The Bay Area is one of the most materialistic areas in the nation (Oakland: foreclosed, condos)

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Senno

It's that you wonder why the hell you would want to live there. If you have to ask why...

Senno scores! Good lad!

[AngusHsu]

The primary status symbol in the Bay Area is the house you live in. As discussed endlessly, housing prices are one of the highest in the nation per square feet. Other affluent places use the car as the status symbol to a greater extent.

[ragnarkar]

Originally Posted by AngusHsu

Areas in the Bay Area with flashy cars:
- MSJ area of Fremont
- Burlingame
- Atherton
- Woodside
- Hillsborough
- Oakland hills
- Piedmont
- Orinda

The only area more materialistic may be Orange County in this country. Los Angeles County is still very much blue collar and modest in most areas. Forget car ownership in NYC. I vacationed in Miami last year- it is quite modest in most areas.

Don't forget:

Berkeley
San Jose
Menlo Park
Palo Alto
Mountain View
etc.

Orange County really depends on which area.. I've only lived in some of the more blue collar areas there (Garden Grove and the Buena Park area) which have a little more blue collar folks than the county as a whole and are probably even less so than LA county on average. Then if I venture further south (Irvine, Newport Beach, etc.), it's almost a whole another world.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

i don't think it would be surprising to have a daily driver and a more expensive sports car for evening and weekend use.

i rarely drive my sports car to work.

Perhaps. All of our parking is in a multilevel covered parking structure, so exposure to the elements isn't a reason to keep your nice car at home in the garage.

There are a few expensive cars that I saw walking to the elevator this morning. Aston Martin Vantage convertible, S65 AMG Mercedes, Porsche Panamera Turbo, and a Carrera 4S cabriolet. But these are far outnumbered by the more mundane cars in the parking lot. And half the people working here could pay cash for any one of those cars with their annual bonus.

[DocGoldstein]

Originally Posted by sav858

You're confused again, LA and OC have a MUCH HIGHER forclosure rate than the Bay Area:

Metropolitan Foreclosure and Mortgage Delinquency Rates from Foreclosure-Response.org

Almost all Bay Area counties fall in the 0-3% range while LA and OC fall in the 7-11% range for deliquency

That list has 2,000 foreclosures for Oakland. That's more than homes for sale in the entire city.

[Senno]

Won't they soon be for sale though hopefully and provide more supply for the high demand in Oakland?

How long does the average forclosure take to run through to being resold?

[DocGoldstein]

Originally Posted by Senno

Won't they soon be for sale though hopefully and provide more supply for the high demand in Oakland?

How long does the average forclosure take to run through to being resold?

It's something like 12-18 months. So a lot of these leeches will be squatting for a while unfortunately.

[Senno]

Originally Posted by DocGoldstein

It's something like 12-18 months. So a lot of these leeches will be squatting for a while unfortunately.

Doc, I sure hope you don't outlive your money. Cause if you do I'm gonna extract a whole lot to keep you alive. Give with one hand, take with another style.

/internetnoogie for the "leeches" bit.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by DocGoldstein

That list has 2,000 foreclosures for Oakland. That's more than homes for sale in the entire city.

And the Bay Area has a foreclosure rate less than HALF of LA/OC

Maybe people down there should start using public transit more instead of not paying their mortgage so they can drive a leased BMW. Such rampant and pathetic materialism down there.

[DocGoldstein]

No it doesn't.

The only reason the rate dropped was because banks stopped foreclosing:
Bay Area Foreclosures Slow Sharply | Contra Costa Association of REALTORS®

I've been in this business for 2 decades.