You can find a well-made house in the city of Richmond in a good neighborhood for $200,000. But you'll need to settle for a two-bedroom bungalow.

Or, you can get a spacious Victorian with original heart-pine flooring and three bedrooms and three full baths for the same price. But it probably will be in Petersburg.

Not much in this price range

Good luck trying to find anything for $200,000 or less in popular western Henrico County.

People tend to think Hanover County is more reasonably priced. That, too, is a hot market.

We found a roomy Cape Cod-style house in need of tender loving care for $198,500 in Mechanicsville. We also found a new house in the area for $197,888 - a small, basic rancher.

Never mind rising construction costs. The price for land, especially that close to Richmond, has gone through the roof.

"Land is drying up," said Meredith L. Minter with Long & Foster Realty. Ten acres in eastern Hanover would cost $100,000 plus - if you can find it, he said.

But you get 5 acres

A small ranch house on 5 acres with a four-stall barn and a large workshop is listed for $225,000. But it's farther out, in Charles City County.

"What can you get for $200,000?" said Realtor Baker Ellett with Seven Hills Realty. "A lot less than you could a year ago."

Ellett recently sold a house in one day in the desirable Westover Hills neighborhood in South Richmond. The asking price for this arts-and-crafts-style home was $199,500.

People came to the open house and immediately said it was too small, he said. "It didn't fit with what their brain told them would sell for $200,000."

But that is the reality - and the reason the house was snapped up in one day.

The $200,000 price is the outside threshold for most buyers, Ellett said.

First-time buyers can still find a solid house for less, say for $150,000. But it will be a small house that needs work in a fringe neighborhood, he said.

Escalating prices worry the Richmond Association of Realtors. Teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers and other public-service workers are being priced out of the market, said Jennifer Boykin, spokeswoman for the association.

"People can't live where they work," she said. Developers need to work with communities and build some affordable homes in the pricey developments.

Joan Peaslee, an agent with Prudential Slater James River, said the entry-level price for the historic and charming Bellevue neighborhood in North Richmond is $200,000, up from $150,000 two years ago.

"It's tough to get in for under $200,000," she said.

Two years ago, buyers would get into bidding wars and offer $10,000 or more than the asking price in some areas. It does not happen much any more.

That's not to say the market has slipped. Prices are still rising, just not as sharply.

The market is leveling off but is still healthy and competitive, housing experts say. Historically low mortgage interest rates have kept the market strong.

The average price of a house in the Richmond area through September was $204,398, up nearly 12 percent from $182,593 for the first nine months of last year, according to the Virginia Association of Realtors.

The median price, with half selling for more and half for less, would be lower. However, the median is not calculated for this area.

The area average is low for Goochland County, said Realtor JoAnn Dabney with Homefront Realty. "Short Pump is built up. People come out to Goochland because they want that rural feeling."

A total of 106 properties were listed for sale last week in Goochland. Most were on the market for $300,000 or more. Only 20 were listed for $200,000 or less.

A buyer looking in the $200,000 range would do better in Louisa County, about halfway between Short Pump and Char lottesville, Dabney said.

On the opposite side of Richmond, in eastern Henrico, a buyer can get a new 2,100-square-foot home with a two-car garage for $200,000. But it will be in a high-density zone, said Gene Seargent, an agent with ERA Woody Hogg & Associates.

"If you want a house on an acre in Varina, you're looking at $250,000," he said.

About 60 houses were listed last week below $200,000 in eastern Henrico, south of Interstate 64 and north of the James River. Half were on the market for less than $150,000, but most had less than 1,000 square feet.

"This market has gotten nuts," Seargent said. "There's a minimal supply out here. Period."