4 ms·
Costal California has always had ridiculous home values, and nothing has changed that. 20 years ago I looked in Oakland and homes were 400k, which were still re
by gpapilion 5y ago
Costal California has always had ridiculous home values, and nothing has changed that. 20 years ago I looked in Oakland and homes were 400k, which were still relatively unaffordable based on the salary I made at the time, 70k.
I think the income levels interest rates have helped raise values, but I think income has more to do with it. You’ll see high prices anywhere that can support workers, and they will pay for proximity.
- bachmeier 5y agoI remember a conversation I had with a taxi driver in La Jolla in January 2002. I asked how a taxi driver could buy a house. He laughed and said you shouldn't be a taxi driver if you want to buy a house there, because the cheapest piece of junk was $400,000.
- ghaff 5y agoHousing prices were one reason I didn't move out to the Bay Area in the 1990s--at a time when salaries in the tech industry were nothing particularly remarkable relative to engineering salaries elsewhere.
- HeyLaughingBoy 5y agoThis was actually one of the reasons I did not want to move to California. Around 2000 I had someone from Oakland staying at my $139k home in Minneapolis. Admittedly, I did live in a very nice neighborhood, but her estimate was that my house would cost at least $500k in a comparable area in Oakland. That was all the incentive I needed to stay put. IIRC, I wasn't making that much more than $70k at the time but I could have worked in a coffee shop and paid my mortgage.