Is the housing in CA as bad as we hear? (San Jose: rent, mortgage)

[TheDragonslayer]

I live in McKinleyville which is 12 miles north of Eureka and 350 miles north of SF and 69 south of Crescent City. One can buy a new 1500 to 2000 sf home for $300,000 easy and a 5000 sf plus home on 1 or 2 acres for $500,000 to $700,000 plus range with an ocean view and some with beach access. We have the third ranking school district in the state ( Northern Humboldt School District ) with progressive education and great curriculum. The crime rate is rediculously low compared to the bay area. The water and sky is clear. Snow covered mountains are within a half hours drive and white water rafting on 6 different rivers. A state university in Arcata. The largest city in the county is Eureka with 28,000 and McKinleyville and Arcata follow with 16,000 and 17,000. Eureka has many wonderful victorians and Ferndale is a historic victorian village. We have theaters, museums , large grocery stores and outlets, many parks, a large shopping mall with typical bigbox stores, and much more that one would not expect for a largely rural area. The only fault up here is our high gas prices, it went up to $3.30 for regular and $3.50 for hightest/super. We bought a 3 bed, 3 bath on a half acre 6 years ago for $112,000 and now it is worth over $350,000 and we have and ocean view too.

Martin

[SDCAx]

I live in San Diego and while it's not quite as expensive as SF, it's way above the national average. If your not rich, it is impossible to move from out of state and purchase a detached home in California's major cities. I started with a small one bedroom condo and it appreciated enough in 3 years for me to sell and upgrade to a loft in downtown SD. I imagine it would be the same in SF - if your not wealthy, start with purchasing a condo instead of a single family home. I do agree that SF warrants it's price tag because it is a world center of arts and culture, however if you do not appreciate or would not utilize the wonderful creative establishments, you would be better off living somewhere less diverse like Missouri, Texas, etc where you can get alot more house/property for the money. I myself would rather pay more for smaller quarters to be somewhere with more diversity, and a location on the coast.

[shannon94]

This was in todays San Diego paper: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...18calbrea.html

[Roma]

SDCAx said it the best! It's so true.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by shannon94

This was in todays San Diego paper: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...18calbrea.html

I hate articles like this... it's all so Chicken Little screaming the sky is falling. At its peak, in 2005 and 2006 when the bubble started leaking, subprime mortgages were around 20% of the loans made in total. That's up from around 10%. And most of those subprime loans were not made by predatory lenders that loosened their rules, most of them were made by companies with strict lending practices. People are throwing the subprime around with little meaning -- subprime means people with bad credit.

However -- a larger portion of mortgages -- especially in higher cost of living areas -- are "Creative Financing". Those are the ones that really bear watching. And although the article does go into that, you really have to be farther down the page to get it.

There's no doubt, a lot of people that jumped into the housing market near the end of the boom shouldn't have, and these people will get weeded out. That weeding out process will HURT them. And it's likely that it will effect all of us by making our economy rocky.

But yesterday -- the Chron ran an article that stated that the median home price in the Bay Area, which is comprised of seven counties, went from 618,000 to 620,000. Alameda County went up .9%, Marin went up 3.8% and Santa Clara was up too -- here's that link

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...&sn=002&sc=909

Are we going to take a hit? Yes -- I think we will. Is it going to be a bad hit? Don't expect prices to drop 50% -- the articles I've been reading are saying that price reductions on properties for sale are far more due to owners still having "pie in the sky" expectations and coming down to earth, OR that we can expect 10-15% drops on average in overbuilt areas due to home builders slashing prices to sell, and less than 10% drops in other established areas -- and yet in more desirable areas, like Marin -- prices are still going up.

People love to prognosticate, but the wisest thing I heard this week was from a Charles Schwab VP -- we'll know it's over when it's over, because it all becomes clear in hindsight. The second wisest thing -- the money guy on the radio said yesterday -- we've been here before. We've had mortgage meltdowns before, we've had real estate crises before -- if you're a wise conservative investor type, you'll stay the course and do fine.

[shannon94]

It will be interesting to see what prices do after these homes have actually sold ....when the drop in prices is actually realized.

[SouthBayTodd]

Originally Posted by striker

If you think those are nice towns, then you need to TRAVEL and see for yourself REAL NICE TOWNS like Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Aventura, etc...

i have traveled most of the U.S. and 20+ other countries...i have traveled plenty. i guess you have another definition of nice.

[SouthBayTodd]

Originally Posted by striker

Ok for San Diego, and few other places, but San Jose being expensive is truly unjustifiable. It's on the same level of Houston for how much it sucks.

san jose is not as bad as houston - but i agree it does not have a lot to offer (beyond lots of jobs, which is a plus)

[AK123]

Originally Posted by SouthBayTodd

san jose is not as bad as houston - but i agree it does not have a lot to offer (beyond lots of jobs, which is a plus)

What's the big problem with Houston?

[SouthBayTodd]

Originally Posted by JJP

What's the big problem with Houston?

Have you been to Houston?