The Price Difference Between a Condo on Washington Ave in Portland, ME, and St. Louis, MO is Astounding

I’m not quite sure when it happened but upon reaching adulthood I started to really enjoy watching HGTV. I’m not even a homeowner and certainly couldn’t afford an income property but I love seeing couples tour houses to pick out their dream home. I also enjoy seeing a total dump of a home be transformed into something absolutely stunning.

Then I got curious about local houses. Oh, my neighbor listed their home? Time to go online to tour it. Homes are going for how much in Westbrook? Let me see how on earth this ranch is priced at $400k. I’ll also go to sites like Zillow and Realtor and sort homes priced highest to lowest just to see how the wealthy are living these days.

Portland has been in the middle of constant construction for what feels like forever. None of them I can afford, of course, but again, I’m a curious cat.

There are stunning condos being built on Washington Avenue and they’re available for purchase right now. Want to be on the top floor and catch a view of the ocean? It’s going to cost ya.

I then became curious about housing costs in other parts of the country. Who is and isn’t suffering like we are? I recently wrote a piece discussing the fact that I have come to accept the fact that I, as a millennial living in Maine, will likely never own my own home. That is unless I marry, or start working 80 hours a week.

I ended up setting my Zillow search to St. Louis, Missouri. It’s halfway across the country, and also not one of the big ones that I know would be expensive right off the bat; like Boston, New York City, or Los Angeles. Turns out St. Lous also has a Washington Avenue.