Bearishgurl: I’m not sure about “cheapest in the country.” I’m looking at houses in good working-class areas of NJ now, and they’re in the mid $100k range for a house that’s old but well-built.
Taxes in good towns are about $400-450/mo is the kicker (can be higher in badly-run towns), but TX isn’t known for cheap property taxes either.
And what about Michigan? Not Detroit area, but Grand Rapids is fairly reasonable and actually doing quite well.