If you're considering a move to Waco, you'll want to know what type of real estate you can expect to find there, current pricing trends and a little bit of context as to how the city stacks up against others you may be considering, like Etobicoke. MLS systems are tremendous for comparisons, but who has time to wade through thousands of listings? That's why we've boiled it down for you into this overview of Waco real estate.

Price is the largest factor influencing most people's decisions, so let's get to that first. As you would expect, the mortgage crisis and the recession have adversely affected home values. Of course, the effects are only adverse if you're a seller. If you're a buyer, it's great news. The average listing price is only $155,000 in Waco as of October 2009, which is less than you'd pay to buy a place in an outer ring Toronto suburb, like Acton real estate. Additionally, the median home sale price is just $40,000, which puts a home in Waco within the budget range of almost all Americans.

This gives us an average price per square foot of just $31, which is a decrease of almost 30% since last year. What does this mean for you? It means that you still have a chance to buy before prices come up again. Mississauga homes are already well on their way to recovery, so you'd have to make a snap decision. With Waco, there aren't many indications of recovery yet, so you'll have some extra time to think about things.

That's not to say that the market has bottomed out and the place is a ghost town full of crumbling properties. In fact, there are some huge well maintained houses out there you can pick up at a discount as well as the usual one story Spanish ranch style homes popular in Texas subdivisions, but which you never see represented in the ranks of Etobicoke homes. Though the city's population is around 125,000, Waco doesn't have many condos or town houses to speak of, so most of the properties on the market will be single family detached.

Individual neighborhoods vary widely in quality. For example, among the list of the city's best selling zip codes the prices range from a piddling $55,000 to a respectable $131,000. The North Side and the East Sides of the city have some neighborhoods which are suffering from urban decay. The South Side is the heart of the city, and is experiencing a renaissance period. For those looking for downtown living, downtown Toronto real estate is a better bet, since most of the activity has moved away from Waco's downtown, though efforts are being made to revive it.