I am sure I am not the only one who picks random cities and towns to see what real estate looks like and what the prices are there.
Wichita is interesting because it's clearly not a city on anyone's radar, has about 700K people and so it not a small town.
And then there's the Lineman.
So starting low to high.
This is at some level intriguing.
No idea what sort of neighborhood this building is in, but it looks relatively upscale(ish) and fuck... this one bedroom is $30K with monthly charges of around $700.
In other words I could buy it for what I have in my checking account and not feel much pain.
You'd need to redo the kitchen and bathroom, but given that you'd only spent $30K....
(There are two other equally low priced apartments in the same building for sale)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 27 | June 17, 2021 12:45 AM |
Now at the high end, there is this place, for $2MM.
It's ugly AF, but the extras are sort of mind boggling:
• a full-sized globo gym with a room full of Cybex type equipment
• an indoor pool
• an outdoor pool
• lighted tennis court
• full sized playground
• whirlpool
The downside is you have to live in Wichita
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 16, 2021 8:46 PM |
Op's condo is cheap as fuck, but the catch is that the HOA fees are rather expensive (for the place). Still decent enough to be a bargain.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | June 16, 2021 8:51 PM |
Mid-Range:
At just $360K you get this almost 4K square foot midcentury modern house that was last decorated in 1973, but seems to have good bones and a giant plot of land too.
As in again, some minor redecorating-- paint walls, install new floors, kitchen and bathrooms and you're good to go. Could use some landscaping as well. and appears to be in an better neighborhood.
Realtor's description is worth reading too--very polite and Midwestern
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 16, 2021 8:54 PM |
I think the condo is a bad deal. I'm sure you could rent a 1 bedroom apartment in Wichita for $700 a month and save the 30k for a rainy day. There's no security in owning if you have to pony up $8400 a year in fees. In four years you'll have paid the sale price in fees.
I was going to dismiss the idea of a 2Mil mansion in Kansas but this one is actually kind of cool. It looks like a coked up 1980s record producer built the place.
The suburban house would need a lot work to de-ugly the inside.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | June 16, 2021 9:07 PM |
Shocking, the price.
It may as well have been built in the middle of a corn yard for all its skyline view, but the apartment is a practical plan, generous in space, and loads of light, all in good condition though as OP notes it could benefit from some spending on the kitchen and baths.
But Wichita. I looked at the 200 listings of properties over 75 years old and over $30,000 and it was a full lot. One gaudy CA.1910 Beaux Arts pile that looked like a small country club for $750K, then the prices drop immediately to less than half that, and only a very few. There were a couple of pleasant houses in the $200s, but nothing I'd move to Wichita for. If I had to love in Wichita, I'd give that place some serious thought for all the cash it frees up not to be in Wichita.
The architectural stock is modest to a fault.
There is one handsome historic apartment building, now coops or condos, with a one bedroom for $83K and a two bedroom for about $120K (monthly maintenance of 400 and 1000 respectively; and real estate tax = pocket change.).
I troll real estate sites through Europe and the Americas but Wichita, OP congratulations. You dug deep.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | June 16, 2021 9:08 PM |
Thanks R5 -- a man after my own heart--I had done most of those searches too and I know the upscale building you speak of and also noticed the significant price drop you mentioned.
My thought on a place like Wichita--though I'd never act on it--was that you could live so cheaply you'd have more than enough to spend a long weekend every month living it up in NYC, LA, SF or elsewhere.
Is there a particular site you use for European real estate or is it mostly just local sites, depending on the city?
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 16, 2021 9:15 PM |
Wichita's not so terrible. I lived there for 10 years and survived. It's a pretty high-tech city, what with all the aerospace design and manufacturing firms headquartered there.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | June 16, 2021 9:18 PM |
I searched for the most expensive waterfront property in the Wichita area. This is pretty fabulous. From the pictures I thought it abutted a public park. It's all the yard.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 16, 2021 9:18 PM |
What do you do when there is a tornado?
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | June 16, 2021 9:22 PM |
WOW! It must be a shitting area!
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 16, 2021 9:23 PM |
On one side a huge high school and on the other a huge shopping center. PASS!
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 16, 2021 9:27 PM |
Both the school (which is a middle and elementary school) and the shopping center (which has a bookstore) are a few blocks away, not right next door.
The shopping center might be convenient and the schools have a track where you could go running in the evening or early AM
And given that it is Wichita, you are probably not walking anywhere anyway--the apartment comes with valet parking oddly enough.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | June 16, 2021 9:38 PM |
I live in Florida but always stalk zillow. Im looking at homes in Montgomery Al and Macon Ga...two small blue cities surround but red.
The older homes are beautiful and still very affordable there. Once I find what I like, I google earth the whole area to see whats around
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | June 16, 2021 10:31 PM |
Glad to hear I'm not the only one to do this. Also enjoy using Google Earth Streetview to recon cities and neighborhoods first before heading to Trulia.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | June 16, 2021 10:58 PM |
Wichita is clearly on the radar of at least 700,000 people.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | June 16, 2021 11:00 PM |
R1 NOTHING in the state of Kansas should cost that much. NOTHING.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | June 16, 2021 11:23 PM |
R6: Right. As Covid has taught us most people, including not a few Data Loungers, are not setting the world on fire going to the opera one night, the symphony the next, a gallery opening, a weekend lost to wild parties wine tastings and smart brunches and antiquing in the countryside in a Subaru and a J. Crew barn jacket. Instead it's closer to something like: work, call Mother, Netflix, buy cat litter, clean.
The idea that every gay man has to be at the hub of culture and commerce and trends at all stages of his adult life is overstated.
An apartment or a house in Wichita or Montgomery or other cities where the savings in housing and cost of living can be huge may work for some and for fone others be a vase from which to travel and do other things you might not be able to do.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | June 16, 2021 11:23 PM |
And R6: There's no good single source for most European countries, excepting Daft.ie for Ireland, Right move.co.uk for the UK, Idealista for Spain and Portugal... In many other countries it's a hodgepodge of independent agencies and no good resource where these are consolidated. France and Italy and Sweden are like this, and the first two tend to have very few photos and incomplete details. Greece is something of s hybrid of the two types. Instagram is a decent source for random interesting places for sale, but you have to follow loads of profiles to get an occasional good property.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | June 16, 2021 11:30 PM |
The suburban Kansas part of KCMO has some nice older areas.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | June 16, 2021 11:34 PM |
And the balcony provides a perfect vantage point for fights breaking out in the Dollar Tree parking lot.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | June 16, 2021 11:35 PM |
Homefacts.com labels Wichita as a “Very High” risk level when it comes to tornadoes.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 25 | June 16, 2021 11:37 PM |
I used to love Wichita. I was born and grew up here and still live here. It used to be a nice place. Back in the 1960's , the Koch family were wealthy kooks and members of the John Birch Society and were convinced that fluoride in the h20 supply was commie mind control. They sent out cheesy looking paper pamphlets but managed to convince some people. Most people thought they were nutty. Then sometime in the 90's the Koch Brothers squabbled over the family fortune after mommy passed on -Charles and David got the lion's share from the other brother who was gay that that they cheated out of his portion- and then Charles (who was libertarian and hard core)started becoming influential in Repub. politics and barf. Boeing left Wichita, Koch became the big fish in the little pond and Wichita became like Twin Peaks-a nice place on the surface but a seedy dark sick place underneath. Stay away for your own sake!!!
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | June 17, 2021 12:45 AM |
