»
Discussion
»
The Alley
»
CA real estate - holy cow!
| The Alley |
|
CA real estate - holy cow! |
|
|
Skyfyre Senior Member
since 1999-08-15
Posts 1906Sitting in Michael's Lap 
|
Just to keep this short .. 4 years ago when I moved out here to CA, I could buy a 3/2 house on a "normal" lot (1/4 acre or so) for ~$75,000. Those same houses today, with absolutely no improvements, are going for $300,000+. What gives? It's not just my little town either. I checked the classified ads in a few little towns upstate which had similar prices back when I moved here, and surprise! They still have similar prices - all in the $300k-$400k range. Now I realize that prices go up, and that's the natural way of things. However, I think that real estate values QUADRUPLING in a 4-year-or-less period borders on ridiculous. There have been no major improvements to our town - well, they *did* put in a new stoplight, bringing our grand total to three - but no new employers, retail outfits, etc of note have come to town. The population still hovers in the 8k-9k range. Anyone who's market savvy care to give me a clue as to what might have prompted this crazy change? I'm stumped. ~Linda, who will NOT be buying a house in CA anytime soon ... |
||
| © Copyright 2004 Linda Anderson - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Whatever it was, the leftist press will say it wasn't due to economic growth. *massive tongue in cheek action* |
||
|
Not A Poet Member Elite
since 1999-11-03
Posts 3885Oklahoma, USA |
Well, I can only wish you had bought one back when they were $75k or so  |
||
Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
I'm wondering where in the heck in CA you could buy anything for $75K 4 years ago!!!  I bought a house in CA ( near the beach) for $75000 in 1978....on a normal city sized lot about 75'x100', and not even in a prime area. SHEESH! Sadly, my business failures of 1980 took the house and both cars. Wow, I wonder what that place would sell for now! LOL, I was in the RE sales business for four years, and can tell you, not much of that inflated market makes sense to me either. |
||
|
Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
I hear that. Inflation was rampant in the 70's. My parents managed to find a very nice place on 1/4 acre corner lot on a residential/commercial street for 63k in 86 in coastal Texas. Only reason was the seller was nervous about the retail market, which went belly up a few weeks later. |
||
|
Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
Actually, the Left will say that quadrupling rising housing prices is insane. The Left will say that everybody should have a decent place to live regardless (With an earnest, self-righteous gaze that looks something like a religious zealot). The Right will say that's the free market in action (With a smug, self-righteous shrug that makes one think of Dick Cheney). |
||
|
ice Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404Pennsylvania |
Perhaps if you make over $200,000 a year, and you are given a big tax break, you can afford the inflated price of a house in California or anywhere else in the U.S...It seems to me that tax breaks for the rich work in two ways...Yes, they do release more money into the general economy, that is simple math...But the off paper values seem to have socially negative bottom lines..More available money for the affluent seems to drive the price of everything up, most assuredly the essentials of life...food, shelter, clothing etc. The spike in price of housing that is spoken of in this thread reminds me of the Reagan era, when housing in my native Bucks County, Pa. went through the roof...when reality set in, there were countless numbers of repossessions, and bankrupt developers were common...Houses selling there for $400,000 at the end of the gippers term are selling for $250,000 today... Reality made those prices trickle down, Tax breaks for the rich allows them to trickle on the middle class and poor, it is the nature of the capitalist beast, that is why we have laws to restrict the beast from lifting its leg on the common man...ok, ok you can classify me as liberal if you want, point out that the neo cons have given most of the tax brackets a tax break, but math tells you that a couple thousand dollar a year break will not buy you shelter in a market that has quadrupled in 4 years... [This message has been edited by ice (10-06-2004 07:54 AM).] |
||
|
Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Prices have escalated, and have peaked. Expect housing costs to plummet shortly, though some of the absurd pricing was due in part, at least to me, from price gouging following the destructive hurricane season in the Gulf states on timber and building supplies. Also to blame are the inflated, convoluted, and byzantine building codes California loves to impose upon itself. I don't include those necessary for earthquake zones in that batch. |
||
|
Skyfyre Senior Member
since 1999-08-15
Posts 1906Sitting in Michael's Lap |
Ick, let's not turn this into another right- wing left-wing argument please ... enough of politics already! I'm not even voting this year because - well, what's the point? Democrats will take CA by a huge margin like they always do, for all the "your vote counts!!" propaganda, the truth is that unless you live in a battleground state, it really doesn't. Heh, I only wish I'd had the cash to buy a house 4 years ago - heck, I wish I'd gone into real estate then, and invested some ... I've poked around and it seems like this is a California phenomenon ... Florida housing costs near my former residence, for example, haven't changed all that much other than your standard inflation. In answer to where you could buy a house 4 years ago in CA for 75k, we're about 2 hours north of LA in the mountains, so not near any coast or anything ... just as a reference, we're about a 20-minute drive from the Mojave desert. |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||
