Depending on where you fall on the spectrum, $1 million can sound like extreme money or a small portion of your spending. The housing market reflects a similar idea, with some locations affording people with this budget vast estates and others offering humble abodes.
Whether you want to live in a central metropolitan area or a tiny town, what you will get for $1 million can vary widely. You can buy several types of homes with a $1 million budget.
1. A vast estate
There are plenty of real estate markets where $1 million can buy you a huge house. However, you can expect to find square footage from 3,000 to 4,000 in your budget when you get closer to metropolitan areas.
There are also places where you can find genuinely sprawling mansions for this price. That said, these tend to be out in rural areas, so you will not have access to the conveniences of an urban area. In addition, if you come from one of these areas, the cost of living is much lower, so you might have to save longer for the down payment. However, the amount of space you get might make some of these sacrifices worth it.
2. A mid-sized home
An average-sized million-dollar home is around 4,000 square feet. With this budget in most suburbs or smaller cities, you can expect three or four bedrooms, four bathrooms, three parking spaces and an acre of land.
If you have this budget, consider whether you would rather live in a vast estate in the sticks or something smaller in a big city. If neither floats your boat, you can always find something in the middle in a suburb or smaller city.