Finding affordable housing not impossible

Durin g the housing boom of 2001 through 2006, the prices of single-family homes and condominiums shot up to amazing levels. I remember wondering, once the median sales prices of existing homes raced past the $200,000 mark, how were most people in the United States going to afford a home?

Now that the housing market is in the midst of a huge slump, the average cost of a home hasn’t been rising nearly as fast. But that doesn’t mean that U.S. housing, on average, is cheap. Far from it. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median sales price of existing homes in the second quarter of 2008 came in at more than $206,000.

But there are affordable homes out there, if you know where the look. The secret, of course, lies in searching out cities and towns that few others considered destination areas.

BusinessWeek has an interesting story about this here.  The story features a couple whose combined yearly income is only $33,000. Yet, this couple owns a home, and doesn’t worry much about making their mortgage payments. That’s because the home only cost them $48,000. The home has three bedrooms, a full basement and central air conditioning. It’s also located in a town that few would consider a hip or exciting place to live, Youngstown, Ohio.

Finding an area of the country where housing prices didn’t skyrocket during the residential boom is the key to finding truly affordable housing. There are plenty of such municipalities. They may not be as “exciting” as New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. But to some people, low mortgage payments are plenty excitement enough.