How low do you go? Where else on the East Coast can you have a house with a brand new kitchen and floors, 3 bedrooms and an office, and a 1 1/2 bay garage, and more, for under $200k? The area isn't horrible, either.
The reason that housing prices are low is because demand is low. Wages, local/regional/state econimic outlook, geography, weather, educational opportunities, availability of inventory, style of housing, and fairy dust all combine to drive prices. I'd wager that not much has changed with respect to any of these factors since you bought the house. What has changed is your expectation. Sorry, a single person's expectation is not a market driver.
Yes not a desirable area. Why? Not sure. Homes look nice nearby, mostly, but not exciting. Not really walking distance to a library, businesses are within a few miles. Better to drive, but could walk it.
I AM thinking of letting it go at a slight loss. Homebuyers credit I got could offset some of this, although I counted on it as money in the bank.
Fortunately an insurance check paid for these renovations...well, about 80% of it. Was hoping to get back my investment...
Wait! You got the credit, and insurance money. Perhaps if you calculated what you actually have into the property, you'd discover a better outcome than you're complaining about. You seem butt-hurt that the straw you spun didn't turn to gold. Sounds just like the entitlement you accuse milennials of.
I bought my first house in a second-tier area, because that's what I could afford. I put a lot of sweat equity into it. It was also a rental. I received no extra tax breaks, and no insurance windfall. When I sold it eight years later, I barely broke even.
But I learned a ton and that education proved priceless. I am FIRE now because of excellent real estate gains on subsequent properties in much more expensive markets. I only had the confidence to enter them because of what I learned on that first house.
You can learn from this experience and profit from that knowledge, but what you cannot do on this forum is act entitled, blame others, and generally exhibit troll-ish tendencies on multiple threads. Those kind of shenanigans are not rewarded here in mustache land. Without a substantial change of attitude on your part, you simply won't last here. Now, is that an accurate barometer of how well you're going to succeed in
life your quest for FIRE? Can't say for sure, but I wouldn't bet against it.
[Dicey tips hat to
@waltworks as she exits the thread.]