Dave,
In the USA such a scenario would be rare. There are almost no cases where only one of a married couple works. In the vast majority of cases, the exceptions being the very, very wealthy and the very, very poor who live in slums with a single female head of household, both will be working. In such a case for younger couples, there are few who can save enough for a down payment on a home so generally either rent an apartment or rent a house. For older more established families (
my daughter, her husband and two young teenage children, for example) they generally scrape enough together to buy a home which is worth somewhere around $200K, $350K. They have to really tighten the purse strings to keep a car or two, make house payments and try to put some away for college educations for the kids. The neighborhood I'm presently living it fits that scenario well. Homes are valued at around $215K to $300K and are on average 1500 to 2400 square feet in size and on slightly larger plots of land than typical in the UK. I'm in walking distance (
a quarter mile) from an elementary school and about a mile from the center of a town of about 4800 people. I can throw a rock on 1,000 acres of farm land literally. I have a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains out my front window. Our average income is considerably less than £70k, more like half that amount but everything is less expensive so it all works out. I think the primary difference here and in the UK is that there are far more "do it yourself" people here. We don't generally hire people to do many tasks which people in the UK would not normally do themselves. Here, if a tree needs cutting down or a stump removed or a house painted, many do it themselves so spend less in terms of costs of living.
I once suggested to members of a UK photography club that they purchase a large screen Television to carry to their club meetings for purposes of showing their audio visual shows. I was highly surprised when they immediately asked "how the blimey hell are we supposed to get it to and from?" I replied just have one of the club members with a pickup truck or an SUV tote it back and forth. They laughed at me and informed me that no members of their club had such vehicles. When I told them that virtually everyone who lives where I do has a Pickup truck they literally called me a liar. I actually drove down the highway and took videos to show them and they still had trouble believing it! This was an eye opening experience for both them and for me! Because there are so many people who haul hay, tools, etc., where I live, virtually everyone has either a pickup truck or a suburban utility vehicle. Also a typical family here will own a chain saw, power tools, and such. I was totally surprised when I made my first trip to the UK and Europe in general how differently we actually live. When I went to Paris for the first time about 30 years ago I was totally astonished at the prices for apartments! We had French friends who had a tiny apartment in Paris that they let us use which they had paid over $1,000,000 for! Here in the USA one could buy a similar apartment at that time for $30K or less!
It's good now and then I think to share these differences which may explain somewhat why our attitudes about things may be so different...
Best regards,
Lin
What kind of property would your average family of 4 expert to live in around your way? Let's take a middle of the road type family with one adult working in a salaried office job (say an office manager with 3 or 4 staff) and one maybe a primary school teacher? In London terms maybe an annual family income of around £70k before tax, national insurance deductions etc...
Similar - perhaps not quite as nice in that the one I linked is situated on a much larger parcel of land (a half acre) and much further from the nearest neighbor. I would say that the homes are similar in size although I can't be certain about the total square footage on the one you posted. Here's what 2.4 million could buy in Berthoud:
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...187,40.266657,-105.02565_rect/13_zm/?view=map
Best regards,
Lin
Would this $2.4 Million be somewhat comparable (I'm not used to looking at big houses so I barely recognise what I'm looking at!):
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/de...74e109c46a784d44c69fd7997#O0i7VVZ2BCOAWQqV.97
Below is a current average listing in my hometown area. This one is just under $600,000 USD
Best regards,
Lin
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...-104.896431,40.077546,-105.507546_rect/10_zm/
