member system photos???

Well, this thread explains how I am able to afford my sound system.

It seems all of you have homes that you could sell and buy mine three or four times over. I have 3100 SF, three bedroom, two bath, two car garage, 36K gallon swimming pool and a big back yard. We live in a wooded neighborhood, 9 minutes from downtown Dallas and about three blocks from our biggest natural lake and bike trail.

Price? We paid $59K when we bought it many years ago. As one poster stated, location, location, location.

We are a very LONG way from that ocean view in CA :^).

Drubin,

RE:

Let's update that and say it's now $259K. What amazes me is, how can you even build a home for that amount I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area, where housing prices are in the stratosphere, but even if I scraped my lot and put up a new 2500 sf home, it would cost in the neighborhood of $600K to build. Are construction costs so much less in other parts of the country?

Yes, at least in Texas. There are areas North of Dallas where you can buy a new home approx. 2100 SF for $110,000.00. They are not made as well as custom homes but at least it's "your own" place.

My home is in close and (yes) gone up a lot. Still, there are homes in my neighborhood that are nice that can be bought for $240,000.00. They need work but solid homes in a nice middle class neighborhood. Mine has had a lot of work but since we bought so long ago, the investment has been outstripped by inflation over time.

There are some very expensive parts of Dallas, the neighborhood West of me about 10-15 minutes is called Highland Park and is where many wealthy people live, including the people that own Frito-Lay. Homes there begin about 1.7 million and go up to any number you can name.

So basically Dallas is a place where everyone can live at any price. I think SF. California and New York City rank among the most expensive places to live other than Hawaii. I have many friends in CA and my wife and I thought about moving there many, many years ago. Can't say I am sorry I stayed here, my heart is in Texas. I am third generation, my wife is from here and of course our son was born here. I have good friends and no regrets, that's all that's important about any town USA :^).