Why does everyone want L.A. to be affordable? (home, buying)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by victorhernandez

Want to live in an unequal place with a sea of ghetto surrounding small pockets of extreme wealth in a sight that would give any third world city a run for their money? Support extortional rent prices.

If you build enough housing, you don't get extortional rent prices. Not enough housing is the core problem. Admitting illegal immigrants from the 3rd world doesn't help matters, either.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Yes come on out to Ventura County where it is affordable. Here in Oxnard where I live you can rent a room for $1,000 a month. Is that affordable enough for you? A two bedroom apartment in an older building goes for $1,850 or so. Is that affordable for you. Maybe you prefer a nice newer place with Stainless steel appliances including a refrigerator of all things, a 1 bedroom in that building will set you back $2,200 a month, but then it is new and I am hoping affordable. Then again you could try Thousand Oaks which is closer to LA and rent an apartment there. A one bedroom may set you back $1,600 or so in Thousand Oaks. A two bedroom for $2,000 or so for an older building. Then again maybe you can find a discount somewhere because you are living in Low Cost Ventura County.

Maybe you want to buy a home here. In my neighborhood for a home built in 1962 that will set you back about $500,000 and up. Is that affordable for you? We have some homes built around 2003 that might set you back between $750,000 and $1million maybe that is affordable for you. A friend is selling his beach house and it is way more affordable than those $9million homes in Malibu. Maybe his $2,800,000 beach home in Oxnard is something that you would consider, I mean since Ventura County is affordable and all.

You could try Port Hueneme where I grew up. I saw several homes in my old neighborhood selling for $450,000 and up and they are way spacious at 1,100 square feet. Yup that was living the life when we were kids. We had all that room. Just in case you can not come up with the amount to live anywhere else in Ventura County, Port Hueneme may be an option for you, I mean if you are looking for affordable.

The problem is $450,000 for 1100 square feet is considered "affordable". That's almost 2X the median price of a home in the U.S. Incomes in CA are definitely not 2X the national median. That pretty much says it all.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by Chicano3000X

Well keeping the city the same isn't feasible anymore. Getting pissed that there is dense development in the 2nd largest city in the U.S. is like being pissed that a river has water..

How is it not feasible? The situation down here seems eminently more sane than the place I just moved from.

Down here, housing prices are guided by legitimate market forces - organic supply and demand. More people want to live in a given area than there are spaces to live, therefore, costs go up. If costs go up too far, people will leave the area, and critical services will cease to function nominally, which will cause people to decide they are no longer willing to pay hyperextended costs, and the market will correct itself until an equilibrium is reached. It's all very simple and organic down here. Sure, it sucks for people who have fewer options due to reduced financial flexibility, but that's an individual problem - not a collective one.

Now compare it to the region I just came from (Seattle). Up there, costs are being artificially manipulated. Housing prices have literally doubled in the last half decade or so, but it's not because there are more people who want to live in the area than there are spaces to live. It's because foreign investors (mainly Chinese) who are looking for offshore havens to park their money to get it out of the grip of their government are buying up all the property in all-cash-20%-above-asking-price-no-contingencies-no-inspection deals..............and then not moving into the property. It's because REIT's see an ability to manipulate prices, and have been artificially driving up value with property purchases until they feel it reaches a critical mass, at which point they will no doubt make a point to exit their positions in the market before actual people who want to live there or buy property there figure out the market shift, and basically leave them all holding the bag with severely devalued properties that are heavily underwater and over-leveraged - no different than how hedge funds drive up buying frenzy on certain stocks before liquidating out and creating a class of bag holders in the form of retail investors. This, for the record, is the exact same housing situation that drove Vancouver into the situation it's in today.

So when you say the current situation isn't "feasible", I have to disagree. The situation down here is at least rooted in sanity, basic market principles, and organic growth. That's always feasible, the invisible hand will always be able to regulate that. It's the manipulation up north that's infeasible.

[asdfer]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

If you build enough housing, you don't get extortional rent prices. Not enough housing is the core problem. Admitting illegal immigrants from the 3rd world doesn't help matters, either.

Land is not in infinite supply.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

The problem is $450,000 for 1100 square feet is considered "affordable". That's almost 2X the median price of a home in the U.S. Incomes in CA are definitely not 2X the national median. That pretty much says it all.

Someone mentioned that Ventura County if more affordable than LA county. This was specific to that post. I would love to see how they think it is more affordable here in Ventura County. Not affordable enough to make an hour long commute to LA for work I am betting.

So true about many parts of the nation being more cost effective. Still lets look at that.

I don't pay for heat or cooling. No AC in our home and we have not used the furnace in a few years. When we have turned on the furnace it was for the morning and I don't think we did that for more than a week a year.

My property taxes stay down while other parts of the nation go way up. I have heard horror stories of property tax increases and I could never imagine jumping up the tax on my home.

My job pays me well and we have looked at other parts of the nation and we would lose income to move. Then again we are probably the highest taxed state in the nation, so maybe that it an even trade off. LOL

Yup prices have been a temptation in other areas. When you can sell a 54 year old house and have the equity to pay cash in another state that is a big temptation. When my wife sees that the areas she is interested in are unbearably humid, are too hot, are too cold, have gigantic insects or animals that we have never dealt with. When she looks at areas and finds that we live in one of the most safest places in the nation all these things keep her from wanting to move anywhere else.

[thelopez2]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

The problem is $450,000 for 1100 square feet is considered "affordable". That's almost 2X the median price of a home in the U.S. Incomes in CA are definitely not 2X the national median. That pretty much says it all.

Are incomes 25% higher?

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by thelopez2

Are incomes 25% higher?

I have no idea what incomes are. I know people somehow are able to buy homes though. Some like me bought them for a lot less.

[jm1982]

Interesting article that breaks down affordability of different parts of Southern California

"A report from the California Association of Realtors shows that 29 percent of L.A. County households could afford to buy the county's median-priced home of $485,800 during the first quarter of 2017.


That was up from 28 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 but down from the year-ago level of 31 percent."

"Orange County's situation is far worse. The median-priced home there was $750,000 during the first quarter of 2017 and only 21 percent of households could afford it - half the level seen in San Bernardino County."




How affordable are homes where you live? Affordability varies dramatically in Southern California

[MItoBH]

If LA were "affordable", aka, just damn cheaper, even more people would want to live here and it would be unbearable. I'd rather just have a job that pays me a great salary to permit me to have my pick of a nice 2 bedroom apartment in a beautiful, fun, safe neighborhood. I reckon, that would set me back at least $3500/month. So forget affordable city, that's never going to happen. Most of us with the education and skill sets in demand just want a salary high enough to be able to afford the market rate rents.

[victorhernandez]

Originally Posted by MItoBH

If LA were "affordable", aka, just damn cheaper, even more people would want to live here and it would be unbearable. I'd rather just have a job that pays me a great salary to permit me to have my pick of a nice 2 bedroom apartment in a beautiful, fun, safe neighborhood. I reckon, that would set me back at least $3500/month. So forget affordable city, that's never going to happen. Most of us with the education and skill sets in demand just want a salary high enough to be able to afford the market rate rents.

If LA was affordable the demographics would be healthier: mostly middle class families, with a sprinkle wealthy/very wealthy and lower income (think of the valley in the 70's) like any normal city, and not this third world like reality we have nowadays, with a few very wealthy and a sea of low income ghettos surrounding them

High rents and home prices push out the middle class, not the poor.