I could do it but if someone has a link it would be great.Also would be interesting to see Median housing charts for areas, even the US, based on payments, not price, giving us an idea the true long term gains/losses on housing relative to affordability.Also, if Jon is saying 3%, how is that compared to inflation?

This would expand your pool of homes over the option above but funding won't be easy to find.

This is why we have conventional guidelines and they are a big deal, those are the minimum set of guidelines a loan must have in order to be sold to FNMA/FMCC and those GSEs pool the loans into securities and sell to the public.

As can be seen from the overwhelmingly positive responses on this and the other threads Greg Smith has been posting chronicling his endeavors, the experiences, struggles and successes of others can motivate those that may have the desire to jump into the metaphorical pool but just need a little friendly nudge.

Check out this chart about Austin as compared with other major MSAs.

There is more reward but more capital outlay and risk as well.In Atlanta 500k would be considered on the expensive side.Unlike what J Scott does you would not be selling to first time home buyers as your target.You would have to overcome many things such as what J Scott mentioned in finishes and also the fact that the buyer pool is much smaller.You most likely have buyers that need to sell the home where they moved from.If they have to buy yours even if they can afford two mortgages they will want a lower price purchasing to make 2 payments work until their house sells.So I would have extra deep margins so you could fix up and then list fast at a great price to attract and all cash buyer moving to the area.If normal days on market for 500k is 5 months then back down to where you could unload in 1 to 2 months to get a price that will work.

Further, there are solid deals in foreclosures that need a substantial amount of work since the pool of buyers shrinks substantially.

Looking on a macro basis, I think the $/sq.ft is going to be skewed because the large pool of people building green homes, are building more luxury type homes.

In addition, there was a pool, with the water supply coming from one building.

Attending a pool supplies conference in CA.