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Take 2012... a 1300 square foot 1920's bungalow in Oakland might be 160k... and several minutes via car an identical 1300 square foot 1920's bungalow in Piedmont was pushing 400k and both were built by McGregor and the city of Oakland completely encircles the city of Piedmont...
Of course the same 1920's bungalow in Oklahoma might sell for 40k
things will not stay like there are. people dont want to commute 2 hours each way with gas at $5.00 a gallon.
Thats the thing with Gentrification in my city... lower income people are more than ready to cash their 75 year old home for a nearly new home in the central valley with a 60-90 minute commute each way...
The funny thing is the old homes are then bought by 20 and 30 somethings that renovate and feel good about doing so...
So for some it's location and for others it's the new, modern square footage no matter how long the commute.
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 09-25-2014 at 07:27 PM..
Take 2012... a 1300 square foot 1920's bungalow in Oakland might be 160k... and several minutes via car an identical 1300 square foot 1920's bungalow in Piedmont was pushing 400k and both were built by McGregor and the city of Oakland completely encircles the city of Piedmont...
Of course the same 1920's bungalow in Oklahoma might sell for 40k
Piedmont didn't drop that far in 2012. I am going to amend your numbers (give or take):
Thats the thing with Gentrification in my city... lower income people are more than ready to cash their 75 year old home for a nearly new home in the central valley with a 60-90 minute commute each way...
The funny thing is the old homes are then bought by 20 and 30 somethings that renovate and feel good about doing so...
So for some it's location and for others it's the new, modern square footage no matter how long the commute.
??? how do lower income people buy homes in California?
Most working lower income families around here have to choose between renting close to work or buying in the sticks and commuting.
Two brothers working on a construction job at work bought a home last year and we got to talking... they bought 70 miles away from this jobsite and 30 from the contractor they work for... the plan is to buy together and later sell and hopefully have enough equity so each can buy a home individually... the brothers are 27 and 30....
Most of the construction guys live out in the Central Valley and commute to wherever the job is...
The receptionist/clerk at work was renting a decent home close enough to walk to work... she bought a home and now commutes 135 miles round trip each workday... I asked her if it was worth it and she says she hopes so...
It's not that there are no comparable homes nearby... it's just they are old and small and schools/neighborhoods may not be so great...
For me the only option to own was to buy in one of those neighborhoods and move in... later I found a little bigger home in a little better neighborhood and made the move keeping my first home as a rental...
Many of my friends from high school that stayed in the area and own their homes moved 4 or 5 times before settling in there forever home... which also might be a fixer.
Owning at least gets you in the game and often is the only way to get a leg up...
Most working lower income families around here have to choose between renting close to work or buying in the sticks and commuting.
Two brothers working on a construction job at work bought a home last year and we got to talking... they bought 70 miles away from this jobsite and 30 from the contractor they work for... the plan is to buy together and later sell and hopefully have enough equity so each can buy a home individually... the brothers are 27 and 30....
Most of the construction guys live out in the Central Valley and commute to wherever the job is...
The receptionist/clerk at work was renting a decent home close enough to walk to work... she bought a home and now commutes 135 miles round trip each workday... I asked her if it was worth it and she says she hopes so...
It's not that there are no comparable homes nearby... it's just they are old and small and schools/neighborhoods may not be so great...
For me the only option to own was to buy in one of those neighborhoods and move in... later I found a little bigger home in a little better neighborhood and made the move keeping my first home as a rental...
Many of my friends from high school that stayed in the area and own their homes moved 4 or 5 times before settling in there forever home... which also might be a fixer.
Owning at least gets you in the game and often is the only way to get a leg up...
Yet one more reason government should get out of the way and allow affordable ownership opportunities.
Yet one more reason government should get out of the way and allow affordable ownership opportunities.
Some do... many places in America still have little or no building codes...
A very good friend of mine had a good job with UPS after serving in the military... he looked around and found the Bay Area was too restrictive... many areas here have design review where it can takes years and big bucks just to get a set of plans approved.
My friend moved near Tyler Texas and is living his dream... there were no building codes when he bought his land and last I heard only a septic permit to build now... you can still live and a cardboard shack, tent, trailer and a mansion...
The problem with no building codes is that the end product tends to be pretty horrid--and in places like the Bay Area, where the ground shakes, building codes are the reasons why major earthquakes in California few or no fatalities, while major earthquakes in other parts of the world kill hundreds or thousands when their inexpensive, free-market-driven housing collapses and crushes people to death. The 1906 San Francisco Brings a new meaning to "get out of the way"--of the collapsing buildings!
That's part of why the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake resulted in about one-eighth of the fatalities of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake--despite there being nearly 10 times as many people in the Bay Area. All that wasteful "big government" spending on earthquake-safe building codes, public safety infrastructure, etc., paid off in saved lives.
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