
"So when are you guys going to start looking for a house?"
Ever since my fiance and I got engaged last year, that's got to be my second least favorite question ask me. (Right behind "When are you having kids?" Excuse me, can we please actually make it down the aisle first? Thanks.) The truth is, we briefly looked for a house before deciding to move into a three bedroom apartment together in the complex I've been living in four almost four years.
Working mornings, it's really important to me that I live close to the station so I can maximize how much sleep I can get before the show so I was pretty married to the idea of Southeast Boise or Columbia Village. We were so frustrated after one day of searching. The homes in our current neighborhood were completely out of our budget and the ones in Columbia Village...well they needed a lot of work and we are NOT a fixer upper couple. Nor do we have thousands of dollars to sink into upgrades. ::sigh::
We're planning on staying in the apartment for a while after the wedding, but he's got me to at least start to think about the possibility of moving somewhere near The Village since I spend so much time at Cyclebar and running with Team Run Boise at Kleiner Park. Living right off the Garrity exit in Nampa wouldn't be terrible either because there's not a lot of traffic at silly o'clock in the morning when I'd have to leave for work and I leave the office well before rush hour. Honestly, the very thought of starting the home search again makes me break out in hives.
Are you looking for a home and are as frustrated as I am about the low inventory of homes? I don't know if this will help you choose what area to look in, but seeing how far a $300K budget would go in the areas I mentioned was something I was curious about. Here's what I dug up on Trulia, one of the real estate sites that most first time buyers start their search on.
- Beds: 3
- Baths: 2
- Built: 1977
- 1,380 Sq Ft
- Michelle's Pros: Best location of the three homes, shady back yard
- Michelle's Cons: Extremely dated features
- Beds: 4
- Baths: 2.5
- Built: 2018
- 1,861 Sq Ft
- Michelle's Pros: Bigger home, yard maintained by HOA, close to The Village and freeway
- Michelle's Cons: Proximity to Eagle Road traffic nightmare, house won't be finished until August...these photos are from a similar home in the neighborhood
- Beds: 3
- Baths: 2
- Built: 2018
- 1,699 Sq Ft
- Michelle's Pros: New home, nice features in the kitchen, nicest outside appearance
- Michelle's Cons: Listing is a of a similar home, not the actual home, furthest away from the office