patrick.net

$350K and you too can live in Yuba city. Was it the low crime and the great school scores? No, wait, it was the Asian all cash buyers. No, wait again, it is the workaholic Indian families. I got a thought. Maybe it was the fact you just needed to be alive and have the ability to lie. Can you sign your name, then we have an overpriced house for you. Just come in to the party, free cookies and in one simple swipe of the pen, you can look forward to 7 years of bad credit. It is the American dream, drink it up.

$350,000 to live in Yuba City?

Insane.

RentingForHalfTheCost says

Was it the low crime and the great school scores? No, wait, it was the Asian all cash buyers. No, wait again, it is the workaholic Indian families.

Now I am thinking driving US home prices was some conspiracy driven by China/India. Has to be cuz we are broke. LOL.

Goran_K says

$350,000 to live in Yuba City?

Insane.

Someone would actually pay to live in that place?

RentingForHalfTheCost says

$350K and you too can live in Yuba city. Was it the low crime and the great school scores? No, wait, it was the Asian all cash buyers. No, wait again, it is the workaholic Indian families. I got a thought. Maybe it was the fact you just needed to be alive and have the ability to lie. Can you sign your name, then we have an overpriced house for you. Just come in to the party, free cookies and in one simple swipe of the pen, you can look forward to 7 years of bad credit. It is the American dream, drink it up.

So, anyone who buys anywhere at any price is destined for bankruptcy?

That's stupid...and if you believe it, so are you. I grew up in this business. There are good deals and there are bad deals. There are people who should buy and people who shouldn't...and in the Bay Area, people who simply can't.

It's not about the real estate. It's about the Bay Area, unfocused emotional follow-the-leader high school culture. It's about people living here who CAN afford it and then those who can't afford it and those who sell real estate (because they can't do anything else) seeking to take advantage of them.

Yes, $1.2M for a condo in Silicon Valley is crazy. So, don't fucking live there! There are other (and better) options but here again it's about the culture. Some dickhead in a blue shirt and tie tells you something and you believe it. It's always the same, never changes.

Sometimes I really miss Ohio.

I'm with rootvg on this. The BA just isn't looking like it will be middle-class affordable again. There are PARTS of the BA that will be affordable, but you will have to commute, at a minimum, 45 minutes each way. If you want to save yourself 8+ hours of free time per week, you are going to need to shell out some serious cash, and that seems to be the obvious issue here for most of us. It isn't fair or right since the causes of this seem to be a mix of superfluous bullshit and outright manipulation of the market by vested interests, but that is just life. There have been and still are many places where this is exactly how it is.

NY & SF have not friendly to middle class folks for a very long time because they have a mix of high demand, limited new development and a lot of high incomes. The BA is exactly like that right now. I don't like it, and I hate to think that I am priced out of the place in which I grew up, but it may well be the fact. There is no point in sitting around feeling like a victim though, because there are so many worse things to be subject to in the world than overpriced housing or an hour long commute. I'll still take this over industrial China any day, or just about any part of India. The fact that we have functional infrastructure & affordable food is worth being glad for, as easy as it is to totally dismiss those things & take them for granted.

So, housing is a rigged game. Everyone here knows it. Nobody here can change it. So much money is tied up in keeping it rigged, both for very powerful lobby groups and the government, that none of us lowly middle class tax payers can hope to change it. It sucks, but dwelling on it too much only serves to ruin what little time you have left in this world. It is sort of a put-up or shut-up situation. You have 3 options:
1) Pay a ton of money you don't have & get a house in a desirable area like most people, or rent in that area and save some amount of money versus buying
2) Buy (or rent) in a cheaper area & do the commute.
3) Move away to somewhere else entirely

Sorry, but in the end there just are no other options. They all have some hefty compromises baked in, just like everything else in life.

bmwman91 says

3) Move away to somewhere else entirely

By far the most reasonable option. California is the most expensive third-world country on the face of the earth.

lol

As enticing as it is to be super cynical about this place, it isn't THAT bad. It is overpriced & full of clueless ultra left-wingers*, but there are still plenty of good things IMO.

*disclaimer for the Democrat nut-huggers: ultra right-wingers are just as bad. Anyone that bindly clings to any ideology is a dangerous moron.

FortWayne says

Someone would actually pay to live in that place?

Sure,why not? I millionare from China would do that just to live anywhere in USA.

FortWayne says

Someone would actually pay to live in that place?

Yeah really. I don't like dissing other people's choices on where to live, but Yuba City is in the middle of nowhere.

Goran_K says

Yeah really. I don't like dissing other people's choices on where to live, but Yuba City is in the middle of nowhere.

I was certainly not making a derogatory comment about the people or ideology of any local. I once planned on retiring in Grass Valley. But a most compelling reason for Bay Area Real Estate in retaining it's higher prices is due to the short supply of BARE LAND. You can fly or drive from Yuba City in any of 360 degrees, for fifty miles observing millions of acres of unimproved land. Do you think one of them old Farmers/Ranchers, might take $50k cash to split off 5 or 10 acres ? You only need 35 usable acres, to be self sufficient. Pull on a $100,000.00 pre fab home. Later selling a couple acres could recoup your entire investment.
http://www.unitedcountry.com/search06/SearchResults.asp?SID=106048318&H=&AU=N&DA=N&Lcnt=&curpage=4

At first I mis-read TUBA CITY (AZ). $350k for a hogan and sheep corral?

bmwman91 says

There are PARTS of the BA that will be affordable, but you will have to commute, at a minimum, 45 minutes each way.

