Bay Area - What's happened to it? (San Francisco, Oakland: houses, neighborhood)

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Don't despair... You've probably haven't looked at homes in the last 6 months...

There are lots of Bay Area Homes available...

Oakland has over 260 homes, just a quick BART ride to SF priced under 100k...

If you can afford SF rent, you can afford to buy a home in the East Bay and I guarantee you won't encounter "Many unfriendly, non-personable yuppie types"

property values have dropped, that's true, but do you really think many people would be happy in one of those under $100,000 homes in Oakland, there is Oakland and there is Oakland..Here in NWA you can't even buy anything decent for that kind of money...Just because there are 260 avail doesn't mean any of them are desirable..???

nita

[jzt83]

Originally Posted by Southwesterly

All I can say is, AMEN to jzt83's take (above). You hit it right on the head, brother.

I'm a native and life-long resident (who's lived in other parts of the country), and I cannot WAIT to get out of here. There is NO heart and NO soul here. For the most part, the newcomers flocking here--for the mo-nay, of course--SUCK. And the City's rich ethnic diversity actually translates to mean it's a bee-hive of rapacious, isolationist immigrant groups who refuse to learn English (I say this as a total lefty; you have to live this to experience it--being at a distinct disadvantage when speaking intelligible English...NO ONE understands you. I'm not kidding) or intermingle in any other way. Therefore, if you're a working-class, non-ass****/non-yuppie whitey who's "been there, done that" re drugs/drink/wanna-be-hipster life, you're on your own, kid.

This is a great place for the selfish, self-obsessed and self-serving. If you're looking for common courtesy, humane connection with and regard from your fellow human beings, I'm afraid you'll find S.F. chilly indeed. I deplore how the lovely place of my origin has become overrun by locusts and gutted of its once beautiful spirit. Stay home and hug your neighbor. It ain't gonna happen here. You won't even get a "hi" from them, in most cases.

What are some prospective places you are looking to move to?

[D-Towner]

Originally Posted by jzt83

Greed and money is what happened to it.

I thought greed and money were items of republicans and their rogue capitalist behavior. Surely the liberal bay area doesn't have any of this going on, does it?

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by D-Towner

I thought greed and money were items of republicans and their rogue capitalist behavior. Surely the liberal bay area doesn't have any of this going on, does it?

no, we dont.

lol

[18Montclair]

I just spent 3 of the last 4 months travelling all over from the East Coast to the South to the Midwest to a few days in Europe and then to Brazil and finally to Australia.

Once again I found that the Bay Area is the best of the whole lot.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by MaxineABCTeam

Ultra Runner is right on! Mystical Tiger may also consider other parts of the East Bay -- take a look at towns along the BART lines and explore their parks and recreational areas. You can buy a detached 3br 2th house with front and back yards and attached garage for under $300,000 in Concord and many other towns. I enjoy SF, my hometown, but love coming home to the East Bay. Look up a friendly Realtor in the area of your choice.

A 300k home for someone who makes 50K a year is still ridiculously unaffordable, even with a 20% down payment. The fact that so many people think this is affordable shows why we're in the midst of such a housing crisis. So many have lost touch with what "affordable" really is, and that's especially true in the Bay Area.

[Taboo2]

Originally Posted by MaxineABCTeam

Ultra Runner is right on! Mystical Tiger may also consider other parts of the East Bay -- take a look at towns along the BART lines and explore their parks and recreational areas. You can buy a detached 3br 2th house with front and back yards and attached garage for under $300,000 in Concord and many other towns. I enjoy SF, my hometown, but love coming home to the East Bay. Look up a friendly Realtor in the area of your choice.

i agree there are plenty of locals in the burbs which are really urban these days.

[D-Towner]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

no, we dont.

lol

Hopefully, there are some Republicans around...I mean...Obama didn't get 100 percent of the vote in the Bay Area.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by nmnita

property values have dropped, that's true, but do you really think many people would be happy in one of those under $100,000 homes in Oakland, there is Oakland and there is Oakland..Here in NWA you can't even buy anything decent for that kind of money...Just because there are 260 avail doesn't mean any of them are desirable..???

nita

I lived in Oakland and I started in one of those neighborhoods because I buy a home for what I was paying in rent... I was also going to school at the time...

I can honestly say I've had good neighbors where ever I lived... most people that own homes want the same things...

I bought a home for 40k by the time I had it fixed up... lived in it for years and then rented it... my tenant of many years was retiring and moving out of State so I sold it for $255k in 2005 and the person I sold it to flipped it 9 months later for 350k. The identical home next to mine just sold for 102k

To be sure, even at 100k, the home is a modest 1000 square feet two bedroom with garage and it would be worth much less in some places of the country and probably 4 times that if it was in San Francisco...

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

A 300k home for someone who makes 50K a year is still ridiculously unaffordable, even with a 20% down payment. The fact that so many people think this is affordable shows why we're in the midst of such a housing crisis. So many have lost touch with what "affordable" really is, and that's especially true in the Bay Area.

Absolutely... but a home for 100k would be a start