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As a first time home buyer, I fell in love with a house that was listed by owner. My realtor looked at the comps and told me that the house was overpriced by approximately $30,000. (At that time I did not know that my lender would do an appraisal on the house. If if was overpriced, I would have to come up with the extra money on my own or ask the seller to split the difference, or back out of the deal. All this I did not know at the time) So, my realtor asked me what I wanted to do. He said the owner had the house on the market numerous times in the last several years. We got the feeling that the owner was hoping somebody would pay what he was asking and if not, he would not sell. If I remember correctly the house was about 3 years old.
In comes ex Mr. and Mrs. California and they really love the house (just like I did). It's a bargain from where they come. So they buy the house even though it is overpriced. Probably pay cash for it too!
Only takes one willing and able buyer and the payoff is real provided the situation is right.
Same thing happens in California... people cashing in tech stock options flush with cash have been snapping up semi rural areas at prices that cannot be supported by AG...
This seems to be a problem in other states. Someone moves from California and buys a home in another state. People in that state complain that their property taxes are now going to go up because someone from California moved in and paid a lot more than the house was worth.
I know plenty of people that left California and moved to other states. I don't know any of them that set out to pay more for a home than it was worth. For those that sold homes in California and moved to another state one of the motivating factors was the lower cost price of homes. They were not looking to spend any more on the home then anyone else. For those in California that moved because they could not afford a home in California the same applies, the reason they were moving was because they wanted to own a home and could not afford to do it in California.
Our neighbors three houses down just sold the home that they have lived in for 8 years. The husband's job ended 6 months ago when the business he was working for closed that location. They did not have any other jobs in the area so him and his wife decided to sell and transfer to Arizona. I am betting that the equity they had could pay for a home in cash in Arizona but I am betting that they are not going to pay more than anyone else would pay. I have no idea what they will do anyway. Maybe they just put a large down payment on a place. I don't know. I do know it sounds ridiculous that they would pay more than someone already living in Arizona.
My wife has looked at other places and loves the lower prices. She seems to think we could sell our home and pay cash somewhere else for a home. After we look at what we have where we live now, beautiful weather, low humidity, year round temp's in the mid 70's on average, the ocean near by, a nice income, and working for a place we love, it makes it hard to jump ship for someplace else. I doubt we will ever move. So don't worry about me coming to your state and paying more for a home than it is worth.
So tell me, why do people think that us California people are going to increase your property taxes?
When I planned a move to Idaho in the 1960's we ran into that when looking for a home. People threw rocks at our car as we drove around and any time we looked at property we got that attitude. I hightailed it back to CA.
In 2005 one of our local art teachers retired. He'd been living in a small plantation house. It was housing built for workers by the sugar cane company. Small house, small lot, small identical houses on every side. Great ocean view, but that also means it was built on a hillside. The cane company would usually site the houses where it wasn't easy to grown sugar cane. He'd gotten the house for about $50K - $80K about a decade earlier.
He puts it on the market for $460K. I have no idea how he came up with that number, a 'real' price would have been well below $200K. Someone from California bought it sight unseen over the internet about two days after it was listed. He took the money and ran off to Mexico and has been sending back occasional notes probably written under the influence of something from the tone of them.
The neighbors told me that the wife broke out in tears when she saw what they'd bought. They proceeded to tear out the kitchen and 'renovate' the entire house, but lipstick on a pig would be more appropriate than their 'renovations'. Trying to make a McMansion out of a cane house is futile. I think they're still there, but that's probably because they're so upside down on the price they'll never be able to recoup. In the meantime, the rest of the neighborhood has entertainment, I guess.
As you might imagine given these pricetags, it is the New York hedge fund managers who come in and outbid us simple Californians trying to buy a ski house.
It reminds me of this famous newspaper clipping in Palo Alto:
Last edited by SportyandMisty; 08-11-2017 at 03:21 PM..
When I planned a move to Idaho in the 1960's we ran into that when looking for a home. People threw rocks at our car as we drove around and any time we looked at property we got that attitude. I hightailed it back to CA.
I've heard lots of stories like that from back in the 60s. Its really not that common any more because so many people are from California that live in Idaho. Meridian and Eagle are basically "Little California" now full of ugly tract homes and strip malls.
Every year when we got the first snow we would see brand new four wheel drive trucks and SUVs in all the ditches like clockwork. Most Californian's dont know how to drive on snow and ice.
California's are a mixed bag like everyone else, but they are a large enough group to really change the character of smaller places.
The thing that seems to be missed in a lot of these discussions is that your California transplants were likely Midwestern transplants originally. California is often just a stop for transient professionals. And we're not particularly homogeneous. For every true blue northerner coming your way, there's likely a cohort from the other side of the aisle moving from the southland. Furthermore, having huge profits from a house sale doesn't necessarily translate into a flyover country McMansion. Some of us buy modest houses and pack the rest of the money into our retirements funds.
My sister moved to Camarillo in the mid-60's...back then, it was great...now, it's a paved, concreted, overpriced & overcrowded suburb.
California is dead, destroyed, and this is coming from a native Southern Californian.
Listen to your wife.
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