Solid financial foundation
Houston suburb with 'prime location' ranks among most affordable in U.S.
Bummed out about rising home prices in Houston? Then you might want to check out the Harris County suburb of Galena Park. Realtor.com just named it among the 11 most affordable suburbs in the country’s 11 largest metro areas.
"Galena Park's draw is its prime location," Realtor.com says. "It's just 25 minutes from downtown Houston and a short drive from all of those oil business gigs along the Gulf of Mexico."
Realtor.com pegs the median home price in Galena Park at $119,300. By comparison, the median home price across Greater Houston stood at $235,000 at the end of 2018, according to Texas Realtors.
"Known for its good school system and family-friendly community, Galena Park offers lots of 1,000- to 2,000-square-foot ranches built in the '40s and '50s," Realtor.com says. "That's a lot smaller than many of the new homes going up around Houston. But with price tags under $130,000, it's hard to complain."
To find the top affordable suburbs, Realtor.com started by looking at suburban ZIP codes in the 11 largest metro areas. Next, it filtered out places with violent crime rates above 50 on an index of 100 from Sperling’s Best Places. Realtor.com also eliminated places where rush-hour commutes to the city centers surpassed one hour. Finally, the website ranked the remaining ZIP codes by median list prices between April 2018 and March 2019.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Realtor.com gave the suburban nod to Fort Worth neighbor Everman, where the median home price is listed as $183,500. By contrast, the median price in the Metroplex was $265,000 at the end of 2018, according to Texas Realtors.
"Everman feels a lot more like a small town than a traditional suburb in sprawling subdivisions," Realtor.com says. "With just over 6,300 residents, it’s the type of place where you might run into a couple of people you know while filling your gas tank or picking up groceries. That's a big draw for those exhausted by the flood of new residents moving into booming Dallas, about 40 minutes northeast."
Buyers in Everman “can get a three-bedroom brick home on a cul-de-sac here for just $150,000,” the report adds. “There are a few destination-stop restaurants, but for entertainment options most folks decamp to nearby Fort Worth, under 20 minutes away, or to Dallas.”