Don't come to LA unless you have a couple million $$$ in your bank account (Davis: mortgage, houses)

[BlinkingBlythe]

I wonder how the housing situation in LA is now compared to what it was during the bat5#;? insane housing bubble of 5 years ago (when this thread was started)?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by BlinkingBlythe

I wonder how the housing situation in LA is now compared to what it was during the bat5#;? insane housing bubble of 5 years ago (when this thread was started)?

Depending on what part of southern California most housing is down 10% to 40% and interest rates are down a point or two.

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

The land might have been "cheap" but getting the money to pay for it was no walk in the park.

It may not have been a "walk in the park" but I do recall the time my curmudgeonly 70ish neighbor in Santa Monica once bragged to me on a city sidewalk circa 1995 that he bought his (north of Montana Ave.) house in the 1950's with money he made "working as a part-time delivery boy for a local liquor store" while going to junior college and that "kids" of my generation (@ age 25 at the time in professional school) just didn't have the same "gumption" or "resolve" or whatever word he used. That conversation helped answer ALOT of questions I was asking myself at the time and eventually led to a very, very good place and situation, not in Cali.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

It may not have been a "walk in the park" but I do recall the time my curmudgeonly 70ish neighbor in Santa Monica once bragged to me on a city sidewalk circa 1995 that he bought his (north of Montana Ave.) house in the 1950's with money he made "working as a part-time delivery boy for a local liquor store" while going to junior college and that "kids" of my generation (@ age 25 at the time in professional school) just didn't have the same "gumption" or "resolve" or whatever word he used. That conversation helped answer ALOT of questions I was asking myself at the time and eventually led to a very, very good place and situation, not in Cali.

How so? Back then you could just get by with hard work and dedication. People came to the US or started off with a few dollars in their pockets and made it grow into millions. Or land was so cheap back then you could buy a bunch and 30 years later you were an instant millionaire.

Now it's nothing like that. The only rags to riches stories I have heard in recent times was the dot coms and that's pretty much done for too. Everything is much harder now. Just having "gumption" and "resolve" (tell that to the millions of unemployed searching for anything at all) isn't enough.

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

Just having "gumption" and "resolve" (tell that to the millions of unemployed searching for anything at all) isn't enough.

That's exactly the point. When a neighborhood gentrifies from being "liquor-store-delivery-boy-affordable" in the 1950's to being "major-hit-sitcom-star-affordable" in the 1990's, the window of opportunity has long-since slammed shut and a young person looking for anything resembling a normal family-friendly existence is well-served to exit - stage left - and quick. I personally took upwards of 150K and 8 years worth of CA taxpayer-funded public university education with me and moved out-of-state immediately after getting the final degree. Without intending to, my curmudgeonly neighbor pretty well illuminated the facts of SoCal life circa 1995 and beyond. Had a very very strong sense my generation was being generously assigned the role of "Sucker" in the great SoCal game of real estate musical chairs. Had no interest being a recent buyer when the music stopped.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

That's exactly the point. When a neighborhood gentrifies from being "liquor-store-delivery-boy-affordable" in the 1950's to being "major-hit-sitcom-star-affordable" in the 1990's, the window of opportunity has long-since slammed shut and a young person looking for anything resembling a normal family-friendly existence is well-served to exit - stage left - and quick. I personally took upwards of 150K and 8 years worth of CA taxpayer-funded public university education with me and moved out-of-state immediately after getting the final degree. Without intending to, my curmudgeonly neighbor pretty well illuminated the facts of SoCal life circa 1995 and beyond. Had a very very strong sense my generation was being generously assigned the role of "Sucker" in the great SoCal game of real estate musical chairs. Had no interest being a recent buyer when the music stopped.

While the nice places in the LA city limits are still more expensive than most places, communities in the outskirts are not prohibitively more expensive than many places with jobs outside of CA. Places like Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Mission Viejo, Yorba Linda, Chino Hills, Tustin, Rancho Cucamonga, Lake Forest, and Ranch Santa Margarita. They're not cheap, and a person won't get as big a home as in other states, but they're realistic options for people making $80K to $100K or so.

