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250K buys a shack in socal

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Originally posted by: Vic
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
If interest rates go up, which they surely will, and property values fall it won't affect me in any appreciable way. My mortgage is less than 25% of the present valuation of my property. I have lived here for 22 years and intend to live here at least another 12 years.

When property values are high and you sell you have to buy at the inflated price. Same is true for when property values are in a slump.

The only way to really make ouot big time is to sell when values are high and then move to another part of the country that is suffering a depression/recession. Of course you are going to beliving in a community with less than desired services.

That is why I have no plans on ever moving. Why should I? I would lose proximity to my family and friends in a community that I know and love in trade for living amongst strangers in a locale that is below my standards.

Eh, just musing.
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If you never plan on selling, your home value is irrelevant except for refinance purposes.
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I agree, but pulling equity out of the home you plan on retiring in only raises the mortgage payment which, in turn, lowers the amount of money you have to buy toys, travel or otherwise enjoy yourself when you have stepped out of the humdrum workaday life.

 
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Originally posted by: Raincity
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
If interest rates go up, which they surely will, and property values fall it won't affect me in any appreciable way. My mortgage is less than 25% of the present valuation of my property. I have lived here for 22 years and intend to live here at least another 12 years.

When property values are high and you sell you have to buy at the inflated price. Same is true for when property values are in a slump.

The only way to really make ouot big time is to sell when values are high and then move to another part of the country that is suffering a depression/recession. Of course you are going to beliving in a community with less than desired services.

That is why I have no plans on ever moving. Why should I? I would lose proximity to my family and friends in a community that I know and love in trade for living amongst strangers in a locale that is below my standards.

Eh, just musing.
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It's the socal folks relocating to Vegas after selling that brought up our property values to where they are now.
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20 to 30 years ago it was the CA folks selling out and moving to OR and WA that drove up the property values there. Californians are not readily welcomed in either of those states these days for the "damage" they did.
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This is true.
 
Originally posted by: KLin
here's a step up in San Jose
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Thats a little worst than the house my friend bought in San Jose.
Its an OK house, absolutely no yard at all but the worst part is that its in the most ghetto neighborhood.
I would literally be AFRAID to walk alone at night there. You can tell its ghtetto when the local stores, etc.. have bars on the windows.
I just don't get what they were thinking when they spent $620K on that house. I still don't get it.
 
I just know that I would never pay that much for a house. Yes, I know the weather is great, lots of culture, lots to do, etc. However, you can find the same thing in any state. You don't have to live in a Suburban hellhole just because you don't live on either coast. I'm very happy in my current neighborhood, although I wish there were more commercial things closer, but I really can't complain considering I used to live in a densely populated part of Atlanta, and it took 20 minutes to go a mile from my apartment. 20 minutes here takes me to Downtown, my University, any commercial restaurant or shop, or pretty much any entertainment venue. Heck, I didn't even want to pay over 150k for a home, but I guess I did in the end.

I have no problem with someone buying that expensive of a home, but I just can't understand it.

Especially when you consider this list: My Area has the 6th strongest Economy in the nation right now.

I feel very good about my investment and the area I live in.
 
Originally posted by: Mill
I just know that I would never pay that much for a house. Yes, I know the weather is great, lots of culture, lots to do, etc. However, you can find the same thing in any state. You don't have to live in a Suburban hellhole just because you don't live on either coast. I'm very happy in my current neighborhood, although I wish there were more commercial things closer, but I really can't complain considering I used to live in a densely populated part of Atlanta, and it took 20 minutes to go a mile from my apartment. 20 minutes here takes me to Downtown, my University, any commercial restaurant or shop, or pretty much any entertainment venue. Heck, I didn't even want to pay over 150k for a home, but I guess I did in the end.

I have no problem with someone buying that expensive of a home, but I just can't understand it.

Especially when you consider this list: My Area has the 6th strongest Economy in the nation right now.

I feel very good about my investment and the area I live in.
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For me it's hard to find a job that pays what I get now since I'm just a year out of college anywhere else except big cities. I've thought about moving somewhere cheaper but jobs are harder to come by.
 
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
20 to 30 years ago it was the CA folks selling out and moving to OR and WA that drove up the property values there. Californians are not readily welcomed in either of those states these days for the "damage" they did.
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Plenty of Californians and others are still moving to Oregon. Especially in the past few years in Southern Oregon. But hey, I'm not complaining. I paid 145k for my house 2 years ago and it's worth 225-250 now.
 
