Buying a house in LA (San Francisco, Fresno: foreclosed, to rent, mortgage)

[magicmajenta]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Have you ever been to Palmdale? Lets just say that there's a reason houses are cheap out there.

Nope, I've never been. Is it that bad? Am I going to get shot if I walk out on the streets!

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by magicmajenta

Nope, I've never been. Is it that bad? Am I going to get shot if I walk out on the streets!

I really suggest you spend some time out there (especially in the summer) before you get your hopes up about finding a great deal on a house.

[sucrose]

[quote=magicmajenta;4608149]There are lots of houses in Palmdale in the $150k price range that look really nice. Here are some:

I know pictures can be deceiving but they can't all be in slums!! Can they?? So is there a catch? Will the homes be needing A LOT of repairs?

Magicmajenta: you don't say where you're coming from so it's hard to get an idea of what your frame of reference is. In LA it seems 'good neighborhood' means different things to different people. I live in an older neighborhood about 15 min. from downtown where the median price is about $500k (but dropping) and some people I know still think it's seedy here. Right now Real Estate prices are changing dramatically and are all over the map. Gas prices are effecting outlying areas (are you gonna work in the city proper?) and some sellers are resorting to artificially low prices to attract people (hoping for a bidding war). You should rent before you buy, get a feel for the layout of the city. Make a list of what you must have and what drawbacks you can live with. For your price range don't even look at anything near a beach, the west side or probably within 30 min drive of the metro area. And before you go look at anything, do the Google Maps Street view to scan the neighborhood (I love that feature).

The $150k houses you are seeing may look nice but they're probably in new developments that are struggling with massive foreclosure rates (boarded up houses, etc.) so if you can live with that and commuting is not an issue, then by all means check it out. Those neighborhoods will probably turn around eventually.

[magicmajenta]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

I really suggest you spend some time out there (especially in the summer) before you get your hopes up about finding a great deal on a house.

So it's the weather then. I can live with that!! Is that what you're saying. Man, if that's the price I've got to pay to live in SoCal then so be it. I am in Saint Paul Mn. And it gets to ungodly degrees below freezing here so the other end of the spectrum is not that bad

[magicmajenta]

[quote=sucrose;4608279]

Originally Posted by magicmajenta

There are lots of houses in Palmdale in the $150k price range that look really nice. Here are some:

I know pictures can be deceiving but they can't all be in slums!! Can they?? So is there a catch? Will the homes be needing A LOT of repairs?

Magicmajenta: you don't say where you're coming from so it's hard to get an idea of what your frame of reference is. In LA it seems 'good neighborhood' means different things to different people. I live in an older neighborhood about 15 min. from downtown where the median price is about $500k (but dropping) and some people I know still think it's seedy here. Right now Real Estate prices are changing dramatically and are all over the map. Gas prices are effecting outlying areas (are you gonna work in the city proper?) and some sellers are resorting to artificially low prices to attract people (hoping for a bidding war). You should rent before you buy, get a feel for the layout of the city. Make a list of what you must have and what drawbacks you can live with. For your price range don't even look at anything near a beach, the west side or probably within 30 min drive of the metro area. And before you go look at anything, do the Google Maps Street view to scan the neighborhood (I love that feature).

The $150k houses you are seeing may look nice but they're probably in new developments that are struggling with massive foreclosure rates (boarded up houses, etc.) so if you can live with that and commuting is not an issue, then by all means check it out. Those neighborhoods will probably turn around eventually.

I'm in Saint Paul MN right now. I'm renting with my Grandma. We have a house in Metairie Louisiana that is in the market right now that we are selling that we are currently leasing to renters since Me and my Grandma are here and my mom is in Texas.

I just want to live in LA/SoCal. I don't care about the beach or easy commutes. I don't have high hopes for really, really prime locations. I just want to be able to make it there and not get shot where I live or get burglarized at night or have gangs out in the street where I live. Anything short of that I can live with whether it's the climate or pretty far from the city population centers or stuff like that like I said I don't want to get shot or have gangs fighting it out outside my house or have a crack dealer selling outside my house on the sidewalk. That is basically my baseline minimum in a nutshell.

