On Piggington’s it seems to be accepted as a matter of faith that one has a better quality of life living in Southern California (“everybody wants to live here”) and that that justifies a substantial premium that is reflected in house prices. I would like to present an outsider’s perspective. I now reside in Arlington, Texas (in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex) and have lived here since 1990.

I am in the baby boomer cohort and have lived on both coasts of the U.S. (including California three times — the SF bay area as a kid and SoCal twice as an adult) as well as overseas (Europe, Japan), and have traveled widely. I mention that so that you don’t think I’m just an uninformed home-town booster.

I happen to like California and in 2004 I interviewed for, and was offered, a job in Los Angeles. It would have meant a pay raise from about $52k to $62k (I work in academia, but have IT job skills that are also in demand in the private sector). Although the position itself would have been a good career move, when I checked into the housing prices, I was appalled. I’m a conservative (financially, not politically) — i.e. 20% down, 30 year fixed rate mortgage kind of guy — and it was obvious that at those prices I would never be able to afford a home of my own. I started giving a lot of thought as to what does determine quality of life and how does a decision on where to live impact that. I had been a long-time renter (mainly for career mobility) and I ultimately decided to stay in Arlington and buy a house here.

I eventually bought (July 2005) a 1400 sq ft 1950’s 3/2/2 brick ranch in an established, quiet, low crime, stable neighborhood, in a good school district area, and that was located two miles from my place of employment. The house is a prototypical mid-century modern tract ranch house with original hardwood floors, a (slightly less than) quarter acre yard, and mature trees, and was in excellent condition.

What did this cost me? The purchase price was $125,000, just slightly over 2x my then current salary — and I probably overpaid by about 5k because I really liked the house. If I hadn’t wanted an older home, there were also new homes at about $5-10k more in infill locations the same distance from where I work. What would it have cost me to buy a house like this, in a neighborhood like this, within two miles of UCLA (which was not where I was offered the job, but a close proxy)? Half a million? Probably more — substantially more.

So now I have a mortgage payment (including insurance and property taxes) of $950 which allows me to save for retirement, travel, and enjoy my other interests. I have a negligible commute (I’m considering getting a bike to ride to work) and often come home for lunch. Although I bought at the top of the bubble, home prices never had the double-digit appreciation here, so don’t have nearly as far to fall. There has always been low-turnover in this neighborhood (I looked here for a year to find the right house), so there can’t be too many FB’s to bring the comps down.

Yes, I think it would be nice to have a beach nearby to go to (in addition to previously living in SoCal, I also lived on the Florida gulf coast and I like to body surf). But if you have to commute two hours or more each way through the ever-worsening SoCal traffic (to your place of work as well as to the beach) from Palmcaster or San Bernardino, in order to afford a house on a salary like mine, what exactly is the point? How often are you actually going to go to the beach?

Yes, the weather is nice in SoCal — but it’s also pretty nice in Texas for nine months of the year. Summers are hot here, but once you get significantly inland in California, it’s just as hot. Yes, there’s lots to do (e.g. cultural, entertainment, shopping, etc.) in Southern California — but there’s also lots to do in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Good jobs in Southern California — good jobs here in DFW, too.

So what’s my point? As the bubble deflates and I see Piggington’s posters salivating at the median home price in a particular SoCal city coming down to an affordable level of $450,000, I shake my head and wonder in what alternate universe is that considered good news and people who were waiting to buy are thinking of spending that much for anything less that a house on the beach in Malibu? I don’t understand the disdain for “fly over” country and fail to see how any quality-of-life premium begins to justify the high housing costs. And I’m not even touching on things like the SoCal gang problems, air pollution, deteriorating schools, San Diego going bankrupt, prop 13, mello roos, etc. etc.

If I could buy a mid-century modern Eichler home in, for example, the San Mateo highlands in good condition for under $200,000, I’d seriously consider moving to California. Until then, I’m happy living here in Tejas and will occasionally visit California on vacation. Just a different opinion from an outlander in affordable fly-over country. Pile on. 😉