New Math.
I know I was never all that good at math, but I'm confused by something.
The median home price in Orange County is now $655,000 (or $862,500 here in Newport Beach). That's a median price. It's the average home. Not the mansion. Not the beach-front. Not even the "nice" home. It's the price for a twenty-year-old, three-bedroom in a neighborhood where you probably won't get shot.
Probably.
Now, doing some back of the envelope estimations based on assumed interest rates and down payments and such, I would think the average new home owner in OC is fronting a monthly payment of $3500-$4500. And that's with a nice downpayment and/or variable interest rate.
The part I don't get is how this works in a county with a median family income of roughly $45,000 a year. Not to brag, but I have, at least for the time being (maybe a real SHORT time), a good, corporate, depressingly yuppified, geek sales gig that pays a skosh more than that. And honestly, I can't afford that monthly payment. Well I can. If I want to live without a few little luxuries to which I've become accustomed. You know, like food.
Sure, the sunshine is nice and we have a hugely disproportionate number of fake boobs, but sometimes I gotta wonder if 300 days of near perfect weather and easy access to "Wahoos" justifies the selling of a soul. Or two. What good is a house on, no, NEAR the beach if you have to work so hard you never get to enjoy it?
Maybe it's better to have a nice affordable house somewhere and enough discretionary income to you know, visit the beach. Then again, that weather is really, really nice. My nightmare is that one day I have to make the decision of having to live in Iowa just so I can afford to feed my kids. Nothing against the great state of Iowa, except that it's, well, Iowa.
Screw it. I gotta pay my rent. And I'm going to the beach.
Comments
Jim, this is how it works... Many of the residents that currently live there have been there for a VERY long time, when the houses were once worth around 150-200K. Monterey is another community that has been blessed with over bloated property values. Seriously, a 2 bedroom cracker box can easily set you back a cool mil there. When you are the third generation under one roof, that is how things like this happen.
Why, you may wonder, would anyone pay those prices for just-above-average real-estate??? Because they can.
Posted by: Broch | October 7, 2004 05:04 PM
Oddly, sometimes renting is a good thing. (And I never thought I'd say that!) I have an apartment in Playa del Rey near the beach that is amazingly rent controlled ($1300/month)......whereas a condo across the street is going for $700,000! Oy....and it's not even half a speck as big as my place....and no view!
I'm afraid that living near the beach these days means getting lucky with a rental.
Posted by: DogsDon'tPurr | October 7, 2004 06:07 PM
The one-bedroom condo I moved out of was being advertised for $300,000. The guy who lived above me got his for $80,000 about six years ago. That area is a mile from the beach. Surely you could handle less than half a mil and a bit of a bike ride to the ocean? Must you be ON the beach?
I mean, think of all the money you're throwing away by renting! If I had your salary, I'd be buying myself a charming, affordable little dump in a nice neighborhood, if only to have something I could call my own. I *hate* renting.
Posted by: April | October 7, 2004 06:41 PM
Tell me about it...killed me to leave San Jose even tho I made a nice amount on my house there, bought an even nicer home in FL...guard-gated community 3 minutes from the beach.
NOTHING...I repeat...NOTHING is ever as good as CA weather.
Yeah, we have multitudes of boob fakers here, blonde Boca Beyatches with attitudes as big as their boobs . South FL also has really nice homes in the low to mid 200's...but it ain't CA, baby. No way, no how.
And oh yeah...hurricanes TOTALLY suck!
Posted by: Kath | October 7, 2004 06:43 PM
"Movin' Out" - Billy Joel 1977
You pose the question that we all ask ourselves time and time again, Jimbo... "Who needs a house out in Hackensack? Is that all you get for your money?"
You, my friend, must now gamble on whether or not you will have kids, and that they will be worth buying a piece of shit located roughly 3/4 a mile from the beach and living their until they put you in a home. One of the kiddos will also have to accept your fate, and knowingly leave your 45 year old grandson (who still lives at home) with that goldmine of a property that he will undoubtedly sell off for cocaine, porn stars, laser hair removal, and a kick-ass power yacht...
Of course, it could turn out better than that. Or not. Either way, it's a lot of money.
Posted by: SEAN | October 7, 2004 09:12 PM
Hey, I've heard the overall tone of unhappiness in your posts lately. I've gone through the same unhappy examination of my life, not happy where I am, not going well career wise, personally.. nothing seems right.. so it's easy to find things wrong in every other sense. I find just a very quick step back helps. A good examination of life as it is. Set goals.. I dunno, I'm spewing crap now but really.. I can see when it's time to do some thinking.. it doesn't take much time.. it just takes the initiative to make that time.
Posted by: Tasha | October 7, 2004 10:19 PM
there she is again! imposter tassja :P so anyhow, i think it's all a farce, this median income/median housing price thing. i'm pretty sure it's all just a smoke and mirrors pretend money game, that you can use monopoly cash for. i am currently trading 8 of my green houses for 2 hotels on park place and boardwalk.
this is the extent of my knowledge on the aforementioned subject. :P
Posted by: tassy | October 7, 2004 10:55 PM
This is why I can't afford to move. I pay $1,500 for a three bedroom, 2.5 bath with a two car garage, etc. 1/2 mile from PCH.
I could NEVER get that anywhere else.
Rent rocks.
Posted by: Risquewritings | October 8, 2004 08:28 AM
Welcome to the suspension of reality known as California real estate.
"Maybe it's better to have a nice affordable house somewhere and enough discretionary income to you know, visit the beach."
That's why I live in Oklahoma, man. Much more fun to live cheaply and travel.
Posted by: AVERAGE JOE | October 8, 2004 09:41 AM
tassy is so good with the money. it's ok. stick with me and i'll make sure you always have a solid supply of naughty t-shirts and various other pink goodies.
Posted by: the mighty jimbo | October 8, 2004 10:28 AM
Just to clarify, because I am an uber-dork, "median price" is actually the "middle" price out of the range of prices. The "average" price would be the "mean."
See what taking stats does?
Posted by: designatedblonde | October 11, 2004 12:36 PM
This is why I am still living in Alabama. I make what I consider to be a nice living (which is much less than you) and I would have a hard time affording a house here. So when people ask me if I want to move, I think not.
Posted by: goodsnake | October 15, 2004 11:49 AM