Why does California have so much industry/jobs?

Vinny1 · Feb 9, 2012

Quote from TD80:

My opinion is, unless you are single, that price point is going to put you in a situation that is sub-optimal.

No I'm not saying you need to be some multi-millionaire just to live out here, but I am saying you will be shocked/disturbed/horrified at what 400K buys you if you have a family of say 4 AND you don't want to live somewhere that looks like an urban wasteland and/or you have real security concerns about your living situation. As you go east it gets hot, polluted, and "ghetto" very quickly. Then again what I consider "ghetto" may be a bit skewed so keep that in mind.

Another alternative is to rent, as you can probably rent something acceptable for around 3K-3.5K a month (assuming family of 4).

Another huge factor to consider here is if you (or significant other) are going to need to commute to a real job, because that can heavily influence your choice of property, and also it can be a huge lifestyle hit if you have to live in Rancho Cucamonga in order to get a nice family place that is affordable while commuting 2-2.5 hours EACH WAY to downtown LA (I know people who do this daily, that number is not an exaggeration for the 91...)

In short, 400K - If you're single and willing to deal with the high density urban sprawl and space constraints vs. GA (even compared to ATL you ain't seen nuthin yet), I think it would work. Family of 4 that want play money and a decent lifestyle and have to commute to 2 jobs? Forget it, give me Savannah GA or many of your other beautiful locations and I'll just crank the A/C to deal with the humidity...

I have a family of 3 (wife and one 4 year old daughter). My wife is an elementary school teacher so she can probably find a job anywhere that is reasonably close to home, no need to commute to downtown LA. I am self employed and work from home, so no need to commute to downtown LA either.

Do you know anything about a town called Canyon Country? How is that area? It is right next to Santa Clarita (about 34 miles northwest of Los Angeles) I found many affordable homes there. Here is one for $350k...

http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...atland-Dr_Santa-Clarita_CA_91351_M22076-40261

emg · Feb 9, 2012

heypa · Feb 9, 2012

Vinny1.
That lot size shown has to be .64 acres.

DT-waw · Feb 9, 2012

Where else on the planet this guy could make a living?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VIQk1yFCjU

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_gA4IOHHbLc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Vinny1 · Feb 9, 2012

Quote from heypa:

Vinny1.
That lot size shown has to be .64 acres.

It must be .64 acres. I am sure that it is a typo in the ad.

AmericanEagle · Feb 9, 2012

California is base to largest number of fortune 500 companies.

GTG · Feb 9, 2012

Home prices have come down in California. I'm not sure if it has bottomed out though.

Here is one anecdotal data point: I'm about to close on a house in SoCal. I was only making offers on fixer-upper houses priced to sell near the beach. I offered a little lower than the asking price on the first, but I didn't get my offer in in-time and they took another one. I offered higher than the asking price on the next one with almost 40% down, and had my offer in before they even put up the for-sale sign. They had many "acceptable offers"...I countered with an even higher price and still ended up being second place. Offered full asking price on the 3rd property, that had been on the market for a very long time and had just lowered its price that day, and finally got an offer accepted right away. After they accepted my offer they got a backup offer as well.

So anyway my limited experience with buying so-cal coastal real-estate is that there seems to be an abundance of buyers out there when the house is listed for sale at the "market price". So the bottom may be close here. There are many houses out there that are listed at delusionally high prices, though.

tomdavis · Feb 9, 2012

Quote from oldtime:

yeah we got that, everybody knows California is a bad state. The question opie was asking is if that is so, why do so many elect to reside there? Especially high tech businesses.

You got an answer for that?

I've lived in California for 20 years, and things have changed a lot in that time. We used to have one of the highest rates of business formation in the country, especially technology, but that isn't true anymore. The state has lost 1.3 million jobs since 2007 and business are leaving the state at an ever-increasing rate. When you think about California, you have think about old California and new California. They're two different animals.

California is a great place to live, but it's not the best place operate a business. In the last couple of years, several technology companies in our area have packed up and left the state. The main reason they give is that it's 20% cheaper to run a business in places like Utah or Colorado and 30% cheaper in Texas.

I don't know what the future will bring, but I still love the weather here.

tomdavis · Feb 9, 2012

Quote from GTG:

Here is one anecdotal data point: I'm about to close on a house in SoCal. I was only making offers on fixer-upper houses priced to sell near the beach. I offered a little lower than the asking price on the first, but I didn't get my offer in in-time and they took another one. I offered higher than the asking price on the next one with almost 40% down, and had my offer in before they even put up the for-sale sign. They had many "acceptable offers"...I countered with an even higher price and still ended up being second place. Offered full asking price on the 3rd property, that had been on the market for a very long time and had just lowered its price that day, and finally got an offer accepted right away. After they accepted my offer they got a backup offer as well.

So anyway my limited experience with buying so-cal coastal real-estate is that there seems to be an abundance of buyers out there when the house is listed for sale at the "market price". So the bottom may be close here. There are many houses out there that are listed at delusionally high prices, though.

Prices have come down considerably, but well-located houses, especially near the ocean, sell quickly. A house two doors up the street from us went up for sale recently and was sold the same day it came on the market. Prices near the ocean are about 25-30% lower than they were in 2007, but there's still a lot of competition for good properties -- especially lower-priced fixers.

Tsing Tao · Feb 9, 2012

Yes, Florida's humidity is far worse than California's. But it also has no state income tax. Given the choice, I'll take Florida, thank you.