Only 17 percent of California homes affordable to teachers: A typical California home costs $200,000 more than an average teacher can afford.

California’s housing affordability is once again in an unreachable level for most working professionals.  You get Taco Tuesday baby boomers jawboning their children to purchase a modest home but that turns out to be a rundown crap shack costing $700,000.  So many California adults live at home with mom and dad since rents are also high.  Redfin put together some data showing that only 17 percent of homes in California are affordable to an average teacher with an annual salary of $73,536.  When looking at the data you will see that the coast is becoming an even more expensive enclave and many homes are being bought by investors, foreigner buyers, and dual income households.  The last group is the one that is in the position for a large shock since they are buying in many cases to pop out a brood and largely don’t factor in the cost of childcare once the little ones come into the world.  But like most things in California, people live on the absolute financial edge and that edge just got much closer.

Lesson for today:  Your teacher lives in a van by the river

van-by-the-river

Your typical California home now costs for $500,000.  That is $200,000 more than your typical teacher can afford.  Rents eat up a lot for many workers so coming out with that fantastical down payment that makes the numbers work so beautifully is largely done by the bank of mom and dad.  Of course this is doable for a professional working couple.  There is no doubt about that.  You can also get six-pack abs but it takes wicked discipline on diet and working out and that is something most don’t have.  I mean think about it for a second when the typical crap shack costs $700,000 in an area that has OK schools and looks like a toddler’s rendering of a home.  So that 20 percent down payment is $140,000.  House humping beer belly HGTV fanatics act as if this was super easy to come by, especially for broke Millennials.

Redfin’s recent report is somewhat comical in terms of how unaffordable most of California is for the typical worker:

california-teacher-affordable

Here are 5 areas where less than 1 percent of teachers can buy a home:

-San Mateo

-Santa Clara

-San Francisco

-Sonoma

-Santa Cruz

But look at how it is for SoCal too.  Orange County is at 3.2%, San Diego is at 3.6%, and Los Angeles comes in at 7.1%.  The only reason L.A. is higher is because there are many more markets that have horrible schools and older homes that need lots of work.  In these cases, you would need to plunk down $500,000 and hope things work out.

But there is a glimmer of hope.  The inland areas are much more affordable.  However we have talked about the health destroying commute millions take just to afford their McMansion in an area that might as well be in Arizona or Nevada.  I’m sure that you’ve heard that sitting is the new smoking right?  But who cares!  You get to own a home and have the privilege of being stuck in god awful traffic for 1, 2, 3, or even 4 hours a day.

People are cutting it extremely close.  So you might say, “screw the average teacher, let them live in a van and have them teach my kid.”  That might work until you have kids.  Then you get desperate for good schools and those areas cost an arm or a leg or you buy in a “transitional” neighborhood and put your kids into private school.  You notice that the house humping brigade doesn’t bother talking about childcare when doing a home analysis but most that buy do so because of family pressure?  In California in expensive markets childcare can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $1,600 per month and that is per kid.  Many want the standard 2 kids, 2 European cars, 2 pets, and 2 paychecks to cover the massive mortgage.

So maybe that is the lesson we are learning here.  Teachers have a big responsibility in our society yet somehow, can’t buy in many areas.  And now many older Californians are wondering why millions of their adult kids are stuck at home unable to buy.  That is an interesting lesson many are learning in real time when housing becomes so unaffordable even to working professionals.

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94 Responses to “Only 17 percent of California homes affordable to teachers: A typical California home costs $200,000 more than an average teacher can afford.”

  • My teacher-friend just bought a house in La Puente. Her payments are over 2,000 per month. Single income. I wish her the best.

    • Is that good or bad?

      • More than half your income per month? What happens when Eli Broad and Walmart implement charter schools and slash teacher salaries?

      • Only a brainwashed Democrat would make such a ridiculous comment. Charter schools, like all public schools, are subject to the Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA), thus are subject to the state’s collective bargaining laws.

      • @samantha

        Actually there is good evidence that charter schools typically pay teachers much less that public schools: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/It-s-harder-for-charter-schools-to-keep-teachers-3905914.php

        Turnover rates tend to be much higher as a result of this plus the increased work hours (60-80hr a week is now considered ‘normal’ at a charter school for a teacher). Google ‘churn and burn’ if you want to know more.

