Anecdata time! I grew up in Southern California, first in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County) then Ventura County and then Orange County. The housing m

Anecdata time! I grew up in Southern California, first in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County) then Ventura County and then Orange County. The housing market was amazing and crazy. My father started buying property in the late 1960's and finally left in 2006. He worked hard his entire career to afford to live there. Honestly, it wasn't much better in the late 70's and early 80's than it is now. Imagine buying a small rambler in Reseda for a bit more than $200,000 with a 19% mortgage. Remember also that you had to have 20% down. Then imagine a 3 bedroom two story in Thousand Oaks for a bit north of $300,000 with 17.5% interest rate. Or maybe a little Huntington Beach home that more then tripled in value and then dropped (in 2009) to 20% below the original purchase price within a 10 year timeframe. So yes it is wild, very expensive, and can (if you are intelligent and lucky) make you very wealthy. In about 2000 I had made a windfall profit off of Y2K consulting and met a beautiful woman from Pittsburgh who had 3 children and I decided to settle down. I could have moved them all to California and used my savings to get us a modest home. We decided to not do that and we have been very pleased with our decision. California is amazing and has a really interesting economy and job market. But I have as of yet never regretted leaving. I have always been employed. I have a very nice home with great schools and a beautiful area to live in. I make a substantial income and have no problem saving for retirement and investing. I also invest in property to this day and have done extremely well by almost all standards I have come across. You really don't have to deal with California if you don't want to. It's a great place. But there is no real reason to live there.