California screws everyone with ridiculous housing and insane taxes (San Diego: high school, property taxes)

[NewbieHere]

Gray Davis is the jerk who brought down California.

[DawnW]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

I would agree with all your points except that I think the commie talk is mostly in jest. I am surprised you didn't catch that and instead devoted three points to it. On your fourth point, it is a bit more complicated than just supply/demand. The housing issues stem from not just low supply and high demand, but also from issues of restricted supply via third parties that curb new development to increase the supply of housing. That is just one issue that makes already strained matters worse. People will argue for QOL and that it's their right to demand whatnot but the point is that it does add to issues. There is also the matter of wealthy foreign nationals flooding the market with cash, many come from China and are looking to transfer their worthless paper money into lucrative assets. They price out the locals. Red tape from the government both state and city governments put demands on developers and then in turn those costs are transferred to the tenants.

I mean there are a host of issues. For what it's worth I don't think it's that bad, at least not in SoCal and most of the worst problems seem to be along the coast. Further inland you go, and the issues seem to melt away more. One thing I do agree on is that CA and coastal CA should be expensive. It shouldn't be as cheap or a bargain as the states listed in the OP. The point is how much is too much especially with all the added burdens driving prices even higher. I am for the market doing it's job too but many people in CA aren't and they want to curb development, curb growth, to maintain QOL. That's their right but then don't get riffed when someone complains about it and sees the scheme. When it tilts over to one side a bit much and there isn't a balance between growth and maintaining QOL like what is happening in certain parts of coastal CA, then it tends to lead to what the state is dealing with now.

I think I should just give up with these long posts because adding nuance to these discussions with Californians is practically useless. I am always thrown in with the camp that thinks prices in CA should be like NV or that if don't like the over extending NIMBYism then I should get out. I don't get why people just won't accept any answer other than "CA is fine, there is nothing wrong with it, if you can't afford the exuberant prices then there's something wrong with you", all the while attending a planning committee to curb some new much needed housing complex.

Well, I don't really joke around with stuff like that. It isn't funny. People who live in actual communist countries would give anything to even live in "commie" California.

I grew up overseas, not in a communist country, but in one that was fraught with political strife, fewer freedoms, etc....and so it just irks me when people equate women's rights to the Taliban or something they don't like about the US to Communism.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by BizrulesSD

I have thought many times about moving with the primary reason being the cost of housing and taxes. The reason I haven't moved is that my extended family all live around here. Having the family support is something that is hard to replace....

Isn't that the main reason people chose to live ANYWHERE? Family, friends, jobs. That about covers it!

[TheGoodUsernamesWereTaken]

Originally Posted by NextStage

And yet you've wondered why you have a hard time meeting a quality woman to date??

See, this is what I mean. You make the mistake of applying my threads (made more for amusement than anything) and playful demeanor with who I might actually be in person.


It's amusing, but it's silly, about as silly as expecting an actor to always be "in-character". New flash, this is an online discussion forum, where I can be who I want to be and act how I want to act with anonymity, assuming I follow the TOS.


So yea, trying to find some correlation between my dating life in real life, and my trollish online rants on a forum, is, well, pointless. I mean, my threads and posts aren't even consistent to even expect validity. I come to forums to have fun more than anything. I get involved in some topics with genuine interest and expectation, all my actual relocation questions were real, but after that I just decided to stick around and grief people on both sides of the fence, because heck, why not? I can take it and dish it out, it's all in good fun.

[TheGoodUsernamesWereTaken]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Isn't that the main reason people chose to live ANYWHERE? Family, friends, jobs. That about covers it!

Jobs maybe. Family and friends? I guess for some. What advantage do you have by being close to family? Especially in the information age? I couldn't wait to leave my home growing up and have never felt the need to be "close" to family. Friends I get to a point, if they are lifelong friends, but most people call acquintances friends either because they are lazy or their language isn't extensive enough, but true friends are very hard to come by, at the same time, one of my best friends lives in Atlanta, I don't know if I should justify moving to Atlanta just to be close to one of my best friends. Acquintances you can make anywhere.

Jobs, then cost of living is how I would think prioritization should be across the board, but it isn't, or California would be much more empty.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by TheGoodUsernamesWereTaken

Jobs maybe. Family and friends? I guess for some. What advantage do you have by being close to family? Especially in the information age? I couldn't wait to leave my home growing up and have never felt the need to be "close" to family. Friends I get to a point, if they are lifelong friends, but most people call acquintances friends either because they are lazy or their language isn't extensive enough, but true friends are very hard to come by, at the same time, one of my best friends lives in Atlanta, I don't know if I should justify moving to Atlanta just to be close to one of my best friends. Acquintances you can make anywhere.

Jobs, then cost of living is how I would think prioritization should be across the board, but it isn't, or California would be much more empty.

No way. Family is a big thing in most people's lives and they can't just up and leave them for financial gain, unless its dire. Family over COL is the main issue I'm considering moving back to Texas

[TheGoodUsernamesWereTaken]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

No way. Family is a big thing in most people's lives and they can't just up and leave them for financial gain, unless its dire. Family over COL is the main issue I'm considering moving back to Texas

Not for everyone, you may happen to be really close with your family, I am not.

My father wasn't around during childhood, and my mother abandoned me at an early age, and beyond that, most of my family isn't that close, certainly not visit-every-week close, and I have no children, which would be the only reason I could see for being close to family members, and that is just a half selfish reason to have someone watch my kids to not pay a sleazy babysitter,lol.

I am also hispanic so I get the cultural family thing, it's a big deal for latin families in general, but still it varies family to family. I know plenty of people who couldn't wait to get out of the house and like to keep family members at a distance for the most part, then I know others who couldn't bear to not be around aunts, uncles, grandparents through their daily pace of life.

Personally I find not being bound to family and friends like that very liberating, I have lived in many countries and states, and I would have never had those experiences if I needed to have family and friends with me, and I'll never trade my life experiences for anything. I can pretty much pick up and leave to live anywhere if I really want to, and that's very liberating.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

No way. Family is a big thing in most people's lives and they can't just up and leave them for financial gain, unless its dire. Family over COL is the main issue I'm considering moving back to Texas

Absolutely. My husband's parents live close to us in OC. When they are gone, the ONLY places I would consider moving to are where my other family members (siblings) live. Otherwise, there is no point and we might as well stay here. We are not going to move to Tennessee where we know nobody, just because it's cheap.

[marcopolo666]

Originally Posted by Kevdawgg

Yet why do people continue to live there, unknownst they're getting ripped off and could get better deals in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, etc...?

My family was smart enough to escape, even though the state being a disaster decades ago. (This was during the Gray Davis era).

You are absolutely right! People *should* move away - the whole state is a rip-off!

[victorhernandez]

The feeling I get from reading the responses to this thread is just a bunch of people from conservative states who would die to be able to afford living in California and the fact that they can't makes them desperate to find reasons to hate on the richest, most successful state in America.

Yes California is an expensive place for a reason, you get what you pay for, and yes it's for the most part a very liberal place and that isn't changing any soon judging from the last elections patterns, it's not your whining that's going to change that. Californians tend to live in California because they like the fact that it's a liberal and progressive place, has that ever occurred to your guys?

Just get over it, if you want cheap and conservative I suggest Alabama or Arkansas