        Here is a another article on the issue that I thought was pretty good due to the high quality study it references: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/charter-schools-spend-mor_n_1415995.html

        This one is a interesting look into how TfA is actively trying to drive down teacher wages and bust teacher unions to keep them from organizing and improving their livelihood: http://www.salon.com/2014/01/13/teach_for_americas_pro_corporate_union_busting_agenda_partner/

        Great, and more recent 2016, article on how charter schools are effectively sabotaging public school budgets and forcing tax raises too: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/2016/07/22/Pension-charter-schools-debt-payments-drive-school-district-budget-increases/stories/201607150008

      • tts cites articles from left-wing media like Huffington Post and Salon along with biased studies that are paid for by leftist teacher unions like CTA.

        The Center for American Progress found several common trends in charter and private schools that differ significantly from pay experiments in traditional public schools:

        (1) Charter and private schools are more likely than district schools to tie some portion of teachers’ pay to performance, and a significant number also use higher pay to fill hard-to-staff positions.

        (2) Charter and private schools also make much greater use of non-financial rewards than district schools to draw and keep the best teachers.

        (3) School-based decision-making is common in these schools, and it allows principals to adjust teacher salaries to the individual needs of their schools and to market realities in their communities. It provides room for creativity in teacher compensation and programs that respond directly to teachers’ needs. It
        allows schools to try different approaches, discarding the ones that do not work and keeping the ones that do. It makes it possible to evolve pay systems over time, adapting to new realities and new needs.

        https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2007/02/pdf/teacher_compensation.pdf

        Many of us who attended awful public schools in California wished we had the opportunity to attend charter schools instead.

      • @samantha

        “cites articles from left-wing media like Huffington Post and Salon…biased studies”
        Nope. They only look left wing vs Breitbart, Drudge, or Fox. They’re both firmly center oriented. Actual left wing biased sources would be something like Jacobin who are still actually quite good since they try to keep things as factual as possible while still having a left bias. Remember, biases based on facts are perfectly fine and sensible. Its when bias is based on emotion, false information, lies, or hearsay that its bad.

        None of the studies or facts given in the articles I linked are biased either despite their funding sources and rely heavily on other 3rd party primary sources of information, which are listed in the papers and linked in the articles, to make their conclusions. You saying otherwise isn’t proof either.

        Also its pretty hilarious for you to try and say the links I gave are left biased (and therefore somehow wrong) and then go cite the Center for American Progress which is a relatively liberal (and thus left) research + lobby group for proof.

        “The Center for American Progress found several common trends in charter”
        Yes those and other trends were noted in the articles I linked. Which you apparently didn’t read. The problem is that 1)they aren’t paying teachers enough for better performance (hence high turnover rates), 2)the non-financial rewards aren’t worth it to teachers to stick around (especially given the large amounts of extra work charter school teachers have to perform), and 3)none of the ‘different approaches’ are effective at improving teacher retention rates since what they need most is money and not crappy benefits like better parking.

        I’d also point you you’re linking to a paper from 2007 which itself is using data mostly from the late 90’s and early 2000’s (1999-2001 to be more exact) while the papers I linked are not only much more recent but use much newer, and far more extensive, data (weren’t many charter schools around in those years vs today and more of them had better funding and support thanks to mostly being in wealthier areas) all of which shows a very different end result than what was expected in the paper you linked.

        You can’t just handwave away newer data + more data + more recent papers like you’re attempting too. At least not in any reasonable way.

        “Many of us who attended awful public schools in California wished we had the opportunity to attend charter schools instead.”
        As someone who attended public schools in CA at one time and has seen charter schools I have to say you’re wishes aren’t founded in any factual basis.

        Also your or others wishes don’t and shouldn’t matter in the least here. What does matter is if charter schools are any better, more fair in their compensation towards teachers, or more cost effective than standard public schools and the data is trending towards showing that they aren’t.

    • In addition to the mortgage + interest, are you counting insurance, HOA, and property taxes? Not that it’s going to change things — 2K/month in housing costs is a ridiculous amount for middle class incomes.

