Questions about California (mortgage, real estate, transplants)

[nebulous1]

1- How come they build such tall buildings, and homes/buildings on hillsides in an earthquake zone? Isn't that being pompous and thinking they can out-engineer an earthquake?
2-If people don't like the crowded freeways, culture, high prices, why don't they move?
3-I understand that homes are incredibly expensive, but why are rentals- apartments and condos for rent- so much? I looked at some online, and boy, are they slums for the money.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by nebulous1

1- How come they build such tall buildings, and homes/buildings on hillsides in an earthquake zone? Isn't that being pompous and thinking they can out-engineer an earthquake?
2-If people don't like the crowded freeways, culture, high prices, why don't they move?
3-I understand that homes are incredibly expensive, but why are rentals- apartments and condos for rent- so much? I looked at some online, and boy, are they slums for the money.

1) There are natural dangers everywhere. I bought a house in Florida and it immediately was swamped by 4 hurricanes. I owned a condo in New York, it would become flooded when the snow melts and electricity would black-out every month.
Besides that, why do people build on the mountain side? Well because it makes them happy.

2) Because if they move, they quickly find everyplace else is a trade-off of not having jobs, boring with no culture and lower quaity of living. But if you find yourself whining about living in an area for months and months, well dang MOVE!

3) Rentals are still much cheaper than buying. Why are rents higher in the Bay Area than Indiana? Why are rents higher in NYC vs Long Island? Because these are all desired areas to live. Same goes for most of the California Coast, it is highly desired. High desire = High Cost.

I hope this helps.

[EscapeCalifornia]

1) Tall buildings CAN be made earthquake safe. I think building on a hillside is a bad idea because geologically, that hill top will some day be at the bottom of the hill. But rich people love views.

2) I am

3) Supply and demand. You gotta live somewhere. Landlords are out to maximize their profit. If they know you can't afford the $4k/mo it would take to buy a place, that gives them a lot of leverage. If they raise your rent from $2000 to $2500, what you you going to do? Buy something? Rent from someone else for the same $2500?

[jonny_quest]

Originally Posted by nebulous1

1- How come they build such tall buildings, and homes/buildings on hillsides in an earthquake zone? Isn't that being pompous and thinking they can out-engineer an earthquake?
2-If people don't like the crowded freeways, culture, high prices, why don't they move?
3-I understand that homes are incredibly expensive, but why are rentals- apartments and condos for rent- so much? I looked at some online, and boy, are they slums for the money.

all of these questions can be answered with one single word:
money.

[JakeDog]

Originally Posted by nebulous1

1- How come they build such tall buildings, and homes/buildings on hillsides in an earthquake zone? Isn't that being pompous and thinking they can out-engineer an earthquake?
2-If people don't like the crowded freeways, culture, high prices, why don't they move?
3-I understand that homes are incredibly expensive, but why are rentals- apartments and condos for rent- so much? I looked at some online, and boy, are they slums for the money.

1. B/c they are earthquake safe. there have been numerous earthquakes-notice how few buildings are destroyed.
2. Weather, it isn't boring and lame like the midwest. Some people realize this is the only life they will ever have and don't care to live it in a vast flat wasteland where there is absolutely nothing to do.
3. Rentals are low to me. The wages here are high.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by nebulous1

1- How come they build such tall buildings, and homes/buildings on hillsides in an earthquake zone? Isn't that being pompous and thinking they can out-engineer an earthquake?
2-If people don't like the crowded freeways, culture, high prices, why don't they move?
3-I understand that homes are incredibly expensive, but why are rentals- apartments and condos for rent- so much? I looked at some online, and boy, are they slums for the money.

1. Hillside building is foolish. People think "It cant happen to me It will happen to someone else." There was a lawsuit over some homes in south OC that slid down a hill. The verdict was for the defense. The jury felt that anyone who bought a house on a hill in California should expect that it will slide down the hill someday. That is correct. All hills move. They can stabilize it for a time, but sooner or later it will move. That is what hills do.
The tall buildings are believed to be earthquake resistant. (Nothing is earthquake proof). They have done pretty well in recent quakes. The only major structural damage was to older buildings. They are made to bounce around with the quake. Some are built on giant shock absorbers. It gets pretty crazy at the top of a tall building in an earthquake. Stuff goes flying everywhere.

2. Did. Not everything is better in other places. Everywhere has its problems. Overall we are glad to have moved and do not long to go back. However we miss a lot of things about OC. I still go back 15 plus times a year for work, so I miss it less.

3. Rental prices are reflected in real estate prices. If a landlord pays $3 million for a small apartment building, he is not going to rent the units for $500/month. More critical is supply and demand. So many people are looking for apartments that the landlords can charge more - so they do. If you will not rent the apartment for $2200 per month, someone else will. There are plenty of people looking. Wages at the higher ends are higher thn many other places. Lower end jobs tend to bring lower wages than other places due to competition from immigrants.


Mostly, you are paying for the weather. The weather is amost the same everyday. (It is funny that one poster said weather other places is bland - actually So. Cal. weather is bland. Weather other places is exciting and changes regularly. However millions of people would prefer bland nice days 90% of the time to constantly changing and challenging weather.

[cynwldkat]

I asked these questons for 55 years....never really could come up with a good answer! Finally decided enough was enough and moved to the Southeast from CA and don't find it boring at all. Of course, a great deal of the people living here now are transplants from NY, CA, AZ---well from all over actually. It reminds me a lot of CA, say 20 years ago. Each to his/her own. It all depends on what you want and how far you are willing to go to get that!!

[eynewman]

Originally Posted by nebulous1

1- How come they build such tall buildings, and homes/buildings on hillsides in an earthquake zone? Isn't that being pompous and thinking they can out-engineer an earthquake?
2-If people don't like the crowded freeways, culture, high prices, why don't they move?
3-I understand that homes are incredibly expensive, but why are rentals- apartments and condos for rent- so much? I looked at some online, and boy, are they slums for the money.

1. California land is very expensive. Better to build up. Buildings must be built to earthquate standards and old ones are retrofit. Nothing is totally shake proof. I ask myself why people in Florida continue to rebuild along the coast when year after year they are ripped away by hurricanes every season. What is more devastating here than earthquakes (significant ones are few and far between) are wildfires. Fires are the real reason people should not build on hillsides.

2. For the first time in California history, more native Californians left this past fiscal year than people from surrounding states moved in. Our population is growing primarily because of immigration from south of the border (both legal and illegal) and the high birthrate of the hispanic population. Californians are mostly moving to Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Washington, among others. Many of my friends and family have left. We are considering moving to Colorado.

3. Rentals and mortgages here are over the top. The good weather and low unemployment rate keeps prices up. There are also a large number of high-paying tech and medical positions here. Very low unemployment, especially for professionals and computer folks. As an earlier post said, landlords pay a premium for the property, and rents reflect this.