What the median home price buys in Tampa

Tampa metro area median home price: $138,800.

Within the city limits of Tampa, Fla., $138,000 will buy a three-bedroom, two-bath home that could range in age from postwar to something built in the 1980s or 1990s, says Sally Irwin McFolling, president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors.

A one- or two-bedroom condo of the same vintage is an option at the median price, she says.

In the suburbs, homes and yards get a little bigger. Buyers can get an extra 100 square feet or so in a development or planned community, McFolling says. And lots are typically one-tenth to one-quarter of an acre.

In Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Fla., buyers are likely to find "more condos and very little new development," she says. For $138,000, "you're getting an older house, probably 20 years -- if not more."

The good news for median-price buyers is that they can still get more for the money than they could have a few years ago, she says. And potential owners can find "a livable home" in that $138,000 range, McFolling says. "You have some selection."

*Source: National Association of Realtors, fall 2011.