      • 2K per month is a ridiculous housing cost? Maybe in Iowa or Wisconsin. In socal, that is totally normal. There is a premium you pay to live here…don’t like it, there are plenty of “affordable” places in this country.

      • El Segundo bubble

        The AVERAGE two bedroom apartment in LA is over $2k month. Even in an undesirable neighborhood $2k mortgage is a deal. Let’s just hope she works close to her house.

      • 24K/year is close to 40% of the statewide median household income. That in itself is ridiculous, not unexpected. There is nothing normal about housing costs during a bubble.

      • I’m originally from Iowa, and it is a wonderful place to live and especially to raise kids. We’d move there in a heartbeat if there were any jobs.

      • “2K per month is a ridiculous housing cost? Maybe in Iowa or Wisconsin. In socal, that is totally normal. There is a premium you pay to live here…don’t like it, there are plenty of “affordable” places in this country.”

        Lord…. hell you don’t even have to leave CA… there are plenty of places in CA.. in fact most of the state where you can buy a house for less than $250K.

      • “Lord…. hell you don’t even have to leave CA… there are plenty of places in CA.. in fact most of the state where you can buy a house for less than $250K.”

        How far from the job centers are these “affordable” houses? How do their prices compare to local incomes? 250K in L.A. might be affordable, but not in the middle of nowhere. Need some context here.

  • At one point the LA Times reported there were 17 support staff drones for every teacher. The head of the CA School system now makes more than the President of the United States.

    Even with 40% of the state budget dedicated to “education”right off the top, all that’s been done is heavyweight the money to “support staff” and administration. The teachers get the crumbs.

    Teachers are at the bottom of the food chain. More going on here than just the high cost of real estate.

    Let us also not forget the underfunded state pensions that have been promised to CA government workers. They haven’t made their projections for years and are currently in shortfall, as they are across the country.

    There are a lot of interconnecting problems in this. When it blows, it’s going to be quite scary on a whole lot of different levels.

    • Yes, when the CA state retirees pensions/benefits start failing and/or get reduced the shit is going to hit the fan.

      I read a recent article where the author was complaining about a new fireman’s work schedule proposal: a 48 hour continuous shift then 5 days off. In the comments I pointed out how ridiculous the retirement benefits are and had a couple of folks immediately respond by attacking me personally.

      Just look at what happened in Detroit and what’s about to happen in Chicago and Dallas with respect to state pensions… Plus, nakedcapitalism has done many articles on the problems within CALPERS. It’s only a matter of time as that thing is just a house of cards.

    • Pensions and annuities are generally funded by yields from bonds. I found a chart of the ten year treasury yield on Jan 1 of every year going back to 1871. The only year where the yield was below 2% before the current economic crisis was 1941. So when the pension and government retirement funds look for yield to meet current payments, where are they going to go?

  • Maybe a bit off topic, but I have no problem letting my third grade teacher from 1981 crash at my place for a while if she needs. I’m sure we can come up with an “arrangement” 😉

    On second thought, those last 35 years have probably altered things a little.

  • STRS is the state teacher retirement system. It, like its state worker counterpart CalPERS, is underwater but even more so. On top of that most citizens do not realize that STRS teachers are NOT eligible for Social Security because they do not pay in to SSI. So when they retire they likely only have STRS as a pension. And no medical past 65 either anymore.

    If they worked a SSI job outside the STRS system they can get SSI at a reduced rate if they get 40 quarters in. The rate is reduced because the system says STRS is good enough.

    Old time federal workers had this kind of system where only the gov pension paid, not SSI. It is a system designed to work you exclusive to the government for about 40 years in exchange for 100% of pay in retirement. The feds still offer lifetime medical, STRS does not. Just retirement medical to age 65. CalPERS has no medical retirement any longer…but am not sure if that includes public safety. It used to be included to age 65 depending on where yo worked in the state.

    Anyway these jobs provide ballast for housing and create help create safe neighborhoods…now new teachers must rent and hunt jobs elsewhere where they can afford to buy. That strips time away from their ability to pay down a mortgage.

    Getting a teaching job is a risky financial proposition unless you have other means.

