What $300K Buys You Now

With home prices up and inventory down, the housing recovery in many areas is now in full swing.

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With home prices up and inventory down, the housing recovery in many areas is now in full swing. Would-be buyers must take special steps to make their bids stand out in this seller's market. Kiplinger expects sales of existing homes to increase by 7.5% this year, reaching the five million mark for the first time in five years. The median time on the market has declined 45% over the last year.

While the national median home price is $177,500, it’s considerably higher in some areas that are gaining ground. In Seattle, for example, it’s $290,000; in the San Francisco/Oakland metro area, it's $470,000.

We've rounded up seven homes across the country to provide a snapshot of what’s on the market (as of May 29, 2013) for about $300,000 -- from a small studio apartment in New York City to a spacious four-bedroom home in Omaha. Take a look.

Andrea Browne Taylor
Contributing Editor

Browne Taylor joined Kiplinger in 2011 and was a channel editor for Kiplinger.com covering living and family finance topics. She previously worked at the Washington Post as a Web producer in the Style section and prior to that covered the Jobs, Cars and Real Estate sections. She earned a BA in journalism from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is Director of Member Services, at the National Association of Home Builders.