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Cost of housing among area's top woes [Leaving San Francisco]
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 2/27/6 | Kelly Zito

Posted on 02/27/2006 7:35:12 AM PST by SmithL

Survey cites it as major reason 2 of 5 residents consider leaving.

You're not the only one dreaming of ditching the Bay Area for a Midwestern college town or a coastal city in the Southeast.

Two out of five residents of the nine-county region have given serious thought to moving away -- mostly because of high housing costs, according to a survey released today by a business and public policy group.

The Bay Area Council's annual poll found that concerns about housing ranked as the region's second-most-vexing problem, behind transportation woes.

Even with some recent cooling in the local housing market, the price for a middle-of-the-road single-family home hovers around $628,000, or about triple the national average. That means many families with two income-earners are having a hard time managing.

"In some cases they're cashing out, and in some cases they just can't afford to stay," said Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council, which conducted the survey of 600 randomly selected people from Jan. 16 to 23.

Although 35 percent of respondents ranked transportation as their highest concern, 19 percent said housing was the biggest problem. Forty percent said they have considered moving out of the region, and 70 percent of those cited high housing costs as a major factor.

In 1996, as the real estate market began to recover from the early 1990s recession, only 1 percent of respondents cited housing as a big concern.

The annual survey, which takes the public's temperature on a range of issues, echoes similar findings by the Public Policy Institute of California, which in 2004 found that exorbitant home prices were forcing 31 percent of those ages 18 to 31 to ponder moving away from the region or out of...state.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: baghdadbythebay; californiahereigo; goeastyoungman; landoffruitsandnuts; sanfranfreako
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To: durasell

Me personally, I aspire to a more mainstream lifestyle without the craziness.


61 posted on 02/27/2006 1:56:55 PM PST by chris1
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To: chris1

A colllections lawyer...... do you have a babe to bring along like Vinny??

I had a business associate who lived in New York and found he loved Tennessee. He moved to a 10 acre minifarm and was a wealthy man. He saved so much on taxes that his retirement resources were tremendously magnified. He was contstruction superintendent before retiring and didnt know a cow from a horse.


62 posted on 02/27/2006 1:58:23 PM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. Slay Pinch)
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To: chris1

I have to get to work, so I'll answer whatever you respond when I return in a couple hours.


I don't know what you mean by "mainstream," but I suspect that you won't find it in NYC. I can't remember the last time I saw a white house with a white picket fence within the city limits. All the fences are wrought iron and painted black, which is as good a metaphor as any.



63 posted on 02/27/2006 2:01:35 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: durasell

From what I saw, the kids and children are the real victims of the excess.

They grow up warped, delusional, weak, and totally not prepared if the spiget is ever cut off.

I had an intern from Scarsdale High School. The father is a client and like me for my street smarts, get it done attitude, and boot straps mentality. Nice kid, but soft!

Anyway, I had to give a little speech to the class about being in business for yourself. As I walked in, there were literally girls in pajamas and bunny slippers walking around the hallways! WTF???????????

I can't imagine the parents these kids have.


64 posted on 02/27/2006 2:03:09 PM PST by chris1
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To: bert

My girlfriend, hope to be wife, is very attractive.

I am 5'8" very muscular, shaved head, Italo-American, Nu Yawk accent, Black Leather jacket, Mustang GT Conv., type of guy.

She is 5'10", blond, very fit, also an attorney (But hates it since she is way too nice), and comes from a more "priviliged" background than I do. She plays ice hockey on a men's team and is pretty bad-ass. I won't mess with her.LOL. She does not have an accent like I do.

Believe it or not, I got her to learn to shoot a gun and drive a motorcycle. She is a really remarkable person. Underneath the long blond hair is a very tough chick!


65 posted on 02/27/2006 2:08:37 PM PST by chris1
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To: chris1

Weren't you and your girlfriend in The Pope of Greenwich Village?

For the record, I don't judge the upper east siders etc. They are what they are, and, generally speaking, they only hurt themselves, if anyone. The kids will either toughen up to meet the world or get placed in a "nice job" through a well-placed phone call or sink without a trace, managing a Red Lobster restaurant in Florida.


66 posted on 02/27/2006 2:30:00 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: Clemenza

ping! (some discussion of NYC real estate prices on this thread)


67 posted on 02/27/2006 2:32:40 PM PST by nutmeg (NEVER trust democRATs with our national security)
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To: durasell

We actually just saw Ring of Fire since we both are Cash fans. The show was so so. There is just something not right about a bunch of gays singing Johhny Cash in chorus.

"Big River", my favorite song, sounded terrible.


68 posted on 02/27/2006 2:49:07 PM PST by chris1
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To: SmithL

I've never understood the appeal of a far-left wing, freak-infested, foggy, overcrowded city with 2 hour commutes each way that justified $800,000 prices for crappy run-down houses.


69 posted on 02/27/2006 2:50:42 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: chris1

I saw the gay men's chorus a couple of times. They weren't bad, but they are a chorus. I imagine the Cash songs are particularly ill-suited (along with most country/western)for a chorus since they are mostly highly personal songs.


70 posted on 02/27/2006 3:06:55 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: RockinRight

I've never understood the appeal of a far-left wing, freak-infested, foggy, overcrowded city with 2 hour commutes each way that justified $800,000 prices for crappy run-down houses


The appeal is very simple: $


71 posted on 02/27/2006 3:07:36 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: durasell

That's exactly what I mean. It's overpriced! How is money a motivator when it costs so much to live there?

Incomes in Marin County are twice the national average. But housing costs are nearly FIVE times the national average!


72 posted on 02/27/2006 3:10:58 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: RockinRight

Opportunity. Access to the opportunity to be really filthy, stinkin' dirty rich is a powerful motivator and only exists in a handful of American cities.

Granted, not many will get rich, but the opportunity is there.


73 posted on 02/27/2006 3:16:24 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: SmithL
2 of 5 residents consider leaving

So when 40% of the residents leave, and housing costs drop, will they move back?

74 posted on 02/27/2006 3:20:26 PM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: SmithL
Two out of five residents of the nine-county region have given serious thought to moving away -- mostly because of high housing costs

The cost of housing? How about the smell of urine and the risk of infection?

75 posted on 02/27/2006 3:22:13 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: paul51

shows how much you know about the area.. the bit between pismo and san simeon is not even close to the expense of SF and it is a RED area.. check the charts from the last election..plus, I've been vacationing and living part time in the area for 40 years, so I think I know what I'm talking about.


76 posted on 02/27/2006 4:08:24 PM PST by Awestruck (All the usual suspects)
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To: tom h

I didn't mention anything about san diego.. i don't know the area but I do know SLO county.


77 posted on 02/27/2006 4:09:14 PM PST by Awestruck (All the usual suspects)
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To: Awestruck
I've lived part time on the Monterey Peninsula for 25 years with significant investments in all types of Real Estate. I know exactly what I'm talking about. If you are going to talk about the central coast, you have to include santa cruz and monterey. If you want to talk about the sticks, you should say so.
78 posted on 02/27/2006 5:12:57 PM PST by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
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To: paul51

wow..snobbery at its finest.. I do NOT include the monterey area because it is a liberal enclave and well overpriced... the beauty of the coastline is in the less expensive cities as well.. they may be sticks but they don't vote democrat and you can move in for well less than a mil.


79 posted on 02/28/2006 1:59:34 AM PST by Awestruck (All the usual suspects)
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To: durasell

Johhny Cash was a man's man. His songs are very personal songs and are not suited for a chorus, especially of gay men.


80 posted on 02/28/2006 4:53:53 AM PST by chris1
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