    • I know 3 teachers in 3 different districts, they have horrible medical coverage 1500$ a month for them and there family, something is really wrong

      • I know cops in different departments all over California that pay around $1500 for medical coverage for them and their family. It’s becoming the norm. Shifting more of the costs to the consumer instead of the employer.

    • Even Forbes is whizzing on the grave of the state pension system.
      Why Investors Shouldn’t Buy Pension Obligation Muni Bonds article just published.
      You goose is cooked when the LameStreamMedia starts kicking sand in your face.
      http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2016/09/26/why-investors-shouldnt-buy-pension-obligation-muni-bonds/#6f66dc2d47dd

    • Yeah, it looks like CALSTRS is doomed for Gen. X and those that follow. I teach in the LAUSD. I’m 46 years old and I’ve paid in to STRS for 21 years. My school has a grip of teachers in their mid-to-late fifties who crow about how much they’re gonna pull down in retirement. When I tell them that their windfall makes it more likely that I’ll get stiffed, they reassure me that the state would never let CALSTRS fail. “California can’t let STRS go broke. Our state constitution forbids it!” Out of the other side of their mouths come these gems: “My husband (teacher) and I will bring in $7000 a month each in STRS because of National Board Certification.” If you ask these teachers if they think that constitutes pension spiking, they would probably say “No way! I earned it!”

      Maybe by the time I hit retirement age, they’ll just throw us into a Social Security-type system.

  • Not sure the relevance of teachers as a comparison! The almost non-existent affordability along the coastal counties of California, affects anyone or any family not making at least in the mid-$100’s, and probably means you need to be in the top quintiles of all incomes, period! The only noteworthy difference in teachers and other public employees is that ticking pension time bomb! That math, just like the sky-high coastal California housing prices doesn’t add up either! You’d think someone would wise up about all these bubbles … but then again, maybe that old ‘Valley Girl’ stereotype is a truthful assessment of Californian’s mental capacity!

    • I think they use teachers because teachers are kind of like the penultimate example of a middle class worker (if that’s not a bit of an oxymoron).

  • In the future teachers will be extinct. Our dummy Zika infected children will be taught by robots built in China and loaded with a teaching curriculum from Trump University. Only the richest 2% will be able to afford a home, and everyone else will wipe their rich a$$es and fight over tablescraps. Winning!

  • We don’t need teachers. We need programmers who write apps for our phones that let us know when we are near a celebrity. Teachers are soooo 20th century.

  • Eyes Opened Wide Lady

    I find it hard to believe we’re in a bubble in a bubble, since the original bubble was never allowed to deflate to align with real incomes (working types, not investment types), and around the 4th qtr of 2012, prices started really taking off again, never allowed to get real. We were shopping for a cash & close. Medical issue changed our lives going forward.

    2012 -Our modest shack was a mess, and we still paid $400K in Simi Valley, not moving in for 90 days, just to make it nice enough to live in. We should have paid $250K tops.

    I am livid the central banks have done this. Since the 3rd qtr 2002 housing has been an inflated mess. 14 years of this cr*p.

  • Just don’t have kids. If there are no kids then there is no need for schools and teachers. Stay single, work two jobs and buy overpriced crapshacks. Next generation? We will never run out of cheap labor. There are millions of refugees and or illegals available. Why would we want to raise teachers salaries when we need the taxpayer to bailout financial institution (in case their gambling doesn’t work out)?

  • Back in 2014 I was asked to speak at the BNY Mellon Stock Conference here in CA on Bloomberg which I presented the California affordability metric

    My model showed that 82% of the working population, once you exclude cash buyers and those making 3X median income were priced out of housing in general.

    Now, people make money here in CA, especially in the coastal cities. However, it’s no state of low wage workers to own a home unless you move out east.

    I am actually going to speak at a national conference in Austin, Texas next month about home prices with a panel of economist and home price data analyst and will explain more in details how I came up with my 82% model for CA.

    https://loganmohtashami.com/2014/12/04/bloomberg-financial-interview-at-the-bny-mellon-conference-housing-reality/

    As always, CA does have a lot dual income families that can buy but if you look at CA sales from 2012-2016, not much has gone on and it’s being supported by the high income job households ( Dual Income)

    • Logan, as you correctly point out, its supported by dual income earners who are also not contributing to their retirement accounts. So as soon as the next recession occurs, likely around 2017 after the November election, one of those earners is either going to get laid off or have their pay cut. The result will be rental or mortgage defaults, yet again.

