I don’t know EconProf… I think just about every person who is an older property owner(s) in CA that didn’t sell or didn’t miss out on the boat aren’t really complaining about how things worked out in CA…..
By far, relative to many of my peers here, I’m as the youngsters call in the “Poors”…. Those that had racked and stacked real estate here in CA and kept them are killing it.
I did ok, but not stellar great, but I really can’t complain, as much as a lot of things piss me off about CA. I never would have imagined that a POS cookie cutter starter home in 92130 that cost me $800k would be appraised for $2.2m today… Nor did I expect the POS short sales/REO condos in MM that were around $125k-$150k each during the Great Depression would be selling near $450k- $1/2 million today, nor would they be pulling in around $2500-$2900/month each in rental income.
Nor did I expect doing a cash out refinance on some of the properties at 3% for 30 years and leaving that in index funds and even less than stellar stock picks would have worked out as well as it did versus leaving it as dead equity with it doing nothing.
I never thought I would be in a position to be have been financially comfortable to retire early 17 years earlier than most of my peers outside of CA, and be able to send my kid off to college starting this year at the same time.
And there’s a lot of people in CA that did a heck of a lot better too. All those people that racked and stacked sub- $500k properties in places like “lizard-infested” Mira Mesa as BG use to call here, are smiling all the way to the bank these days with the $1.2-4m appraisals coming in…. In Mira Mesa….Admittedly, I sure as hell missed the boat on those.
Which brings me to my next point… My old neighbor, a GM for Motorola once gave me the following advice… the more can keep politics out of daily life decisions, the better off financially one will be…He was so spot on and I’m very thankful for his wise advice. God forbid if I listened to a lot of the CA doomsayers and sold my properties years ago, how disappointed I would have been missing all that gain.
Life is way too short to be bitter and stuck in this constant left versus right versus left slapfest from a bunch of old farts in washington that have their thumbs up their asses. It’s a soap opera for old and ugly people. people figure out how to make money irrespective of which political party is pissing in the winds. And I refuse to acknowledge I’m an old fart….
If moving because you want to be next to your kids is important enough for you, then good for you, it was a good decision for you. It doesn’t matter how much money you might have left on the table, because you can’t put a price on everything, and when you get old, there are a lot more things that are way more important than just simple black and white money. Never thought I would say that, but seen enough people dropping like flies recently in my age group all over the country, I’m like holy shit, many people didn’t even get to enjoy most of their life they worked to build before they croaked…. you know, as much as I wanted to have my own tech company, it ain’t gonna happen and now it’s not at the top priority of my list. But even then, as much as I find some of the things in CA annoying, I’m thankful that CA enabled me to have a way better life than I expected and can’t really complain.
And it’s so playtime…I aint going to be a grumpy old fart going to Bingo Night at the senior center wearing Depends with a soar back and with my AARP card in hand without a fight.
