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Old 04-13-2018, 01:44 PM
 
Location: In the Redwoods
30,286 posts, read 51,826,004 times
Reputation: 23660

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Quote:
Originally Posted by mossly View Post
My husband is in tech but I am not. All of my co-workers who own homes at my not-in-tech jobs either:

* grew up here and still live with parents
* grew up here and bought years ago, when houses were not as expensive as they are now
* moved here 8 or 10 years ago, when houses were not as expensive as they are now
Precisely. I have many colleagues (at the library) who own homes, but they either bought 10+ years ago, or have spouses with higher-paying jobs. A few of the older staff members have owned here since the 1960's-70's, and now sit on properties worth MILLIONS for which they paid like $80-100K. I've asked a few why they don't sell and run, but they answer in two ways: Taxes on the sale would kill them, and/or they're not ready to relocate but wouldn't be able to re-purchase anything else nearby. So for now they just sit pretty with no mortgage, as they go "neener neener" to the rest of us.

I've actually been here (on & off) since 1983, and really wish I'd purchased when I returned after college in 2002. But my situation was just too unstable, with grad school followed by job/town-hopping for a number of years... now that I'm finally more stable in terms of work, the market is too insane for me!! Arrrgh.
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Old 04-14-2018, 09:41 AM
 
150 posts, read 185,950 times
Reputation: 211
Quote:
I've actually been here (on & off) since 1983, and really wish I'd purchased when I returned after college in 2002. But my situation was just too unstable, with grad school followed by job/town-hopping for a number of years... now that I'm finally more stable in terms of work, the market is too insane for me!! Arrrgh.
Right there with you! My husband and I moved to the Washington, DC area in 2002. We could have bought a little townhouse or a condo then. At the time, the mortgage would have been similar to our rent, and low/no downpayment loans were abundant.

While it hasn't reached the stratospheric levels of the Bay Area, DC has still seen a ton of growth - had we played our cards right, we could have rolled that profit into a bigger house down the road. Even, if we were very good, had enough profit for a healthy downpayment on a house in SJ once we decided to settle here. We'd be comfortable in our housing situation instead of constantly wondering how long we want to be here paying sky-high rent - if we'll ever be able to afford to buy here or if we should set our sights on moving (again) in a few years.

But in 2002, my husband was in grad school and we didn't know where we'd be living long-term. It felt risky to buy. All the reasons we didn't go for it were perfectly sensible and rational at the time. And now that buying is the thing that 100% makes sense, we can't get in.

Ah well. I will say I knew people who were underwater and dealing with job loss circa 2008. They greatly envied us for not being tied to a house. It's not a ton of comfort now, but it was then.
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Old 04-16-2018, 01:53 AM
 
30,876 posts, read 36,845,439 times
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Since when is San Jose affordable? Less astronomical does not equal affordable.
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Old 04-16-2018, 04:02 PM
 
215 posts, read 259,464 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
Since when is San Jose affordable? Less astronomical does not equal affordable.
I think this should be repeated. We have acquaintances who are buying townhomes at $1M in a hurry because they are afraid it will get out of reach in the South bay and I just think its such a bad idea.

Can't afford in a year or two still means they are paying an astronomical amount now . I really hope the downturn will be mild .
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