      We are finally very near the time when everybody has forgotten of the phenomena known as the “business cycle”, and refused to believe that a downturn can every occur again.

  • Why the fixation on child care costs? Only poor people use outside child care. They way to do it is to hire a nice illegal immigrant nanny. That will only cost you a spare room, 3-500 per week in cash. if you look around hard enough you will also get full house keeping, teach your kids a foreign language and get fresh cooked meals.

    Works here in SOFL…

  • who is buying? and why the price of the house still going up?

    • Retail investors and buyers. Insiders are selling..

    • Dual income young professional couples in a strong job market + foreign investors + low interest rates + low inventory + baby boomer investors + crowdfunded REIT’s = prices we have today. Sure many people are priced out of current real estate prices and the gap between wage and prices has never been wider but that’s completely irrelevant if there are people lining up to buy what’s available (and there ain’t much available at the moment). This is why I believe there is a bubble BUT it won’t bust anytime soon because there are too many factors involved that keep these prices high and unless a few of these factors bust at the same time, there will not be a down turn, maybe a stagnation at best.

      • If the economy falls off a cliff, it’ll take care of many of those reasons pretty quickly. Housing won’t be the leading indicator again, but it won’t take long.

  • San Francisco residents moving to LA….

    Interesting from the Guardian on the artist and creatives types leaving Frisco for LA, LA, LAnd, owing to high rent and cost of living better in LA.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/26/san-francisco-move-to-la-bohemians-artists-tech-boom?CMP=fb_gu

    • there is no comparison of the social cultural environment between L.A. and The City. L.A. is a land of philistines. So sad.

      • San Francisco turned that corner around five years ago, anyways. It’s a shell of its former self. What I’m worried about is so many Bay Area people moving up here to Portland, which is becoming the new affordable, liberal enclave of culture. Don’t get me wrong, I moved here for the same reasons, but the recent techbro influx up here is nauseating. I wish the artists were moving here, not the tech people.

      • The techies are nauseating. All they do is stare at their phones and have no clue how to socialize.

  • This one hits home for me. I am a teacher. But have no fear.

    Housing To Tank Hard in 2016!

    • Go Jim!

      Seriously, though, correction is coming, but my guess is 2017. Perhaps fall 2017, since housing is not as efficient as other markets.

      All the signs of topping are here: not just “flipping”, but “flipping seminars”; Realtor licenses keep growing; smart money listing or selling (truly smart money, not big banks or REITs caught up in the system; think local feet-on-the-street veteran owners of rental units or multi-family housing who have been through cycles before)

    • ZERO CHANCE of housing ‘tanking hard’ in 2016. Not even a remote chance. At best we are looking at 2017. I will put it in writing now Jim that your magical powers of market forecasting need a severe realignment. But you’re a school teacher, so your prowess in terms of real estate forecasting should be taken with a grain of salt. I hope your zombie followers don’t take your bold cult-like predictions too seriously, otherwise they will be lost in the desert. Housing is way out of whack, but your pulse on the market is so severely off and always has been.

      • Jim was received as some kind of evangelist when he came on this site with his ‘housing to talk hard soon’ meme. It was apparent that lots of readers of this blog were hoping and praying for a crash in housing and Jim was their saviour (offering no analysis that a crash was coming) – little do they realize that if their prayer comes true, they themselves may be the victims of a tanked economy.

      • I’d rather listen to Jim’s rants than having to deal with the wishful logic of proponents of the current real estate “recovery”:

        1. Prices won’t crash…but only by 15% tops just in case they do.
        2. The threat of rising interest rates will finally bring buyers off the sidelines — after 8 years of record low rates.
        3. Mortgage lending standards are strict.
        4. Prices are not in bubble because prices are cheaper than those during the 2006 (insanity) levels based on inflation.
        5. Investors with suitcases full of cash will continue to pour cash into RE sight unseen.
        6. Rent prices justify current mortgage prices….and rents can never ever go down.
        6. Somehow, the opinions on this board will influence the general direction of the market (i.e. wishing for a RE crash will crash the general economy as well)

  • Properties still selling like hotcakes at astronomical prices here in the greater Sacramento area. The average $450k house should be $250k. But no one cares and the spigot is still wide open here. I don’t know what forces will stem this roaring market. I remain personally offended by the prices of the real estate here at the present.

