[brownsfan]

"The housing market has been in need of a correction for some time. "

It's incredible to me that my home in Ohio, a 2100 sq. ft. split, if it were in California would be worth over $1 million. In Ohio, it's a $200k home. That seems out of whack to me.
It was a great opportunity though. I've seen a number of stories of people who took a job in CA, bought a house. In a few years, they sold the house, took the 400k profit and bought a home free and clear in the heartland. If my roots weren't so deep I'd have given it a shot.

[Miranda]

We just moved to Maine from Southeastern Ohio where we built a beautiful 2800 sq ft home, 3 bedroom, 2 car garage, with geo-thermal furnace, ash wood though out, ceramic tile in 3 baths and kitchen,on 4.57 acres land with beautiful landscaping which cost us $315,000.00 to build. The house was on the market for 5 1/2 years and only 5 people looked at it. We were forced to sell it for just what we owed on the mortgage $135,000.00 in order to get out of Ohio. The jobs had vanished and people had no money to buy the house. Here in Maine we paid $215,000.00 for 1,175 sq ft and the place is a dump and it is a brand new home. Talk about heart sick. To make matters worse we are living up here in hostile terriorty [democrap country]. The only saving grace is Maine is the most beautiful place on earth. We live on the coast and the beauty will take your breath away.

[RockinRight]

Apparently, you pay an $800k premium for the privilege to live in a place prone to earthquakes, infested by liberals, with insane traffic, smog, and overrun by illegal aliens who can't speak English.

[proudpapa]

Browns fan,

If I lived in the midwest. I would sell now and consider renting for a few years.

[glorgau]

I've seen a number of stories of people who took a job in CA, bought a house. In a few years, they sold the house, took the 400k profit and bought a home free and clear in the heartland.

Depends on where you are at in the current "cycle". Those who bought in the last year or two (maybe even three) aren't going to be ahead counting inflation and transaction costs for probably 8-10 years. Without the promise of "instant equity" through home price appreciation, a lot of the premium for ownership goes away. At that point, the cost of home gravitates toward the income neccessary to support the payment - and in CA, not enough have the amount of income needed to support an $800K mortgage.

[muawiyah]

Sometimes it works the other way around too. People pull up stakes in Ohio, go to California at the top of a market, have to sell at a loss, go back to Ohio broke.

[NucSubs]

You just described my retirement plan.

:-)