South Bend has a remarkable “affordability index,” or relation between median income and median home price. In fact, a mortgage industry newsletter reported South Bend’s median income would qualify a resident for a loan of 297% of the median home price. This places it among the ten most affordable markets in the United States.
Remember though, statistics should always be taken with a grain of salt and, as we previously explained, the recent figures on median home prices in South Bend have been affected by a large number of low price sales.
Not if you take into account the property tax. I just moved here from Phoenix where homeowners pay tax on 10% of the assessed value! My taxes there were 2000.00 on a $200,000 home. Here they are $5121.00 on a 120,000 home…
Thanks for the comment. That is a noteworthy factor when discussing South Bend real estate.
I’m not very familiar with Arizona property taxes, but found the average rate before exemptions and rebates in Maricopa County (location of Phoenix) is about 1.3% of market value of the home.
That is significantly lower than the rates in St. Joseph County, which range from about 2.7 to 5.4 percent. When all the tax districts in Indiana are sorted highest to lowest, St. Joseph County contains 8 of the top 20.
Far more detailed information is available at in.gov/dlgf/ .
One more note on the vagaries of South Bend taxes; they can be high, but they also vary widely. To illustrate this, look at 421 Tonti St. It recently sold for $120,000 and, with the two most common exemptions (homestead and mortgage)has reported taxes of $849/year.
Keeping a close eye on this when purchasing your home can payoff in the long run.
How can I find out the price of recently sold property in South Bend?
The airport has been buying the property cheaply in an area that they have destroyed to the South. The inhabitants, mostly elderly now as no one has been allowed to move in for ten years, don’t seem to be getting a fair price. In one case they tried to take two extra lots with a house for nothing at all. Only a lawsuit made them pay something.
Tony Menyhart