    • I know some people who just bought in Sacramento area or are looking to buy. All stretching themselves with house, expensive car and other payments. All thinking their incomes will be there forever.

      • I doubt that lending standards will be stringent enough to prevent them from buying. Never doubt the government as the lender of first and last resort.

      • Sacramento is a weird market, has a way of making people think they’re rich and attracting people from other cities, even though Sacramento itself sucks (I feel like I can say this as a native, a current resident, and a world traveler) You could be in the midwest in most parts of Sacramento and not know it although you’ll pay San Diego prices. Fun times!!!!

      • SacramentoNative

        You could be in the midwest in most parts of Sacramento? Not. Most parts of Sacramento are ghetto (South Sacramento, North Sacramento, parts of Natomas, North Highlands, Arden-Arcade, etc) that are full of Section 8 Housing and run down rentals that look more like parts of Oakland or East LA.

      • Sacramento Native, by parts of the midwest I am not referring to the good parts of the midwest, I am referring to the armpits of the midwest, ie. parts of Cleveland, etc.

        You are correct that Sacramento is a ghetto hole and you named some of the wonderful Section 8 wonderland clusters that make up the incredible ‘culture’ of Sacto. However in the outlying areas that are not ghetto, you might as well be in Gary, Indiana.

      • Sacramento Native, the situation you describe of the California capitol is appropriate. It represents the state as a whole.

  • Teachers work nine months per year. If they worked 12 months they would make $98,048. increasing the percentage that could afford to buy a home.

    • Trust me. Teachers make nowhere near that much, and most have second jobs either during the summer or all year long. Also, $500K is more than even someone making $80K can reasonably afford. We make about $120K, and the top of our budget is around $450K, and the only debt we have are federal student loans.

    • Also, don’t they basically have homework every day that they are not paid for? Grading kids papers etc. ?

    • Yeah, wait a second.. They do only work 9 months a year. I wish I only had to work 9 months a year (summer off)

      • A few teachers in my family.

        They really “just” get off is the last week in June…all of July…first week in August; one week at Thanksgiving and 3 weeks at Xmas/NYE.

        Depending on how the holiday fall on the calendar it’s 9 to 10 weeks off a year.

  • Recent article from the king of doom-gloom blogs but this article has its merits.
    Zero Hedge

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-28/sucker-punch-main-street-disturbing-facts-about-feds-phony-housing-recovery

    end of article – “…The argument that the Fed policy of ZIRP and suppression of long term interest rates through QE bond purchases has stimulated housing simply does not hold water. It has stimulated house price inflation, and that price inflation has fully offset the cost-reduction effect of the interest subsidy to home borrowers. At the same time Fed policy has cost millions of savers trillions in interest income that could have boosted not only consumption, but also cash available for down payments on home purchases. The idea that low interest rates stimulate the economy by stimulating housing is The Big Lie.

    The Fed has created a situation where the housing industry is so dependant on the massive interest rate subsidy that any uptick in rates is likely to cause a cataclysm. The Fed and its cohorts are responsible for this mess. They have left themselves, and us, with no way out.”

  • China’s richest man warns of ‘the biggest bubble in history’. Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, whose vast property and entertainment empire reportedly brought in $44 billion in revenue last year, appeared on CNN Wednesday to warn about what lies ahead for the country’s overheated real-estate market:
    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-richest-man-warns-of-the-biggest-bubble-in-history-2016-09-28

  • This is my theory, it’s a wonderful place to live (shh don’t let anyone else know). So many OTHER people want to live here too. The main thing stopping them is the COST. If you aren’t will to work harder than MOST of those other people then you will have a tough time here. I moved here from Wisconsin with an accounting degree and I do alright, still getting a network of friends/ colleagues built etc. I have pretty much the same life as i did in Wisconsin (maybe a small portion more expensive with taxes). Wages totally make up for it IF you have SKILLS and a drive to succeed.

