Quality of life for families in Silicon Valley? (homes, neighborhood)

[easybay]

It's a classic supply/demand problem

Just saw on the news last night how housing prices have gone up all across the country in the last year, simply because people are not selling or can't sell (because they are upside down in their mortgages) until their houses go back up in value.

I know 3 people who purchased homes in the Bay area between 2005-2008, who moved out of state, who didn't have any choice but to rent out their homes since the value had dropped between $100,000 - 300,000. With fewer homes on the market, prices will go up. Add this to all the other issues - lack of land, taxes, bureaucracy...........

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by easybay

Just saw on the news last night how housing prices have gone up all across the country in the last year, simply because people are not selling or can't sell (because they are upside down in their mortgages) until their houses go back up in value.

I know 3 people who purchased homes in the Bay area between 2005-2008, who moved out of state, who didn't have any choice but to rent out their homes since the value had dropped between $100,000 - 300,000. With fewer homes on the market, prices will go up. Add this to all the other issues - lack of land, taxes, bureaucracy...........

Sales will never be more than can be paid...

Even these unaffordable homes are changing hands so someone out there has either the cash or the credit.

As long as the area is desirable... people will compete.

Boom and Bust is not new... not in California or anywhere else.

When I was 10 my Grandfather gave me a book about the Ghost Towns of the West... it was phenomenal how much money changed hands for land in towns that are often no more than a footnote in history.

I have friends that live in the Santa Cruz mountains... miles from a paved road... it really is a different world... deep in the redwoods with the Pacific off in the distance... geographically only a few miles from the valley...

I guess many would like to live in Saratoga, Los Altos, Monte Sereno, Woodside or Atherton... and the reality is they can't... simply not enough square feet of Real Estate...

All this begs the real question and that is would these areas still be desirable if everyone could afford to live there?

[easybay]

Even these unaffordable homes are changing hands so someone out there has either the cash or the credit.

Also read a news story about the influx of money from China here in the Bay area - Chinese investing in US real estate as a means of getting money out of China. Similiar to the Hong Kong money investing into Vancouver back in the mid 90's before the lease expired and Hong Kong was transfered back to China.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by WeakandDizzy

OK, this is going to be my last post on this subject. Do you like clean air? Do you like to drive on freeways that are not jammed 24/7 ? I can't calculate the effect but I'm sure some one really smart can concerning the effect of high housing prices on these two subjects. Many " workers" commute hours each day to and from their homes in Tracy, Gilroy, Los Banos, etc. to their jobs in San Jose, Cupertino, Mountain View , Palo Alto, etc. while elderly people who don't have to get up in the morning and head off to work sip coffee and read the newspaper 1-5 miles from ebay, google, apple, etc.. These elderly people can sip coffee and read the newspaper just as easily in Napa/Sonoma, Sonora, Grass Valley, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Nv., Eugene, Ore., etc. etc. etc. Maybe if many of these old people moved to the above places the price of housing might be 10% lower than it is now ( I just made that number up, I don't know the actual number). Then maybe a few thousand more working people would be able to afford to live in Campbell, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Santa Clara, etc. and they could drive, walk or bike the 1-5 miles to work instead of the 30-50 mile commutes they are doing now. I am not blaming all of the old people for the high cost of housing but they are contributing to the cost of housing by restraining supply. I have plenty of use for old people, I am damn near one of them myself. In my opinion they don't need their housing subsidized by tax policy so they can stay in the house they raised their children in to the detriment of the rest of society. I'm done.

I would love to see what your opinion is when you reach your golden years. First of all your assumptions are all greatly exagerrated. There would be very little effect on the cost of housing if Prop 13 was eliminated. Second, forcing people who have lived in their homes for years to move to some other place is ludicrous regardless of the reason.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by ANIM

...Retired people still leave CA, despite Prop 13, the option of cashing in is appealing enough, so I am not sure how much prop 13 contributes to high prices. It seems that lack of new development and high number of high paying jobs are enough..

Exactly!!!

[Senno]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

Exactly!!!

But what happens to a lot of these people that cash in is they find some of their new neighbors don't particularly care for "rich" Californians cashing in and moving to their state.

I know this personally from my relatives in Idaho and Missouri and elsewhere. And we'd get the evil eye in Idaho on vacation because our car had CA plates.

They then haunt our forum, regretting their move while putting up a brave front.

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

Second, forcing people who have lived in their homes for years to move to some other place is ludicrous regardless of the reason.

I second your exactly!

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by Senno

But what happens to a lot of these people that cash in is they find some of their new neighbors don't particularly care for "rich" Californians cashing in and moving to their state.

I know this personally from my relatives in Idaho and Missouri and elsewhere. And we'd get the evil eye in Idaho on vacation because our car had CA plates.

They then haunt our forum, regretting their move while putting up a brave front.



I second your exactly!

I am one of those Californians that have absolutely no desire to move somewhere else. We have lived in Northern California, Southern California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Florida, Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela. We have also visited almost every state. We love Hawaii and New York City to visit but when it comes to living somewhere, California is where we want to be and we could live just about anywhere.

[WeakandDizzy]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

I would love to see what your opinion is when you reach your golden years. First of all your assumptions are all greatly exagerrated. There would be very little effect on the cost of housing if Prop 13 was eliminated. Second, forcing people who have lived in their homes for years to move to some other place is ludicrous regardless of the reason.

Probably a bit too libertarian for this crowd, but at least she attempts to prove her point with some actual data.
www.scu.edu/civilsocietyinstitute/events/upload/SVHousing.pdf You will need to google "Why is housing so expensive in Silicon Valley?" For those unable or unwilling to read the whole thing go to 39/69.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by WeakandDizzy

I am not a tax expert or an economist, but I think the goal of taxation is to pay for the services we as a society feel are needed and that private business cannot provide in a more efficient manner....

I think we just had an election a few months ago. The goal of taxation at the federal level, affirmed by the electorate, is also to "spread the wealth around."

At the state level, it was to provide more money to fund pensions of public sector gold-plated pensions & Cadillac health care.

[Senno]

Originally Posted by WeakandDizzy

Probably a bit too libertarian for this crowd, but at least she attempts to prove her point with some actual data.
www.scu.edu/civilsocietyinstitute/events/upload/SVHousing.pdf You will need to google "Why is housing so expensive in Silicon Valley?" For those unable or unwilling to read the whole thing go to 39/69.

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