This is the story just about anywhere in the country in a major metro. Want to live right next door to the office? You're going to have to pay a lot more for that privelage. This is true in SF, NYC, and in other cities like Austin, Boise, Atlanta, and so on. Prices for houses we saw in Austin that were close to the city core were in many cases just as much as they are here.

I guess I'm exactly sympathetic to prices being higher closer to convenient areas. My wife and I have been commuting 35-40 minutes each way for years and its not a big deal.

edvard2 says

I guess I'm exactly sympathetic to prices being higher closer to convenient areas. My wife and I have been commuting 35-40 minutes each way for years and its not a big deal.

Exactly. Put a value on your time commuting add that to Fuel costs, repairs and depreciation. Now decide if your extra costs are worth the added benefits. You probably live in an area that is more suitable for raising children and you enjoy more square footage at lower cost. You do not have to consider if those noises coming from the next unit are abnormal bodily function sounds or plumbing concerns.

edvard2 says

bmwman91 says

There are PARTS of the BA that will be affordable, but you will have to commute, at a minimum, 45 minutes each way.

This is the story just about anywhere in the country in a major metro. Want to live right next door to the office? You're going to have to pay a lot more for that privelage. This is true in SF, NYC, and in other cities like Austin, Boise, Atlanta, and so on. Prices for houses we saw in Austin that were close to the city core were in many cases just as much as they are here.

I guess I'm exactly sympathetic to prices being higher closer to convenient areas. My wife and I have been commuting 35-40 minutes each way for years and its not a big deal.

Yup. 40 minutes each way really isn't bad. I used to do it. There were those days where "some asshole crashed his car" and it took 90 minutes, but those were relatively rare. Someday, when I buy a house, I'll have to accept that my 5 minute bike commute is going bye-bye! Until then...gonna enjoy it & my OK rental unit.

bmwman91 says

There were those days where "some asshole crashed his car" and it took 90 minutes

Did you see a sign like this?

A lot of employers are feeling the heat and going to a part time or even a full time telecommute situation. One guy I know here owns a local flight school and is a research scientist for IBM...totally over the wire, travels to meetings once or twice per month, might take con calls from his office at the school, who knows. I know he didn't pay a million bucks for his house. All his assets are wrapped up in the business and I think two of the airplanes. The rest are leasebacks.

wthrfrk80 says

bmwman91 says

There were those days where "some asshole crashed his car" and it took 90 minutes

Did you see a sign like this?

That's brilliant.

wthrfrk80 says

Did you see a sign like this?

Haha, classic! I wish that the CalTrans guys (or whoever runs those signs) would do stuff like that to break up the monotony.

rootvg says

So, anyone who buys anywhere at any price is destined for bankruptcy?

That's stupid...and if you believe it, so are you. I grew up in this business.

I guess you didn't get that I was talking in the past here. The 350K medium price in Yuba city happened at the peak. Most people that bought then, are most likely considering bankruptcy now if they haven't already been forced there already.

Glad you grew up in the business. I have good double income friends (good jobs) who are foreclosing because they bought in the peak. They can afford, but financially it makes no sense. I can only assume what happened to the people who bought with no money down, only pay interest. They had no chance.

RentingForHalfTheCost says

rootvg says

So, anyone who buys anywhere at any price is destined for bankruptcy?

That's stupid...and if you believe it, so are you. I grew up in this business.

I guess you didn't get that I was talking in the past here. The 350K medium price in Yuba city happened at the peak. Most people that bought then, are most likely considering bankruptcy now if they haven't already been forced there already.

Glad you grew up in the business. I have good double income friends (good jobs) who are foreclosing because they bought in the peak. They can afford, but financially it makes no sense. I can only assume what happened to the people who bought with no money down, only pay interest. They had no chance.

What about the people who paid 20% down had two jobs and are current on their mortgage? The big lessons the learned are NEVER trust a Realtor or their stories: "House prices NEVER Go down", "I heard they aren't making land anymore", You better buy now or you will throw away rent as only a tenant FOREVER", "We have multiple cash offers on this 'home' and you must bid higher and withdraw all contingencies like termite reports and house inspections". Oh yes, they need to be run out of town! They never shut up their big mouths and bubble blowing.
They are GUILTY and we won't forget it. If their mouth is moving...they are LYING.

investor90 says

Oh yes, they need to be run out of town! They never shut up their big mouths and bubble blowing.
They are GUILTY and we won't forget it. If their mouth is moving...they are LYING.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ArSLNJNUEIM

We also lived in Texas for a number of years and the realtor culture is different there. Our realtors for the two homes we bought while living there said to NEVER decline a home inspection.

Housing prices there generally do not go down but they also do not go up. The house we bought in Plano in 2001 for $239K would sell for $240K today. The same goes for Ohio. My parents' house that built for $50K in 1975 is worth $180K today. No significant upgrades, just maintaining what they already had. They put hardwoods in the family room, kitchen has linoleum on the floor and laminate counters, basement is finished off but not professionally. People there don't throw money around. The adults are in charge.

Over and over, this is not about real estate. It's about the California culture and our boom and bust economy. It's always been that way and I suspect it always will be.