    In my hometown (Green Bay) they will hold your job over your head for the next 30 years. The other two companies in town won’t be hiring and you have kids to feed. My parents went through a lot just to live in a small town. Me.. I like options.

    Yes, foreigners are buying like crazy right now but its starting to cool. It will freeze and then they will panic, take a loss and the pendulum will start to swing the other way… This is the “information” age.

  • “Only 17 percent of California homes affordable to teachers: A typical California home costs $200,000 more than an average teacher can afford.”

    Boo-hoo….. cry me a river. Should have become a doctor.

    • You’re right. Either force doctors to teach in public schools or hope that kids can learn on their own.

      Sarcasm off

      • NEWS FLASH:

        FAR LESS then 17% percent of California homes affordable to those making less then a average teachers salary of $73,536.

      • Newsflash

        A thriving community, including one where future doctors might originate from, need educators. This real estate bubble is causing highly detrimental to the fabric of society.

        The “let them eat cake” attitude is highly short-sighted.

      • The cake has already been ate. I am just trying to get the crumbs.

      • “The cake has already been ate. I am just trying to get the crumbs.”

        Aaah, so if you can’t beat them, pretend to be like them.

      • The reason the average teacher salary is so high is that the public schools are shrinking due to charters. Hardly any new hires. So the vast majority of teachers reached their peak salary years ago.

      • The reason the average teacher salary is so high is that the public schools are shrinking due to charters? What a ridiculous statement.

        Charter schools are tuition free, public schools of choice open to any student. Choice is a powerful tool for parents seeking educational equity and equal access to quality education for their children.

    • And in K-12+, those doctors were taught by…..??? That’s right – teachers.

      U.S. teacher pay compared to the rest of the world sucks:
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-ostapchuk/most-and-least-paid-teachers-in-the-world_b_8970800.html

  • son of a landlord

    This past week has been HOT and HUMID here in Santa Monica. In the 90s. I can only imagine what it’s like in the Valley.

    It’s nearly October and I’m broiling.

    Where is this Great California Weather I hear so much about?

    • What weather premium?

      • Fact is, a lot of people are overweight so they’re going to complain about the heat any time its above 80 degrees – they sweat like pigs and they don’t want to be fat shamed. Cali just doesn’t have the rain it did 10-20 years ago. Its shocking when I go back – all the while the population has doubled. Good luck with that!

        Saw this article yesterday, thought the most interesting thing about the video was the interview of some random woman who said this sort of thing (guy cold cocking a woman after an argument) happens all the time. Sing after me: I love LA! (We love it!)
        http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-venice-market-punch-video-20160928-snap-story.html

      • junior_bastiat , just where do you live now? Is it any better than the L.A. metro area? In the Newport Beach area, I do not see overweight folks, may be it is because of the wealth and the woman knows that the guy(wealth) can attract a non overweight woman.

      • SEATTLE—The highest proportion of overweight and obese people – 13% of the global total – live in the United States, a country which accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis of trend data from 188 countries.

        An estimated 160 million Americans are either obese or overweight. Nearly three-quarters of American men and more than 60% of women are obese or overweight. These are also major challenges for America’s children – nearly 30% of boys and girls under age 20 are either obese or overweight, up from 19% in 1980.

        http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/vast-majority-american-adults-are-overweight-or-obese-and-weight-growing-problem-among

      • Ira, I admit I’m selfish and don’t want people invading my area, so I’m not going to divulge that. Suffice to say its awesome, and compared to even my former stomping grounds of San Diego (which has gotten overbuilt like crazy over the last decade and a half) its heaven on earth. I even recently met a number of former/current SD residents and they all bemoan what SD has become – never mind the cesspool that is LA. Best advice I could give people is learn to live with less and build up escape velocity (money) to leave the country or at a minimum go someplace nice and rural.

        Truthster – you aren’t going to win too many friends with those pesky facts. Truth is treason in an empire of lies, just so you know. I call the obesity epidemic the nation’s slow motion suicide. That plus the drugs that everyone seems to be on. I guess real life isn’t too attractive to many of these people. Real world example – I was riding my bike for about an hour yesterday and passed a couple kids, probably junior high age, riding their bikes after school let out. One of the kids was so fat, I could barely see the color of his eyes, they were so buried in the folds of fat on his face. I don’t say this to be mean, I want this kid to be healthy and happy – I want all people to be like that. How do we get from here to there though?