Originally posted by: notfred
Originally posted by: Mill
I have no problem with someone buying that expensive of a home, but I just can't understand it.
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Come visit for a week, my parents have 2 spare rooms 😉
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One day I will get over to Cali. I promise. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: quakefiend420
thats one thing i can say about living in the sticks(oklahoma)

250K would buy a very nice home here...

hell, a house like the one pictured above would go for 6-7 grand here...
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Yes, but you still have to wake up every morning and remember that you live in Oklahoma.

Seriously though, just wow. Why the hell anyone would want to live there is beyond me.
 
This is why I like living here 😀

Yep If I could afford it I would love to live in CA but it's too costly for me. My dad's friend bought a house back in the early 90s for roughly $200K. I think it's worth an easy $800K right now. It seems to be a good time to sell a house but not to buy one in CA right now.
 
The reason why that house is 250K is for the fact that you can build something over it or completely remodel... the old cliche, "location, location, location" applies here.
 
Originally posted by: OS
The other thing is if rates go up, but values fall, won't monthly payments be about the same?
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Assuming that you don't have a fixed rate loan, your monthly payment will actually go up. This is because 1) you pay X dollars per month on the loan you took out 2) the amount of interest per month goes up.

All the while, you're stuck with a home that is valued less than you bought it for (assuming you just bought it).
 
That house is a piece of crap, but I'm surprised that so many people here equate bigger houses with better living. I dunno about you guys, but for $200k I'd rather have a small urban red brick & ivied house than a bland suburban architectural travesty. I'll be laughing all the way to the shopping, recreation, and restaurants on foot. Meanwhile, you all will be going through mid life crises and all that because you put up with decades married to a soccer mom, dealing with your suburban gangster kids, and spending 1.3 hours a day in traffic.
 
When we lived on Long Island, we would frequently hear about real estate crashes. Property prices there always go up a lot and them plummet. Some people really get screwed if they buy when the property is costly.

In Ohio, there are few places with exorbitant real estate values. The real estate prices aren't volatile; instead there is steady growth from year to year, so real estate is low risk. For $250,000 you can buy a very nice house in one of the best suburbs of any city, with easy access to expressways, close to zero crime, well developed recreation and retail, and excellent public schools.
 
The Californians have invaded Reno NV to as the property values have jumped so high you are now on a waiting list to get in, they pay cash and bank a ton of $$$. The land is being gobbled up so fast by housing that its now a lottery system to get one.
 
Originally posted by: Staples
San Antonio is great. $250k would get you something really nice.
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Tell me about it. My parents bought a NICE 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house on 1.5 acres of land for 130k recently.
 
Originally posted by: tfinch2
Originally posted by: Staples
San Antonio is great. $250k would get you something really nice.
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Tell me about it. My parents bought a NICE 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house on 1.5 acres of land for 130k recently.
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So prices for Real Estate is cheap in Dumbfukistan?

Funny how the cost of housing has sky rocketed in the SF Bay Area while the quality of life has gone down there. 20 years ago it was probably the best place to live in the Continental US. Now it's over crowded and over priced.
 
250K for a 1 bedroom house in Torrance . . . . that's pretty pricey neighborhood in crowded LA.

OTOH, you can still get a decent house like mine for ~$250k - 3 bedroom/2 bath/2 car garage w/ 3 concrete and covered patios and fruit trees on 2-1/2 acres horse property - in the SoCali Hi-Desert, 20 miles from Palm Springs (where the houses average over $400k) - IF you can find one.

Not bad, i 10x my original investment in 20 years. 🙂
(and my 30 year fixed mortgage is $135 a month) 😛
:roll:
 
Originally posted by: tfinch2
Originally posted by: Staples
San Antonio is great. $250k would get you something really nice.
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Tell me about it. My parents bought a NICE 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house on 1.5 acres of land for 130k recently.
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5 BR 3.5 bath, 4 floors ~200K
 
IN-FVCKING-SANE.

$250k in Birmingham area gets you a lovel brand new 4 bedroom house with a yard, etc.

There are expensive areas in Bham, but those one's in notfred's link - like $2,000,000? Chrikey. $2 million will buy you a very large gorgeous house in the best part of town here.

Anyway, I, like Mill, can't understand this either. What are these people doing for jobs? Why don't they move? I've been looking at new england prices, and those CA prices totally put the NE ones to shame.

BTW you don't need to live in a rich part of CA for character. Admittedly birmingham has all but none, but there are areas in north america with character that don't require a won lottery to buy a home.
 
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