Home Prices in LA

[Manu]

I've begun the search for a more permanent residence and am mostly discouraged. I make a very nice living but I wasn't really prepared for the house prices in 'desireable' LA locations.

It is very easy to be discouraged at this point.

Blah.

[Lulu]

Years ago I was looking at a promotion in San Diego. I googled houses in the $200-250K range. The only thing was a single wide trailer - I almost cried. Needless to say I told them "not interested".

[Šñøü†ê®]

Indeed, there are some deals in Florida though.

[Manu]

Years ago I was looking at a promotion in San Diego. I googled houses in the $200-250K range. The only thing was a single wide trailer - I almost cried. Needless to say I told them "not interested".

Oh, if I could find something for 300-350 I'd be excited, let alone 200-250!

[Lulu]

It's one of the reasons I moved to Texas. You can get a great home for under $250K. I'm on a golf course, 2000 sq ft. The good news is you are buying now. I've got friends in No Cal who bought and it was appraised at $900,000.... it's worth about $600K now.

[Manu]

Lulu, a lot of people really lost their shirts here. I definitely held off for a while and feel prices/rates are low enough to make it worth my while. If I'm willing to live in 'less desireable' areas, 400-450 can get me something, 550-600 is better something, and in any place I actually want to live is 650+ (and it just keeps going).

[Lulu]

My parents are in Northern California and they said there are entire new subdivisions that are completely empty due to foreclosures. I think in the Vallejo area. People who bought right before the crash... I don't how you ever recoup that kind of loss. My friends unfortunately got one of those stupid loans too where the payment ballooned to $4000/month or something. They both make a lot of money but they are terrible with finances.

[Manu]

If you have a fixed payment you can try to weather the crash. The real issue were these ARM loans and people who thought they had a 2500-3000/mo payment and then saw it jump to 3500-4000, like you said. If your payment is fixed as long as you plan on living there long term, you can weather a huge price change (assuming you don't lose your job).

But, it's also why you need to have significant cash reserves and a stable income.

[Farnsworth,Luther P.]

Those prices are utterly ridiculous. An engineer I worked with in Silly Con Valley was turned for a loan on a trailer house because he was single and only had one income, and he had what would be a very, very good income almost anywhere else in the U.S., outside of Manhattan. I saw right off that I would never ever move out there permanently. 4 engineers from India working at AT&T shared a one room apartment above me, and couldn't wait for their contract to be up and they could go back to India. They were impressed by what they thought was a positively huge salary by Indian standards, and felt like total suckers when they got here and saw the rent and food prices in Santa Clara, not even in the high rent area. Hell, even the grocery prices here now are half of what they were in NorCal in frigging 1997.

And the morons are whining about their 'skilled labor shortage', and why nobody will move out there. Dumbasses.

[86Dùde]

You people don't need a 300K house or any of that stupid shit. You need to start thinking smaller. You'll find that once you do it is very liberating. Most people just try to keep up with their stupid coworkers.

[optimus]

You people don't need a 300K house or any of that stupid shit. You need to start thinking smaller. You'll find that once you do it is very liberating. Most people just try to keep up with their stupid coworkers.

A 300k house in Los Angeles is a cardboard box.

And Manu - yes, it's sickening here. I'm priced out for a while, unless I hit the lotto or something. There are studio condos on my street going for 300k.

[86Dùde]

How bout a tumbleweed home? I love the idea of mobile, ergonomic, nomad living.

[86Dùde]

A 300k house in Los Angeles is a cardboard box.

And Manu - yes, it's sickening here. I'm priced out for a while, unless I hit the lotto or something. There are studio condos on my street going for 300k.

300K would by you a 3000 square ft 2 story house, and a metal front gate here. Hell, half of them are vacant.

[Šñøü†ê®]

It is like oil prices! There would be NO VACANCIES if there was a free, open market even considering the scumbag real estate investors artificially driving prices up.

[optimus]

It is like oil prices! There would be NO VACANCIES if there was a free, open market even considering the scumbag real estate investors artificially driving prices up.

They aren't the ones driving prices up in LA. Anytime anyone ever makes any real money, from any part of the world, they move here. Boatloads of peeps want to live in LA. They're the ones that keep them inflated.

[Šñøü†ê®]

No doubt nice middle class places like Redondo and Manhattan Beach have limited options! I could not imagine living more than 15 minutes from the ocean in LA! But also could not imagine living in a apartment/condo! And to find a house, with any degree of privacy, you prolly have to head up to Malibu and be ready to spend 2+ mil . Amiright?

[queenlillian1962]

Friend of mine lives in so Cal she has a house the paid about 300K for and she says it's a shack. She is thinking of packing up and moving back here. At least she would get a decent house for that money if she stays Away from the Ct gold coast. Of course she won't get the nice weather but you can't have everything when you are not a millionaire.

[Šñøü†ê®]

I just Zillowed some real estate in Redondo Beach. Crazy! First of all, the houses are all jammed together! What is the point of having a house if the neighbors can hear all the moaning and stuff? Might as well live in someone's condo like Ganga. I guess you could have it professional sound-proofed but what about voyeurs peeking in the windows?

[302Riz]

I got a good deal on a house almost 2 years ago in a mixed/diverse neighborhood. You cross over an inlet 2 blocks over and the prices of the house literally double because the area is all white and a different school district.

I paid less than $300k for my house, but it needs a lot of elbow grease. We're doing the house over 1 room at a time when we h ave the cash. No way in hell am I taking out an equity loan to fix up anything. We already fixed up the kitchen.

The mortgage is manageable and I put an extra $200 a month towards the principle. I made sure that when we bought a house that we weren't going to struggle to make the payments every month.

[86Dùde]

300K for a house? I can't imagine.