Will i ever be able to afford a house (Los Angeles: neighborhood, to buy)

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by botticelli

It only takes a two bedroom apartment for a family of 4.

Nowadays for some reason, people don't think a 3 year old and a 6 year need to have their own bedrooms. Weird thinking. All you need is a master bedroom and a second bedroom for the two kids to share. What else do you need?

A dining room? A guest room? Family room? Party room? All frivolous. You eat, watch TV and read in the same living room, problem solved. Have a desk in the bedroom if you do occasional reading or work.

So often a family of 4 complain about the lack of "space" in a 1800sf two bedroom house. I just want to slap the housewife's face and tell her stop buying the crap the family doesn't really need which just end up in some corner collecting dust 350 days of the year.

And Americans own way too many kitechen utensils for the food they are able to prepare. The French and Chinese with their tiny kitchen and limited number of "tools" are able to produced far better food than a typical American housewife who can hardly make anything other than steak, sandwiches and patato, yet she thinks it is necessary to have a skillet just to fry eggs.

i don't disagree with you, but it certainly is not your place to judge others. maybe you could be comfortable living with a family of four in a <1000sf condo, but most are not. if people choose to live in mcmansions in the distance suburbs then it's their choice and they can deal with what i would consider a miserable commute. this is not france or china and people were not raised to live in that fashion. the bottom line is that people have choices here and i think that's a good thing.

[ExeterMedia]

I guess you do what works for you. If you can stomach 4 people in a 2 bedroom condo, more power to you.

I prefer having a guest room for when my family comes over, or a friend, and a nice 400 sqft office where I can sit in peace and quiet while I work on client projects. It's also nice to be able to go into the backyard, stare at the ocean, play catch with the kids, and just enjoy the breeze.

High density buildings give me claustrophobia and honestly seem a little dystopian (little worker robots going home to their coves, etc).

[yby1]

Our family of 4 needed a house. lol.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by botticelli

So You buy what you can afford.

Pretty much sums it up. Why anyone would think they could buy their dream home when they're in their mid-20s is beyond me.

[Des-Lab]

If you wish to live in the desirable areas, you gotta pony up.

Cough up the cash or choose somewhere else.

End of discussion.

[botticelli]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

i don't disagree with you, but it certainly is not your place to judge others. maybe you could be comfortable living with a family of four in a <1000sf condo, but most are not. if people choose to live in mcmansions in the distance suburbs then it's their choice and they can deal with what i would consider a miserable commute. this is not france or china and people were not raised to live in that fashion. the bottom line is that people have choices here and i think that's a good thing.

I am not judging what people want ... sure, if I can afford to, I'd love a 5 bedroom house with a tennis court and pool too.. but I simply don't have the means, neither do most people in LA.

All I am saying is that to own a big house is not a necessity. If you can afford one, good for you, if you can't, which means your skills and education are not good enough for the city you live in for that kind of lifestyle, why complain? When you can't buy a Lamborghnini, you buy a Honda, what's the big deal?

What most doing is complaining "how come I can't buy a Lamborghni in this freaking city" as if owning one is a necessity. That's not a choice. A choice would be similar that is viable. When something is completely out of reach, it is not a choice.

Wanting a big house with plenty of rooms unused for half of the year and don't make that much money, easy, move to Texas or Nebraska. It simply mean you can't get what you want in LA.

[botticelli]

Originally Posted by yby1

Our family of 4 needed a house. lol.

If you have the money.
What you really need really depends on what you've got. Don't families in New York City and London need houses too?

In reality, nobody really needs a house. It is nothing but a sense of entitlement out of habit.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by botticelli

If you have the money.
What you really need really depends on what you've got. Don't families in New York City and London need houses too?

In reality, nobody really needs a house. It is nothing but a sense of entitlement out of habit.

This is kinda interesting as I just heard about a friend that has a 3bedroom house, it's just them two ..a married couple, but they are now thinking of getting a bigger house because they are planning to have two kids at some point..

[yby1]

Originally Posted by botticelli

If you have the money.
What you really need really depends on what you've got. Don't families in New York City and London need houses too?

In reality, nobody really needs a house. It is nothing but a sense of entitlement out of habit.

I honestly think people need space. Whether a family can live happily in cosmo, urban confines really depend on their means. Do we *really* need a house and do kids really need their own room? No, but it is preferable IMO.

It's nice to have the kids play out in the yard and that outside play is not a half the day or entire day destination. It's nice to have a home office that is not shared with the living room and a million other distractions....it can actually lead to more work, which equals more money.

It's nice to keep sports gear in the garage and not cluttering living space.

The reality is that it's becoming increasingly more expensive to buy a home in Los Angeles as a middle income family when that was not the case 20 years ago. It's not really a complaint, but just reality.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by yby1

I honestly think people need space. Whether a family can live happily in cosmo, urban confines really depend on their means. Do we *really* need a house and do kids really need their own room? No, but it is preferable IMO.

It's nice to have the kids play out in the yard and that outside play is not a half the day or entire day destination. It's nice to have a home office that is not shared with the living room and a million other distractions....it can actually lead to more work, which equals more money.

It's nice to keep sports gear in the garage and not cluttering living space.

The reality is that it's becoming increasingly more expensive to buy a home in Los Angeles as a middle income family when that was not the case 20 years ago. It's not really a complaint, but just reality.

Yeah definitely,and incomes haven't gone up that much in 20yrs for most people.

For people that are waiting for prices to come down, it doesn't make sense. If you have your eye on an area where homes are 1million..even if theres a drastic drop, like 30%...its still going to be $700,000

Even during the worst recession/housing crash homes in the nice parts of L.A didnt go down too much really. Reason for this is those areas have a lot of retired people or people that bought a long time ago with low mortgages or no mortgage...they didn't attract the FHA /first time home buyers as much as other areas.