Comments on: California Budget and Mega Housing Analysis – MLS Listing Shows 115,000 Homes and Shadow Inventory has 273,000 Homes Statewide. Cities Running out of Money and Tax Collections at 2000 Levels.

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:35:05 +0000

CAP all future and CURRENT PUBLIC pensions in California at 80-100K. Roll back all pensions above 100K!!!

By: RL

RL — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:25:53 +0000

to Banner,
Thanks for the advice. We are saving a lot. But that still does not mean we want to use are hard earned savings to buy a house not worth its price tag!
- not even close.

By: Banner

Banner — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:03:41 +0000

to RL:
If you have a combined income of $180K, you should easily be able to save
$45,000. to $50,000. a year. (On an income of $130k in San Francisco, we save about $35,000. a year.)
Save for 5 years, and you would have a 50% down payment, on a $500,000. house.

By: Sabin Figaro

Sabin Figaro — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:46:26 +0000

@NewWife
Very smart. We are all mortals and no matter how much we possess under the sun, the most we can take with us is our spirit. Ownership is incredibly overrated, but the Manhatters (note one letter from Man-Haters) make all the movies, control all the media, tell us how we should live and how great a financial move it is to buy a home. The only way it’s a good deal is if you have no ability to save otherwise and you would have blown the money anyway, and then maybe sell into the next bubble. But sometimes the next bubble is a decade or more away, a job change, a divorce–risky. Renting is not the perfect answer, but most of the time it makes a lot of sense and affords the flexibility needed in the fluid world we live in today.

By: RL

RL — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:33:47 +0000

NewWife,
Welcome to the craziness!! My husband and I lived in LA (renting in Miracle Mile for many years) and we just moved to OC (city of Orange- “old town”) where we have been renting a small duplex for less than a year with are almost 4 year old son. We have been looking at real estate in both of these areas over the last 5 years. Nothing has really changed in the “decent” areas. We are both working professional with the same employment for the last 12 years. Our salaries have been pretty much the same over these years at about $180k – 190k combined. We have no debt, excellent credit, $$ for a decent down payment and yet we are in no position to buy in the “middle class” areas of OC or LA. It is truly incredible how long this has lasted…we are optomistic for a 2nd dip in the housing market (maybe it will be more significant than the 1st!).
By the way, one of my colleagues has been looking in Torrance over the last 7 years and he is also priced out, but is happy renting!