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Good lord- Palo Alto home sale

Abacinator said:
Relocating is expensive too. Not to mention reduced wages in lower COL areas, plus shitty schools, fewer services, less diversity, shittier climate. Cheaper places to live are cheaper because people don't want to live there
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CA's unaffordable home crisis is due to policies much more than population, IME.
 
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Also due to other factors. Like we live in the richest area on earth and so many people want to live and work here. And it’s crowded. And the generally great weather. And it’s closeness to the ocean and woods and mountains and all that has to offer. In many respects it’s a great place to live.
 
Lack of medium and high density housing at below market rate rents for lower income families.
 
I’ll mention that another of my brothers (I have 5 brothers and 6 sisters) is a school bus driver in Vallejo, so you know that he doesn’t make much. But he did manage to purchase a home (which he now rents out) and a second home which he lives in.

So any of you who are boomer bashers can just shut the fuck up. (Hopefully there aren’t many of you here.) We didn’t cause the high prices. We aren’t the reason you can’t afford a home in the greater Silicon Valley. Yes, prices are high in the Bay Area. Yes, it can take a lot of money to buy a home in some areas. If you don’t like it, move somewhere else.
 
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Nobody is blaming boomers (except prop 13 is on you). But we are sick of boomers talking shit about people not working hard enough or whatever and should just be smart and plan and can buy a $1.2M 900sq ft house in a mediocre neighborhood, that originally sold for $91000 in 1978, on a $30/hr salary and a 4 hour round trip commute while struggling to pay for things like student loans, health insurance, food, etc
 
Sorry if I got out of hand. But when I see people unfairly bashing my generation, it pisses me off. And something set me off again.

Any generation has its detractors, I guess. And any generation is capable of making unfair generalizations about another.
 
Prop 13 is a good thing and benefits all home buyers, old and new. It prevents the government from taking more of your money than they would otherwise.

I currently pay nearly 10,000 dollars a year in property taxes. If we didn’t have prop 13, my property taxes would be around 50,000 a year. No way I could afford that. And most other home owners couldn’t as well.
 
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Abacinator said:
Lack of medium and high density housing at below market rate rents for lower income families.
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Budget to house homeless immigrating from other states has decreased affordable housing. Poor land use polices and building requirements have led to a lack of housing in CA as well. Significantly.
 
ST Guy said:
Also due to other factors. Like we live in the richest area on earth and so many people want to live and work here. And it’s crowded. And the generally great weather. And it’s closeness to the ocean and woods and mountains and all that has to offer. In many respects it’s a great place to live.
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it’s an economic supercharged engine area. that’s it’s one and only appeal. regardless of what it’s ‘close to’, as you say, it’s crowded. soul crushingly crowded. escaping it felt like breaking the surface after a deep free dive, and gasping for air.
 
Holeshot said:
Budget to house homeless immigrating from other states has decreased affordable housing. Poor land use polices and building requirements have led to a lack of housing in CA as well. Significantly.
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Disagree on the first part, agree on the second.
 
gnahc79 said:
my guess is in the 70s there were pensions, so people stayed longer at their jobs, more likely to have a mortgage, and as a result moved less. Plus there weren't annual or quarterly layoffs back then either.
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And for most people, a high school diploma was all you needed. Factory jobs paid a lot of money. Not anymore. That's why I laugh at people celebrating the anticipated "rebirth" of US manufacturing. Those jobs will never pay as much as they did before. Not with all the competition from robots, and the decline of unions.

Then you've got the state of CA, whose government thinks high-schoolers working fast food deserve as much as factory workers with actual skills. Well, actions have consequences. A generic burger from Carl's costs $9 now.
 
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There are millions of jobs in the US that don't require a college degree, many pay very well. Our society tells young kids they need a college education to get anywhere in life and that just isn't true.
PD's in Oakland, SF, BART only require a high school diploma and be over age 21. Easy to make close to, or over $100K/yr to start.
Same with the trades where training is free, way shorter that a 4-5 year college stint and the pay is good.
And those jobs come with a good pension so you don't have to wipe tables at Wendy's at 70 to make ends meet.
 
I'm a real estate agent, and I'm surprised at how much money people have.

One client used 4 million in Bitcoin as proof of funds.

My plan is to build generational wealth like these folks probably came from.

The majority of agents will recommend renovations to bump up the sale price. People will always pay a premium for a house that is turnkey and done. So, its hard to find a fixer these days.

The tradesmen who fix up these houses make good money. We have a project, and the client is putting in $300,000 to renovate the home.
 
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The Zillow/MLS v. Realtor war is intensifying. I think most higher end homes are all under the radar as "pocket listings". Using the scavenger Zillow or MLS site turn up very few listings and the ability to filter is poor.
 
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