A million dollars doesn't buy what it used to. Here are the states and communities where you'll find the most $1 million homes (and where $1 million might just buy a 'fixer.')
By Liz Pulliam Weston
A million-dollar home, once upon a time, connoted luxury, spaciousness, grandeur.
In many areas of the country, that's still true. In a growing number of others, though, a million bucks won't buy you anything like a mansion. For example, right now $1 million might get you: - A 931-square-foot cottage (two bedrooms, one bath) in Laguna Beach, Calif.
- A 1,400-square-foot condo in Miami Beach.
- A modest ranch house in Silicon Valley's Cupertino.
- A studio apartment in New York City.
Real estate markets may be cooling around the country, but they were hot enough last year to send million-dollar home sales through the roof. The number of homes sold for $1 million or more quadrupled between 2000 and 2005, according to DataQuick Information Systems, to 109,113. (Of 8 million sales overall last year, the median sales price was about $213,000.).
Fifteen states accounted for 90% of those million-dollar sales, DataQuick found, and one -- California -- posted nearly half. (Florida came in second with 13%, while New York accounted for 6% of the whole.)
| Sales of homes worth $1 million or more, by state | | State | 2000 | 2005 | Change | | California | 11,365 | 48,666 | 328% | | Florida | 2,703 | 14,567 | 439% | | New York | 1,074 | 6,784 | 532% | | Maryland | 604 | 3,323 | 450% | | Massachusetts | 1,408 | 3,292 | 134% | | Arizona | 640 | 3,175 | 396% | | Illinois | 931 | 3,082 | 231% | | Virginia | n/a | 2,799 | n/a | | Washington | 712 | 2,404 | 238% | | Connecticut | 1,187 | 2,401 | 102% | | Nevada | 294 | 1,898 | 546% | | New Jersey | 406 | 1,796 | 342% | | Colorado | 341 | 1,682 | 393% | | Hawaii | 320 | 1,537 | 380% | | Pennsylvania | 281 | 923 | 228% | | U.S. | 26,800 | 109,113 | 307% |
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Source: DataQuick
In fact, million-dollar homes are now the norm in many California communities. The median home sale price in Laguna Beach, Calif., and Santa Barbara, Calif., among many others, is now north of $1 million, while virtually all the houses sold in Ross, Calif. (Marin County), and Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (San Diego County), last year sold for a million or more, DataQuick said.
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What does your $60K a year get you?
What does it take to afford a house in this stratosphere? Well, assuming you can scrape up a 20% down payment and opt for a 30-year fixed mortgage at 6.5%, the monthly mortgage on a $1 million home would be around $5,000 a month. So even without considering all the other carrying costs -- property taxes, insurance, maintenance, repairs -- you're looking at an outlay of $60,000 a year, or about a third more than the median income in the U.S.
And what does your money get you, on average? Well, it's not always a cracker box, but it may not exactly sprawl, either: - The median million-dollar home in California last year, DataQuick found, boasted four bedrooms and three baths in a little less than 2,500 square feet.
- In La Jolla and Manhattan Beach -- two Southern California cities where million-dollar home sales were among the most brisk -- the median million-dollar house was actually a condo with three bedrooms and two baths.
- Meanwhile, in Paradise Valley, Ariz., or Potomac, Md., the same seven figures bought a median home with four bedrooms and four baths in nearly 3,500 square feet.
| Communities with the most million-dollar home sales | | ZIP Code | Place Name | 2000 | 2005 | Change | | 92037 | La Jolla, Calif. | 233 | 478 | 105% | | 85253 | Paradise Valley, Ariz. | 187 | 476 | 155% | | 90266 | Manhattan Beach, Calif. | 181 | 444 | 145% | | 34145 | Marco Island, Fla. | 41 | 432 | 954% | | 85255 | Scottsdale, Ariz. | 65 | 431 | 563% | | 85262 | Scottsdale, Ariz. | 111 | 411 | 270% | | 94010 | Hillsborough, Calif. | 298 | 396 | 33% | | 34108 | Naples, Fla. | 86 | 394 | 358% | | 92130 | Del Mar, Calif. | 116 | 379 | 227% | | 92677 | Laguna Niguel, Calif. | 78 | 378 | 385% | | 95070 | Saratoga, Calif. | 347 | 372 | 7% | | 92660 | Newport Beach, Calif. | 212 | 371 | 75% | | 10022 | New York, N.Y. | n/a | 368 | n/a | | 34102 | Naples, Fla. | 95 | 367 | 286% | | 92648 | Huntington Beach, Calif. | 66 | 360 | 445% | | 92253 | La Quinta, Calif. | 57 | 354 | 521% | | 95014 | Cupertino, Calif. | 254 | 347 | 37% | | 10013 | New York, N.Y. | n/a | 347 | n/a | | 92657 | Newport Beach, Calif. | 158 | 346 | 119% | | 20854 | Potomac, Md. | 107 | 341 | 219% | | 92651 | Laguna Beach, Calif. | 138 | 337 | 144% | | 91302 | Calabasas, Calif. | 98 | 328 | 235% | | 90274 | Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. | 190 | 315 | 66% | | 10021 | New York, N.Y. | 91 | 314 | 245% | | 92679 | Trabuco Canyon/Coto de Caza, Calif. | 107 | 308 | 188% |
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Source: DataQuick
'A bit of a fixer-upper'
Even in areas where you get more for your money, homebuyers often have to confront the shock of what $1 million actually buys compared to their ideal of a million-dollar home.
Dan and Amy Plakans were pretty disappointed by most of what sells for $1 million in and around their city of Beverly, Mass.
"There are a lot of cookie-cutter McMansions that didn't have big rooms or high ceilings," Amy Plakans said. "They felt like just regular, three- or four-bedroom houses."
The Plakans -- he's an executive at a payroll company, she's a stay-at-home mom to their infant son -- finally found a somewhat older home on a large lot with five bedrooms in about 4,000 square feet.
"It's has some grand features, like a marble foyer and big rooms with high ceilings," Amy Plakans said. The couple paid just under $1 million for the 20-year-old home.
"It's a little bit dated," Plakans said.
Yup, at $1 million, it's "a bit of a fixer-upper."
Liz Pulliam Weston's column appears every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions in the Your Money message board.
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