Orange County is not luxurious (Santa Ana, Irvine: real estate market, condo, new home)

[ocexpo]

Personally, OC wouldn't be as much of a disappointment to a traveler as LA. La has been hyped up as the ultimate wealthy lifestyle. Hollywood looks like some 1920's reject with transiets and run down apartments. Aside from the hilly areas, most homes are trashy duplexes filled with illegal immigrants, crime, and drugs. I am personally disappointed by LA and its image, and I live here. Imagine a traveler coming to vacation in La. That would be the biggest waste of a week off work they could ever take.

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by ocexpo

Personally, OC wouldn't be as much of a disappointment to a traveler as LA. La has been hyped up as the ultimate wealthy lifestyle. Hollywood looks like some 1920's reject with transiets and run down apartments. Aside from the hilly areas, most homes are trashy duplexes filled with illegal immigrants, crime, and drugs. I am personally disappointed by LA and its image, and I live here. Imagine a traveler coming to vacation in La. That would be the biggest waste of a week off work they could ever take.

Again, that really is an impossible statement to make. One man's LA is not another. You need to specify the area. Taking a week off to spend in Malibu would be different than Inglewood. Both are LA.

[Humanoid]

Humanoid, you seem to have an issue with blurring the line between class and flash and I certainly hope that not everyone on the coast of OC share your views or else we are going to be sorely out of place.

Firstly you are equivocating the term "class". I'm talking about social class and you are talking about class in a sense that is actually relative to what social class you are in. What is "classy" to the middle-cast is not necessarily so for the upper-class, or proles for that matter.

If you think that being upper class is defined by the caliber of car you drive
or how old your money is you are sorely mistaken. it is very hipocritical of you to say "The idea that social class is tied to money is frankly a rather middle-class idea." and then in the next breath say "Upper class circles usually call folks like Bill Gates "nouveau rich" with the idea that although they have wealth they have yet to be refined in the appropriate way." If you think people who spend more time
working with charities and donating billions to these charities are not 'refined in the proper way' you need a reality check.

Firstly I make no claims about Bill Gates, I don't know the guy personally. Secondly, you are again using YOUR notion of "class", but that isn't what I'm talking about at all. I'm again talking about social class. Furthermore I have stated more than once that social-class is about everything, not just cars. What car you drive plays a small role in matters, there are plenty of individuals in the upper-class that drive Hondas etc. But typically they do not.

You seem to be "flashy" and have no sense of self outside of your climb up the social ladder.

Please look up "sociology". What I'm talking about our sociologically (and a bit of economic) issues. I have never once talked about myself, so how you can conclude I'm "flashy" is beyond me. Furthermore, I'm not trying to climb any "social ladder" rather I'm interested in sociology. As far as I recall I don't remember stating what social class I belong to. Its unfortunate that people can't entertain certain sociologically issues without becoming offended, but thats life.

What is ironic though is that folks responses in this thread are all about an invidious comparison.....and again straight out of a book that is over 100 years old.

[slowbill]

Bill Clinton did not have sex with Monica...sounds like a duck....

[Coldjensens]

Orange County has more insanely wealthy areas than most places. Almost every community has an area for the majorly wealthy. It is not just Newport and Laguna.

Look at Nellie Gale. Orange Park Acres. Villa Park. Cota De Caza. Parts of Dana Point. Probably eveyone here cna name a part of their community that is reserved for the uber rich. (Although I am still trying to think of ione in Santa Ana - Floral Park is really nice and has some very rich folk, but it is not an exlusive multi-millionair type place).

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Orange County has more insanely wealthy areas than most places. Almost every community has an area for the majorly wealthy. It is not just Newport and Laguna.

Look at Nellie Gale. Orange Park Acres. Villa Park. Cota De Caza. Parts of Dana Point. Probably eveyone here cna name a part of their community that is reserved for the uber rich. (Although I am still trying to think of ione in Santa Ana - Floral Park is really nice and has some very rich folk, but it is not an exlusive multi-millionair type place).

Actually this is no different then any other place with a reasonably sized population. The difference is that there are all those people in OC who aren't rich but pretend to be.

[Coldjensens]

Where else do you find thousands of homes priced/valued at over $2 million? There are some places, but not many.

[Humanoid]

Look at Nellie Gale. Orange Park Acres. Villa Park. Cota De Caza. Parts of Dana Point. Probably eveyone here cna name a part of their community that is reserved for the uber rich.

These areas aren't in any sense reserved for the "uber rich". These are largely upper-middle class areas of Orange County.

Where else do you find thousands of homes priced/valued at over $2 million? There are some places, but not many.

This is misleading, in Orange County (one of the centers of the housing bubble) you have $2 million dollar houses that are really just ~$750k houses. In a few years there will be a lot less "$2 million" dollar houses.

[Dirk Bonner]

OC has many houses and many uber rich. Newport coast isn't exactly a place the working classes buy...nor are many areas in Irvine. Laguna Beach, Dana Point, Newport Beach, Anaheim Hills, and many others place have homes that are simply waaaayyy beyond the reach of most Americans.

I doubt any of the high scale real estate any where in southern California will be impacted much. That is not the income class that has been seriously impacted by this meltdown. This is still one of the more desireable locations in the country and perhaps the world in which to live. Prices being relative will keep OC real estate higher and competitive with most other up-scale areas in the country.

[Humanoid]

Originally Posted by Dirk Bonner

I doubt any of the high scale real estate any where in southern California will be impacted much. That is not the income class that has been seriously impacted by this meltdown.

The truly wealthy areas will not be impacted much, but those areas don't include Newport Beach, Cota De Caza, etc. These are upper middle-class areas and the people that live in them part of the working class. Also, the idea that the wealthy aren't impacted by the this meltdown is odd to say the least. They tend to be heavily vested in the equity markets, much more so than your average joe. Just they have a bigger buffer when things go bad.

The "high end" track homes that were built all over Orange Country are going to plummet in price. Owning a "million dollar home" loses its value when the home is a track home built 5 feet form your neighbor purchased with a pay-option ARM. Orange County does have some really nice homes, but like in many other counties in Southern California they aren't centrally located in one community. They are fairly hidden.

A lot of people in Orange Country are going to learn (if they haven't already) that they aren't wealthy. Fun times.