      • California is one of the thinner states. http://247wallst.com/healthcare-economy/2016/05/03/the-5-thinnest-states-in-america/

        Either way, I’m very fit and I still hate when it’s over 80 degrees. Heck, except for a few winter months, up here in Portland is starting to feel like LA weather a decade or so ago.

      • son of a landlord

        Truthster: Nearly three-quarters of American men and more than 60% of women are obese or overweight.

        Obese OR overweight? My guess is there are more obese WOMEN than obese men. By combining the stats for obese and overweight, those “sexist” facts are hidden.

        IAE, I see few obese, or even overweight, people here in Santa Monica, of either sex. That’s one of the perks of living here.

        Nor am I overweight, much less obese. Even so, I hate temps over 60 degrees.

      • junior_bastiat, Utah has a lot of good places, also 30 miles east of Spokane in Idaho has a lot of former LAPD retired. The climate in these areas is not as nice as San Diego, but then there are other things beside climate.

      • If you’re hating when it gets over 80 (forget 60, thats insane), you’re either kidding yourself about your fitness or you’re part eskimo. I also think the rankings of healthy states is a joke, you have a fair number of athletes (when I lived in San Diego they were all over – pro surfers, tennis players, golfers, etc.) and young people in all the colleges skewing the on the ground reality that a lot of people over the age of 25 (and too many under) are a mess. And the statistical games are probably the same kind that are used to graduate illiterates from high school and water down the SAT. And Math? LMAO. Aint nobody gonna waste time filling their noggins with numbers, yo. Gotsta keep them on the plantation so’s they pay my pension! I love LA (we LOVE it!)

      • Junior, you don’t have to be overweight to be intolerant of heat. I was a tall, skinny, healthy woman of 35 years when I moved away from St Louis because I could no longer tolerate the sweltering summers there. Still less can I tolerate too much son- my skin is not designed to block the UV rays. I’d suffered from heat prostration twice there- and I was not an ounce overweight. It’s just that I’m a very pale-skinned, light-eyed Nordic type whose forbears evolved their pale coloring in the cold, sunless northern European countries, and now that I’m far from young, I’m even less tolerant of high temps.

        If I ever decide to forsake Chicago, it will be for another northern city, like Montreal, or maybe I’ll go to the land of my ancestors in Copenhagen.

  • stephen e. hansen portola valley

    no way my lover and i can afford to stay in Calif. we’re taking our chances in some state that doesn’t like same-sex couples but has cheaper houses.

  • If you’ve been a teacher in California for 12 years or more, it’s my understanding that you can’t leave. Your retirement is tied up in your pension which won’t transfer to other states. Additionally it disables you from collecting Social Security if you switch careers.

    • apolitical scientist

      It’s called Government Pension Offset (GPO). If you don’t pay Social Security Tax and instead get a government pension (as is the case for California teachers) any Social Security you can claim (including spousal benefits) is reduced by 2/3 of your pension. As a result, if your pension exceeds 1.5 times your calculated social security benefit you get no social security payment at all.

      Note that CA teachers may well still get a very generous pension deal, but this at least serves to balance the scales a bit.

  • Kids, kids and more kids, what is this good housekeeping.

  • Cynthia mae Curran

    Lots of teachers in LA and OC make over 80,000 a year with a spouse they can make 160,000 a year. Teachers are not underpaid. They just complain that they have to have a much smaller house at 160,000 year income. The chart is bull crapped since it has entry level teachers that make only 38,000 not teachers that have worked for over 10 years.

  • Cynthia mae Curran

    Lots of teachers in OC make over 80,000 a year. Its bull crap. In fact in OC teaching is high paying since many professors make over 100,000. The average teaching family makes over 100,000 in Orange County. So the about 30 percent can at least afford a 2 bedroom condo.

  • stephen e. hansen portola valley

    My lover and I had to move into a studio apt (illegally).
    We are being killed by rent. But we could never afford to buy.

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