1) Renting – a nice 2b/2b SFR in Van Nuys. Despite it being the The Valley, we feel lucky in comparison with friends trying to find rentals in L.A at the moment – few and expensive.
2) Never owned here. Technically I now ‘own’ my mother’s flat in London, but am in the process of selling it as the Executrix of her will. And, after 6 offers in two weeks, hoping to exchange contracts before the UK housing bubble pops…
3) Judging from what I’ve read, UK prices are still going up, so have no idea what the peak will be over there. In any case I’m more interested in selling it, whatever the market conditions, as I want to use the money to invest/buy over here next year.
4) I’m a long time internet junkie, so came across Patrick’s blog sort of by mistake (back when it wasn’t subscription). From there I followed links to other HB blogs, and discovered the splendid Piggingtons!
5) Would love to buy something over on the Westside – Van Nuys summers are brutal – but now have a financial cushion. So, we’re looking for something a bit less built up than Santa Monica/West L.A. Until my mother’s passing, it looked like the only things we could afford would be condos.
6) see 2)
7) Since returning to the US in 2000 we’ve steadily been priced out.
Had we the money,we should have bought in 2000, but were dealing with relocation expenses (and culture shock) and didn’t have enough for a downpayment (always will be a 20% down, 15/30 yr fixed kinda gal 😉 ).
Every time we thought we’d saved enough, prices would leap up again. Last year we thought long and hard about buying a condo, using the husband’s 401(K) money, and all the perks we could find for first-time buyers, and ARMs, but decided to rent and think about it a little longer. There but for the grace of god, etc….
Now, with a nest egg from my mum’s will and dropping prices, we can actually afford to buy something nice that we want to live in!
We’ll be looking up to a max of about 750K, as that’s what we can realistically afford, and want a place in the hills that is cooler that the San Fernando Valley.
