California really isn't that hot (housing, condos, rental)

[GeekPrincess]

For those stating how terrible Iowa is, let's have a look at San Diego

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Business -- County home foreclosures rise 551% in first half of 2007

Well, obviously things are doing well.

[Cactus Sam]

Wow, I see that story the exact opposite way. Guess some people are so desperate to live there, they will risk everything to do so.

[Luke9686]

People here got those stupid ARM loans on homes they couldn't afford to begin with. Then the market fell out from underneath them. Who couldn't see this train wreck comming?

[GeekPrincess]

The entire southern California area is up almost 800% (783 according to the national news) Whereas the entire mid-west has only seen a 2.3% increase.

I'm not sure how that story can be seen the opposite way, since none of the same numbers apply. I guess they do both have to do with houses, but there's where the similarity appears to end.

[3Jake]

I'm a recent transplant from San Diego, and one of the reasons we moved back here is that the housing market is so preposterous in SoCal right now.

I don't know if it happened back here (hope not) but lenders were approving people for WAY more money than they could realistically afford, and telling people that they didn't need to worry about paying it all off, because they could just turn around in 2 years and sell their place for a 20% profit.

Well, obviously that situation can't last, so a lot of people got caught when their 3-year ARM came due and now they're defaulting on their first homes. It's really sad, IMHO. So those people in the story are most likely locals, not people gambling it all on a chance to strike it big on the coast.

Here's my horror story: At the 30th apartments-converted-to-condos complex we looked at, they wanted a $1000 NON-REFUNDABLE check from their own approved lender, which would secure your name-in-the-hat option to pick out your favorite unit. I talked to the rental agent and she told me that the first time she ever saw the inside of her place was when she did her move-in inspection. But the scary part is that people were falling over each other to sign up. We walked.

San Diego can be very wonderful and DOES have a lot to offer if you take advantage of it (beach, desert, mountains, Mexico, etc) but you do kind of pay through the nose for it all. We found that with working a lot & social obligations, we didn't make use of it enough to justify the price.

We love Iowa though!