[EscapeCalifornia]

[quote=magicmajenta;4608305]

Originally Posted by sucrose

I'm in Saint Paul MN right now. I'm renting with my Grandma. We have a house in Metairie Louisiana that is in the market right now that we are selling that we are currently leasing to renters since Me and my Grandma are here and my mom is in Texas.

I just want to live in LA/SoCal. I don't care about the beach or easy commutes. I don't have high hopes for really, really prime locations. I just want to be able to make it there and not get shot where I live or get burglarized at night or have gangs out in the street where I live. Anything short of that I can live with whether it's the climate or pretty far from the city population centers or stuff like that like I said I don't want to get shot or have gangs fighting it out outside my house or have a crack dealer selling outside my house on the sidewalk. That is basically my baseline minimum in a nutshell.

Then you probably don't want to live in the Palmdale area. I'm sure you think SoCal's the place to be but there's really lots of other places in the US that are more affordable and have a better quality of life than a $150k housing budget will permit here. If you really want to roast to death in the summer, you're better off doing it in Phoenix or Las Vegas than Palmdale.

[magicmajenta]

[quote=EscapeCalifornia;4608320]

Originally Posted by magicmajenta

Then you probably don't want to live in the Palmdale area. I'm sure you think SoCal's the place to be but there's really lots of other places in the US that are more affordable and have a better quality of life than a $150k housing budget will permit here. If you really want to roast to death in the summer, you're better off doing it in Phoenix or Las Vegas than Palmdale.

You said something in an earlier post about foreclosed houses needing lots of $$$ in repairs. They can't all be like that! There's got to be some people out there that take care of their homes.

I also noticed from the price range of the properties, San Bernardino would be out of the question too if I'm looking for safe neighborhoods.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by magicmajenta

We...want to buy a house in LA/Socal.

Why do you want to buy a house in SoCal or LA?

What line of work are you in?

Who is "we"? Kids? How many bedrooms?

Is your total price limit $150K? Are you going to take out a mortgage?

Too think positively and realistically, $150K is kind of low but maybe with a little more you can probably find a home in the non-coastal, smaller towns. A lot depends on what line of work you are in. For example, a good diesel mechanic could probably make a good living living in a town off one of the interstates (15, 5, 10, 40, 8). There are tons of jobs which are pretty much in constant demand: plumber, electrician, etc.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by magicmajenta

So it's the weather then. I can live with that!! I am in Saint Paul Mn. And it gets to ungodly degrees below freezing here so the other end of the spectrum is not that bad

The last time I saw a house under $200K in a decent neighborhood was about 1988. And it's more than the weather that's difficult to live with in the area you're looking at. Minneapolis/St. Paul is a fairly cosmopolitan area; what you're looking at here in your price range is definitely not. As other posters have said, come out and spend some time in So Ca. You don't want to buy a home anywhere in which you don't know the area.

[sucrose]

The weather overall is quite nice here but we are more of a melting pot than most other cities, and draw many lower income immigrants so we have a much higher percentage of poor, and super poor people. That sometimes comes as a shock to those whose image of So. Cal is based mostly on media/entertainment. Just know it takes quite a bit of money to have a middle class life here. At $150k (more like $200k-250k) you will be living at or pretty near the poorest rungs of our social/economic ladder. Nothing wrong with poor people (that's where I come from) but unfortunately poverty still tends to draw crime and sometimes the sadness of all that can be worse than any weather you may experience in MN. If it's really a nice climate you're looking for, try Sperlings Best Places and look at climate info (and corresponding housing/demographic info). I don't want to come off as too negative, or assume you're might have an unrealistic view of So. Cal but the economic disparity is very apparent here, and you will be a long way from the glamorous end. Best of luck to you.