Perks of the Bay Area housing market: (rental, insurance)

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by phantompilot

You're talking about relative costs-of-living in retirement? Sounds like a great thread for the Finance forum.

Your statement that $1 million isn't a decent amount of money anymore, is just non-sense

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by Greg10556

This is not true at all. A ton of large metro areas, you can still easily retire on $1 million. And if you don't want to retire, $1 million will get you pretty everything you can dream of, including a mansion.

The Bay Area isn't the normal area, it's overpriced and expensive

I have to say I agree because I did exactly that. I took the only money I had, moved to a cheaper area and bought rentals and fixed them up. I had cashed out my equity in California real estate which totaled about 700k. I bought rentals that net about 110k a year after expenses so I ultimately retired. Life here in Atlanta isn't as nice as the Bay Area, but for me it's only because of weather. I have everything else I ever needed in the Bay Area here.
Of course it's up to the individual. For some people my income is not enough or they really do want to stay in California.
For me it was
Option one, stay in California and continue working.
Option two, move else where and retire early in comfort.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by Oakformonday

It's called building equity. It's not personal to you so try not to take it that way. Do you have equity?

Lol, yeah man I know what it's called. It just has no real bearing on anything until you do two things to unlock it. I'm not taking it personally. It's just funny when people brag about equity. Do I have any equity? Yeah. Without disclosing my financials after owning properties without selling or borrowing against them for 20-23 years ill just leave it at I have quite a bit of it. The house I just bought had equity and it's higher now. I just don't care about it because it's nothing I can do with it without going in debt or selling. So it's really just bragging. If you feel better about having a number of your house worth more power to you.
I was simply pointing out that "equity" is really nothing more than a feel good number. I guess it may help drop PMI o a loan. But other than that it has no real worth unless like I stated you sell or borrow against it

[Independentthinking]

Originally Posted by Electrician4you

Lol, yeah man I know what it's called. It just has no real bearing on anything until you do two things to unlock it. I'm not taking it personally. It's just funny when people brag about equity. Do I have any equity? Yeah. Without disclosing my financials after owning properties without selling or borrowing against them for 20-23 years ill just leave it at I have quite a bit of it. The house I just bought had equity and it's higher now. I just don't care about it because it's nothing I can do with it without going in debt or selling. So it's really just bragging. If you feel better about having a number of your house worth more power to you.
I was simply pointing out that "equity" is really nothing more than a feel good number. I guess it may help drop PMI o a loan. But other than that it has no real worth unless like I stated you sell or borrow against it

Au Contraire,

Equity is much more than that, and you should know that as a homeowner. Having equity can save you thousands of dollars a year by being able to refinance to a lower interest rate. My wife and I have dropped our initial interest rate on our principal residence and an investment property over 5 points over the years. No buying or selling was involved, just a lower monthly mortgage amount. That would have never happened if we did not have equity in those homes.

[Oakformonday]

Originally Posted by Electrician4you

Lol, yeah man I know what it's called. It just has no real bearing on anything until you do two things to unlock it. I'm not taking it personally. It's just funny when people brag about equity. Do I have any equity? Yeah. Without disclosing my financials after owning properties without selling or borrowing against them for 20-23 years ill just leave it at I have quite a bit of it. The house I just bought had equity and it's higher now. I just don't care about it because it's nothing I can do with it without going in debt or selling. So it's really just bragging. If you feel better about having a number of your house worth more power to you.
I was simply pointing out that "equity" is really nothing more than a feel good number. I guess it may help drop PMI o a loan. But other than that it has no real worth unless like I stated you sell or borrow against it

You know, I sometimes make presumptions of what is known and what is not known to the general public. I thought you were being emotional over something that is not emotional - a number. I don't think the point of the OP was to say she had 15k extra in the bank. Also, equity is not just a feel good number but you can think what you want. Have a great evening.

[HappyinCali]

Originally Posted by Electrician4you

Lol, yeah man I know what it's called. It just has no real bearing on anything until you do two things to unlock it. I'm not taking it personally. It's just funny when people brag about equity. Do I have any equity? Yeah. Without disclosing my financials after owning properties without selling or borrowing against them for 20-23 years ill just leave it at I have quite a bit of it. The house I just bought had equity and it's higher now. I just don't care about it because it's nothing I can do with it without going in debt or selling. So it's really just bragging. If you feel better about having a number of your house worth more power to you.
I was simply pointing out that "equity" is really nothing more than a feel good number. I guess it may help drop PMI o a loan. But other than that it has no real worth unless like I stated you sell or borrow against it

I both agree and disagree. Equity doesn't matter until you unlock it. But it is also a number that absolutely helps your mental health. It absolutely makes you less stressed out.

I.e. my house is allegedly up 25% since we bought according to an appraiser we had when we recently refinanced. Does it matter financially? No. Does it matter mentally? Absolutely. I don't worry what would happen in the unlikely even we lose our jobs. I know we can look for 3-4 mos and if we can't find anything we can just cash out doubling our downpayment and buy cash anywhere.

That's worth something, given we are all human and mental health is important.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by HappyinCali

I both agree and disagree. Equity doesn't matter until you unlock it. But it is also a number that absolutely helps your mental health. It absolutely makes you less stressed out.

I.e. my house is allegedly up 25% since we bought according to an appraiser we had when we recently refinanced. Does it matter financially? No. Does it matter mentally? Absolutely. I don't worry what would happen in the unlikely even we lose our jobs. I know we can look for 3-4 mos and if we can't find anything we can just cash out doubling our downpayment and buy cash anywhere.

That's worth something, given we are all human and mental health is important.

If the house drops 30%, is your mental health then destroyed?

[HappyinCali]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

If the house drops 30%, is your mental health then destroyed?

No, it is obviously never that extreme, just the way I don't skip around every day now. Not sure why you need to troll.

but I will feel a slightly bit more anxious. Also, it depends on when. As we continue to accumulate savings, the equity will matter less.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by HappyinCali

No, it is obviously never that extreme, just the way I don't skip around every day now. Not sure why you need to troll.

but I will feel a slightly bit more anxious. Also, it depends on when. As we continue to accumulate savings, the equity will matter less.

A bit sensitive are we?
It's not trolling. I asked an honest question in response to what you posted. If you said having equity made you feel better, I wondered if you felt depressed if you lost equity. A lot of people would, especially if they go negative like when the big crash hit and a lot of people went negative, often by hundreds of thousands. Many people in California unlike other states can count on the equity of their home to represent a good part of their net worth or part of their retirement plan.
If they are nearing retirement and they loose equity, I wouldn't fault them at all if they got depressed.

[Perma Bear]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

A bit sensitive are we?
It's not trolling. I asked an honest question in response to what you posted. If you said having equity made you feel better, I wondered if you felt depressed if you lost equity. A lot of people would, especially if they go negative like when the big crash hit and a lot of people went negative, often by hundreds of thousands. Many people in California unlike other states can count on the equity of their home to represent a good part of their net worth or part of their retirement plan.
If they are nearing retirement and they loose equity, I wouldn't fault them at all if they got depressed.

Equity makes up 0 percent of my net worth.