A housing question to Californians

[:) Smiley]

Originally posted by ajbera
Smiley-

Soon: End of December.

Where: Alameda is first choice. others are Lafayette, Berkeley, Union City (McMansions, I know), a few others (have to look at the list the wife & I made when we were there last month.) Wife has Oakland job starting January, making $77k, I can find something for ~ $35k+.

Good choice, and good luck.

One unusual thing with the Bay Area is the extreme climatic differences among seemingly nearby areas, due to the topography: The summer temperatures in San Francisco are around 60-70 degrees. In the East Bay cities of Alameda, Berkeley, etc., it's around 70-80 degrees. Over the hills in Lafayette or down the bay in Union City, it will get into the 80 and 90s.

Winter temperatures in general are more constant throughout.

[Ted Striker]

.

[:) Smiley]

Until a new mode of transportation becomes available to open up the land away from busines centers, people are simply being priced out of the market.

High Speed Rail is on the boards in California. When built this will bring the entire Central Valley into commute range of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

[mrmitchell]

2 HOUR COMMUTE

I would balk at a 30 minute commute. I don't care what is in California, it doesn't make losing four hours every day to driving worthwhile. You guys are nuts.

[Ted Striker]

.

[Ted Striker]

.

[mrmitchell]

On the other side of things...

Downtown building; recent wiring, plumbing updates; new hot water heater and roof; four floors; 25,000 sq ft; Camden, AR

$125K

But you know what they say, location location location...

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Cyclotron


And, with all that, Marin is still just a bunch of grassy hills.

Joseph - Is Napa seeing a lot of new residents move in, or is population pretty much static up there?

Yes, more are moving in. Our Pop is growing with a few hundred a year. Our current City Council is allowing houses and Apts to be build in every little space they can find in side the RUL.
Napa cannot handle many more people. It was never design for this many (city pop over 70,000). The bad thing is that there are a few counties enclave inside of Napa and don't count as city pop. And then there is Silverado CG that does not count, and another area just east of town. In Napa metro area, I would bet we are very close to 85 to 90 k.
We have one 4 lane highway between Vallejo and Napa with 10 stop lights. Distant about 10 miles.
Fairfield to Napa, I-80 for a few than two lane HW 12 to four lane HW 29. Sonoma to Napa, a two lane HW 121/12.
If you want to leave town on a weekday after 3, be ready see a smaller version of I-80. If traffic is good you can make Fairfield in 30 min. If bad an hour or more.
Vallejo most time 30 give or take a few. Sonoma 30 min give or take a few.

[Addled Platypus]

what gets me is

who are the ones paying the high prices in the bay area of Cali, which allows them to move up to the north bay area(sacramento, notomas areas) paying cash and driving up the prices

I have seen them go up 30k in one weekend

I count my blessings I bought before the gouging
130k only 7 years ago, cant touch the same house for 380k

[:) Smiley]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
Even what I call "hood buffer zones" like Carson and San Pedro have become unaffordable.

In San Francisco, not only are "hood buffer zones" unaffordable, but the "hood" itself is as well. In the Mission district, crack houses are turning into coffee houses. While some low income residents leave, many don't, because the jobs are in the city, and commuting by bus any distance greater than 20 miles would take well over 2 hours. About a month ago, a four-unit apartment burned down in San Francisco and it was found there were around 50 people living in it.

----------------------------

High Speed Rail is still in the planning stage, with a target date of 2020.

[Ted Striker]

.

[:) Smiley]

Originally posted by Platypus Rex
what gets me is

who are the ones paying the high prices in the bay area of Cali, which allows them to move up to the north bay area(sacramento, notomas areas) paying cash and driving up the prices

I have seen them go up 30k in one weekend

I count my blessings I bought before the gouging
130k only 7 years ago, cant touch the same house for 380k

Well, the majority of CA residents are like you - bought the houses when they were at 130k. So while every house in CA may be worth 380k, there aren't 30 million people who are going to pay 380k for a house.

The people who buy the houses at current market prices include people trading up from a slightly smaller CA house, young professional couples, developers buying the land for apartments, and multiple families buying a single house. Moving out are families with children.

You can see a microcosm of this among the Apolytoners who live, have lived, and are planning to live in California. Japh moved to the Midwest to start a family. I moved here to attend school and will be staying here because there are better jobs here. Many of the others have been living here for a long time.

Among the left, there is a concern similar to that in Europe of being beaten by demographics on the national level.

[Ted Striker]

.

[:) Smiley]

From last year's campus comics magazine, gives you a general idea of the attitude on campus:

[ajbera]

When we were driving around Berkeley in September, I was noticing the number of babes. College women