[MrMember]

Expand that to the entire Twin Cities area and prices fall even more. I bought a two bedroom condo in a suburb 20 minutes from downtown Minneapolis for $80k last year. When I was renting a three bedroom two bathroom house house in a nice area of South Minneapolis was $1500 a month. And developer salaries here are pretty good. Not Bay Area levels, obviously, but mid-level developers should be making over $100k in base salary.

[sjg007]

What would the equivalent house have cost you?

[beat]

I live in a nice but not upscale neighborhood in South Minneapolis (Longfellow, just north of Minnehaha Park, a few blocks from the famed Minnehaha Falls from Song of Hiawatha). My block is basically 100 year old bungalows in the 1200-1800sqf range, mostly three bedroom (two main floor plus a finished attic). The house next door to mine and the house next to it have sold in the $325k range in the past year. They're both pretty nice - a couple more sold farther down the block that were a little smaller and not as sweet, for around $300k.

fwiw, one of the new neighbors came from the East Bay area, and they were boggled at being able to get a beautiful 3br in a great neighborhood for that price.