Architectural Designs

How much would a house like this cost in Iowa next summer?

My brother and i will both be done with college this spring, starting jobs where we would both make $15 per hour. I have a $300 car payment for another 2 years, and he will need a car within a year, of a similar payment. We want to get a small house here in Iowa, area code 50613, that has a large workspace such as either a very large garage, or a seperate workshop, perhaps made from a pole barn. Neither of us plan on raising families there, so a 2-bedroom house with 1 bath and a small kitchen, just a bachelor pad, would fit quite well. We'd like to be near town, but rural enough to not have to worry too much about neighbors, since we've grown up in the country and are used to being able to shoot firearms, and work on our cars without worrying about leaving a tool laying out, for a passing kid to steal if we were in town. Darn tool-stealing kids. Honestly, i think we would both live in a large RV if the price was right, and if we could find an empty lot for dirt cheap to build a simple workshop on. We have welding equipment, an air compressor, stuff that just doesn't fit into a small house's garage in the middle of town. Our parents are selling the acreage to move into a condo in town, and my brother and i cannot afford the huge house or property it's on, when the large workshop and rural setting are all we really need. I thought about maybe just living in an apartment in town, and renting somebody's unused barn outside of town, for my brother to rebuild a muscle car, and myself to build a dune buggy. Okay so this is a ton of extra info... Any advice or thoughts on how much we could get a small rural house for?

Public Comments

1. Depends on how far out of town you are willing to live. Cedar Falls-Waterloo is a college town, with an industrial base. Farther East and South, the more expensive. You get 75-100 West Wright/Hamilton/Franklin county areas, you can buy what you are looking for within $50-60,000 range. 30 year loan, you're talking $600-700 month including property tax and insurance. Should be able to rent around $400-500 month