I'm tired of the development! (Riverside, Ontario: sales, foreclosure, mortgages)

[NewportBorn]

Originally Posted by youngmoney

People bash COOKIE CUTTER's like no tomorrow, but what's funny is that they often also bash affordability. Why bash cookie cutters and then encourage less efficient homes (that cost more)? The reason why Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix have gone for years under the reputation of affordability. I know that OC has done a better job at it than LA or SF.

Being a die-hard conservative, I watch my money and expenses so I don't want crowds but I do want cheap homes (so we can invest more in businesses and the stock market). I would move into a $600k cookie cutter any day if it means saving $200k.

California will never be as affordable as Texas. It's going to present major problems. Our representatives are acting on high prices obviously since a lot of them love illegal immigration (which is a decent population control (to scare domestic Americans away to other states). Other rep's, probably like in the Bay Area, like the authority of not having anyone who can not afford a $1,000,000 home so they can continue with their idealism (do as I say, not as I do-type deal). Other reps, in Santa Monica, enact rent control which is designed to hurt the rich, but actually ends up hurting everybody (rich or poor). There is no clear solution, but a short-term one clear to developers- Build.

I don't know what your saying man, Cookie Cutters are usually more expensive then the non tract homes counterparts.

Mainly because your paying more for a newer construction home, AND you have to usually pay a big amount of HOA fees and sometimes mello roos.

[sheri257]

I just moved from SoCal to the Central Coast this past year, where there are a lot more development restrictions. I went from fighting traffic every single day with lots of smog and pollution to ...

Virtually no traffic, no crowds, wide open spaces and a much better quality of life. Yes, even with the housing crash I'm going to be paying more for housing but ... to me it's totally worth it.

[sheri257]

Originally Posted by youngmoney

California will never be as affordable as Texas.

Good. I don't want it to become like Texas. I lived out in the California desert during the boom where they were building tract home after tract home. Do you know what happened?

The traffic got much worse, the air quality got much worse (there never used to be any smog out there but now there is ...)

And there was no new infrastructure to accomodate the huge influx of people. It was ridiculous. Home Depots were going into areas with only one single lane highway where traffic was backed up for miles. Roads with no drainage which would flood with every storm.

Yeah ... there were more places to shop but it was a huge hassle just to try to get to the mall and find a parking space.

Give me development restrictions any day ... if that means I've got to pay higher prices, so be it.

[NewportBorn]

Originally Posted by sheri257

I just moved from SoCal to the Central Coast this past year, where there are a lot more development restrictions. I went from fighting traffic every single day with lots of smog and pollution to ...

Virtually no traffic, no crowds, wide open spaces and a much better quality of life. Yes, even with the housing crash I'm going to be paying more for housing but ... to me it's totally worth it.

Nice, what city if you don't mind me asking?

[cobmw]

Yes you went from fighting traffic to no crowds. But there are also no jobs! Development brings business opportunities. SLO is a jobs wasteland. Unless you are able to work for the state, the county, the city or a hospital you are likely not going to find work. There are very few private employers of any significant size in SLO. Could the growth controls and the resulting high living costs have chased them away? I remember a guitar maker who had to leave because his employees could not afford to live there.

You are lucky to have found a way to live in such a nice, exclusive area. Most people coming to CA might as well look elsewhere.

[yo vanilla]

I think some of us may have missed the point of the original post. When I read "I'm tired of the development" I interpreted it as "I'm tired of the over development". Some are right, like cobmw, saying no development = no jobs, or new developments keep prices in check. But others are right by saying over-development turns low property prices into worthless properties, and litters the landscape with thoughtless sprawl built on the cheap. That's not the way to make the economy thrive, it's the way to make a cheap buck with no thought of future sustainment.

Take SLO as en example, I've been doing a bit of research on the area. Perhaps they're going to a bit of an extreme with the restrictions; there's no real job market. But flip-flop them; what if they said have at it, and all of a sudden a slew of tract houses are built, now all of a sudden everyone's complaining that the landscape is ugly, filled with an abundance of new (most likely less than ideal) residents looking for cheap housing, and still the only place to work is Wal-Mart and Chili's. What kind of jobs are those to have, really? And my guess is there still wouldn't be any real companies moving to the area.

Now take another extreme, the nicknamed Forclosure Alley down in the inland empire. GQ just had an interesting article on it. Too much overdevelopment; houses sprang up everywhere and still they all drove 75 miles to work. Now they've got something like 500 foreclosures/week (due to the snowball effect of yay! development + get these people mortgages any way you can) and it's a ghost town.

It's obvious by what everyone says in the case of SLO that they have plenty of residents already who just work elsewhere. The answer isn't get more residents, the answer is carefull development and the city/county should more to attract real companies to set up shop.

[greggd]

Bigger is not always better.

Controlled growth that enhances quality of life of the residential community should be the primary goal, not developer spurred growth.

The more they build the more people will move into the region. If they build 1 million homes, people will come from other regions and live there. I would rather not see So. Calif attempt to house everyone in the U.S. that is planning or not planning a move here.

[serialdriller]

Originally Posted by NewportBorn

IF you can't afford the housing wait until the market rides out, or go somewhere else.

Sorry, but thats why there is IE.

Hey not all of us were lucky enough to have rich parents and be born in newport beach/OC...

[NewportBorn]

Originally Posted by serialdriller

Hey not all of us were lucky enough to have rich parents and be born in newport beach/OC...

Look Orange County is a desired place, and it shouldn't be ruined because everyone wants to live there.

NY NY isn't cheap either, there is a price you gotta pay.

IF people didn't live beyond there means and buy at the height of the market, I see no reason why they eventually could have lived in orange county

And if you call driving a $6,000 car spoiled, fine by me.

[DezertGirl]

Hey! What's wrong with the IE???
Talk about overdevelopment...check out Temecula, land of pretty hills covered by earth-toned, red tile roofed, brochure-perfect, "12-Floor-Plans-To-Choose-From tract homes, habitat to the Suburban Keep-Up-With-The-Jones-Smiths-Steins-Chungs people. ROFL!
Anyone want a small beautiful custom built View Home nestled on 5.25 acres, fenced and cross-fenced for horses, 2 wells, a windmill and a rental trailer and the best down-to-earth neighbors anyone could ever dream of, located in the winter wonderland mountains of SoCal (IE)? We're trying to escape to OREGON!!!!