I grew up in Brentwood/West Los Angeles in a home that my parents bought for $37,500 in 1959. My mother cried after signing the mortgage because it seemed like so much debt. When a large local property was subdivided and developed in the mid 1960’s I remember going over to look at the new houses with my parents who were saying “Nobody is ever going to pay one hundred thousand dollars for a house.”
When they retired in the mid-eighties they sold their home for $750k to a man who remodelled it and sold it for $1.1 million.
OK, where am I going with this?
Yes, buying California real estate, holding on to it and watching it appreciate has been the single most important thing my parents or I ever did.
That said, I think the folks on this board have it right. People who sold in 2004-5 and ran away with the cash have done themselves and their families a huge favor. They are someday going to be compared to those who sold stocks before the 1929 crash.
I apreciate the civility of the broker from Pasadena, but telling people “Don’t hold your breath” is an easy thing for someone to do when they profit on transactions.
By the way, I am not a real estate professional of any kind, just a middle class guy sharing his personal, possibly deluded opinions.
