Road Trip: What $500K Buys Out West

• August 15, 2014

by UrbanTurf Staff

UT publisher Will Smith was road tripping last week, hitting Vancouver, Portland and San Francisco. Ever the real estate junkie, he wondered how the markets in those cities compare with that of hometown DC. Here is an example of how far $500K-ish goes in each.

Downtown Two-Bedroom Condo in Vancouver

This two-bed, two-bath condo in Vancouver faces south and overlooks the building’s courtyard. Right around the corner from the restaurants and shops of tourist-friendly Gastown, its two en-suite bathrooms and kitchen are updated, and a small den could serve as an office or a small guest room. A circular balcony provides some outdoor space. The building has plenty of luxury amenities, including an indoor basketball court, and the unit comes with a parking spot.

• Full Listing: 128 W Cordova Street, Vancouver, British Columbia #706 (map)
• Price: Approximately $539,800 (listed at $588,000 CAD)
• HOA Fee: $7,134/year or about $600/month (CAD)
• Bedrooms: Two
• Bathrooms: Two
• Year Built: 2009
• Listing Agent: Paul Boenisch

Two-Bedroom Condo in Portland’s Goose Hollow

For a bit less than Vancouver, you can get a similarly upmarket two-bedroom condo in a recently-constructed building. This two-bedroom, two-bath condo is in the city’s Goose Hollow neighborhood, near downtown Portland and about a ten-minute walk from Powell’s City of Books or hipster-famous Ace Hotel. The 11th floor unit’s floor-to-ceiling windows give a panoramic view of the city’s northwest and southwest hills, as well as Mount St. Helens (only on a clear day, presumably). There’s an updated but minimalist kitchen open to the living space and two updated bathrooms. Two chairs and a small grill squeeze onto a balcony with a view of the neighborhood.

• Full Listing: 1926 West Burnside Street, #1102, Portland, Oregon (map)
• Price: $474,900
• HOA Fee: $530/month
• Bedrooms: Two
• Bathrooms: Two
• Year Built: 2006
• Listing Agent: Christy MacColl, Realty Trust Group, Inc.

One Bedroom in San Francisco’s Nob Hill

Welcome to San Francisco, where your dollar buys notoriously little. $500K won’t get you a fancy two-bedroom in a new downtown building here, but it will fetch you this one-bedroom in the city’s central Nob Hill neighborhood. This small building was built in 1912, and the top-floor unit has plenty of character to show for it, including built-ins, moulding, a separate dining room and interior French doors that let light flow through the space. It’s around the corner from the bars and shops of Polk Street.

• Full Listing: 1550 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA (map)
• Price: $549,000
• HOA Fee: $335/month
• Bedrooms: One
• Bathrooms: One
• Year Built: 1912
• Listing Agent: Susan Schultes, Paragon Real Estate Group

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/road_trip_what_500k_buys_out_west/8876