and always crowded beaches of San Diego,
for a marvelous 122 year old Victorian on the bluffs
overlooking the "ole mighty and muddy Mississip."
Posted on 01/08/2005 8:18:52 PM PST by Citizen James
California is now home to the 11 least-affordable housing markets in the entire nation, according to a new report, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.
"It used to be that California dominated the 'bottom 10' list of least-affordable metropolitan areas. Now we are the bottom 10 -- and then some," said Robert Rivinius, chief executive officer of the California Building Industry Association. "What's worse is that even in California's most affordable market -- Tulare County -- less than half of the county's residents can afford a median-priced home."
The index found that during the third quarter of 2004, 19 of the bottom 25 housing markets nationally were in California. And of the 43 least affordable markets in the nation, more than half -- 25 -- were in California.
The least-affordable market out of 162 metropolitan areas nationwide was Santa Barbara County, where a family earning the median income could afford only 4.9 percent of area homes. The next four least-affordable areas were San Diego County, Monterey County, Los Angeles County, and Orange County.
In comparison, the NAHB survey found that in the nation's most affordable market, Lima, Ohio, 90.5 percent of homes sold during the third quarter of 2004 were affordable to families earning the area's median income.
The median price for a home in Santa Barbara County in November 2004 was $668,750, according to the California Association of Realtors. At the same time, the median priced home in Lima, Ohio, was $66,722.
Among larger metro areas nationwide, the most affordable were Grand Rapids, Mich., where 86 percent of the homes were considered affordable, and St. Louis, Mo., where the affordability rate was 83.7 percent, the report said.
The Housing Opportunity Index calculates the share of homes sold in an area that would have been affordable to a family earning the median income. For income, NAHB uses the annual median family income estimates for metropolitan areas published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. NAHB assumes that a family can afford to spend 28 percent of its gross income on housing, a conventional assumption in the lending industry. That share of median income is then divided by 12 to arrive at a monthly figure. On the cost side, the monthly principal and interest is based on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 10 percent down payment. The interest rate is a weighted average of fixed and adjustable rates during that quarter. The cost also includes estimated property taxes and property insurance.
bttt
Weather is the least of my concerns.
A lovely, historic, Southern town can't
be beat, IMHO.
Interesting.
San Diego #52...
that why we're exiting.
Yeah, but there are a lot of us conservative refugees from SoCal, and we're doing our part to keep Arizona a red state!
Loving it.
Full of liberals and just plain yucky!
Okay, I'm a Sundevil fan so I'm only half-kidding.
"No way!!!"
No, believe it or not, 'tis true!
See
http://www.flkeysmls.com/cust_srchsfh.idc?mls=523983&sqlargs=(523983,M,,0)
$ 560,000 Mobile Home
Price:$ 560,000.00
Type: Mobile Home
MLS #:523983
Status: Active
Addr:CORAL DR
Beds/Baths:4 / 1
Key: SADDLEBUNCH
Year Built: 1968
Rented: No Exclusive
Waterfront: No
Side: Ocean
Waterfront: No Waterfront
Waterview:No Waterview
LOL at the air conditioning comment! I just stay indoors most of the time from May to September, and of course I have to have a pool to cool off in. Otherwise, Arizona is great!
Bingo! My dad, in CA, in a phone conversation days ago said the mood for the young in CA is: despair. "There is no future in CA for them". It's part of the reason we moved; there's no way our grown children could afford to live near us in CA (and own their own home).
You have to get acclimated to the heat! I felt like that my first summer, but you DO get used to it. Now, when I go back to California, the humidity is suffocating to me. And I lived there for 35 years!
You are exactly right, Joe, about the temps in CA. My dad will never move for exactly that reason: The weather. The temperatures. But I share some trivia here: In my new location in NC? Folks seems to live longer -- even tho the weather is more extreme than is in CA. Obits reveal ages like 90s and 100+. I'm not sure I understand it. But thus far, I think folks live longer here because the stress threshold is less than it is in CA.
The reason this doesn't happen in other places - can't - is builders can make houses for 150k that put that to shame. In AZ, they do. But AZ doesn't have the ocean, Hollywood, Silicon valley, Pacific port access, or the moderate-all-year coastal climate. In fact, as soon as you leave the coastal ranges for the central valley, the summers get very hot and the surroundings smell like feedlots, and real estate prices plummet.
Students rent places that cost $2000 a month, and deal with it by living 4 to an apartment...
Property Features
* Single Family Property
* Area: East of State
* Year Built: 1920
* 2 total bedroom(s)
* 1 total bath(s)
* Interior features: Carpet, Dining area, Tile flrs * Exterior features: Sidewalk, Storage/out-building(s)
* Approximate lot is 32x68
* Approximately 0.05 acre(s)
$745,000
Wow! 1/20th of an acre....32 x 68! Talk about "postage stamps". And it has sidewalks! And an "out-building"...is that the bathroom?
This is so absurd, I can't even fathom it.
Yep! ;o)
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