Beautiful homes with good schools which recently sold for the $300Ks:

27292 EASTRIDGE Dr, Lake Forest, CA 92630 | MLS# P732236

11632 MOUNT WAVERLY Ct, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737 | MLS# C10122968

23842 LAURELWOOD Ln, Valencia, CA 91354 | MLS# F1852148

1586 ANDREA Cir, Simi Valley, CA 93065 | MLS# I10123207

1901 Rutgers Dr, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

17806 BAILEY Dr, Torrance, CA 90504 | MLS# Y1007778

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

It may not have been a "walk in the park" but I do recall the time my curmudgeonly 70ish neighbor in Santa Monica once bragged to me on a city sidewalk circa 1995 that he bought his (north of Montana Ave.) house in the 1950's with money he made "working as a part-time delivery boy for a local liquor store" while going to junior college and that "kids" of my generation (@ age 25 at the time in professional school) just didn't have the same "gumption" or "resolve" or whatever word he used.

No offense to your "curmudgeonly 70ish neighbor" but all the "curmudgeonly 70ish" old coots I knew in 1995 would probably call his bluff and or/tell him he was full of it. And that would include my dad, my in-laws and most of their friends who were in L.A. in the early 50's. People struggled.

(As soon as some old guy starts telling you young people today don't have any gumption, run the other way. And my old-retired-guy dad, rest his soul, would be the first one to give you that advice.)

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

It may not have been a "walk in the park" but I do recall the time my curmudgeonly 70ish neighbor in Santa Monica once bragged to me on a city sidewalk circa 1995 that he bought his (north of Montana Ave.) house in the 1950's with money he made "working as a part-time delivery boy for a local liquor store" while going to junior college and that "kids" of my generation (@ age 25 at the time in professional school) just didn't have the same "gumption" or "resolve" or whatever word he used. That conversation helped answer ALOT of questions I was asking myself at the time and eventually led to a very, very good place and situation, not in Cali.

That's cute.

On the one hand, it's true - I'm 27, and the work ethic of a lot of people my age is frightening. The fact that we started our adult years during a time (the credit boom) where money grew on trees, The Secret was changing lives because people were positively manifesting new credit cards to buy crap they didn't need and whatnot didn't help the situation.

In terms of manners, social graces, and maturity, I'm mortified what people ten years younger than me bring to the table, but I think that as a whole, people from their late teens to early 20's actually have a somewhat better work ethic from what I've seen already, because they are coming into their adult years into an economy where jobs are tough to find, money isn't falling from the sky, and a college degree is no longer in any way, shape, or form a guarantee of a job!

When people talk about all this "lack of gumption," I wonder if they realize that a house costs 100x what it did when they bought one, that cars cost 10x what they did, and incomes are only up a fraction of that

[Stevedr83]

Revisiting my post after 5 years. I no longer live in California, just couldn't see spending my entire life chasing a dream that died generations ago. I truly feel for those still there, especially those that are starting out. You're playing against a stacked deck, unless you are already established, you're an outsider looking in. Go find a state, any state, where you can actually own some land, some assets, that this wonderful country has to offer. Trust me when I say this, you will reach a time in your life when you look back and wonder where the time has gone, and then you'll wonder how am I going to support myself for the time that's not gone. I have news for all you, we're all going to be in the same place 100 years from now, so you better enjoy what you have while you still have it. Signed a native ex-Californian.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Stevedr83

I no longer live in California, just couldn't see spending my entire life chasing a dream that died generations ago. I truly feel for those still there, especially those that are starting out. You're playing against a stacked deck, unless you are already established, you're an outsider looking in. Go find a state, any state, where you can actually own some land, some assets, that this wonderful country has to offer. Trust me when I say this, you will reach a time in your life when you look back and wonder where the time has gone, and then you'll wonder how am I going to support myself for the time that's not gone. I have news for all you, we're all going to be in the same place 100 years from now, so you better enjoy what you have while you still have it. Signed a native ex-Californian.

I live in California...I have news for all you, we're all going to be in the same place 100 years from now, so you better enjoy what you have while you still have it. Signed a native Californian.