When looking for a first home, people take a lot of things into consideration, but where you’re house hunting could play a major role in whether that home search is an easy or difficult one. Well, WalletHub has just come out with their picks for the Best and Worst Cities for First-Time Homebuyers, so if you’re looking, you may want to listen up.
- The site looked at 300 different U.S. cities, judging them on 22 key indicators, in areas of affordability, and quality of life, as well as the real estate market.
- Some of those factors include cost of living, real estate taxes, weather, quality of schools and more.
- With all that in mind, Chesapeake, Virginia tops the list as the best city for first-time buyers, with a score of 65.15, getting its highest marks for quality of life factors, where it lands at four.
- Toledo, Ohio is tops for affordability, while Frisco, Texas, is tops for real estate market and Lincoln, Nebraska, third overall, is tops for quality of life.
Top Ten Best Cities For First-Time Home Buyers
- Chesapeake, VA
- Gilbert, AZ
- Lincoln, NE
- Cape Coral, FL
- Boise, ID
- Hampton, VA
- Peoria, AZ
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Norfolk, VA
- Surprise, AZ
- On the flipside, Berkeley, California is the worst city for first-time homebuyers, earning a score of just 25.56, and landing at bottom for affordability and in the bottom 10 for real estate market and quality of life.
- Overall, California is actually pretty bad for first-time homebuyers, with nine of the ten worst cities being in California.
Ten Worst Cities For First-Time Homebuyers
- Berkeley, CA
- Oakland, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Santa Monica, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- San Mateo, CA
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Glendale, CA
- Burbank, CA
- Boston, MA
Source:Wallet Hub
Photo: Getty