Agree sp, in certain areas carrying expenses are next to nothing. Many in our family (including myself) are good examples of people who bought here years ago, and have relatively low housing expenses–but that is not always the case in many areas of San Diego–especially in the newer North County developments.
We have personally known people who could not afford to retire here in recent years for many reasons–job loss around 50, with no alternative income to rely on–college expenses for their kids–lack of jobs and housing opportunities for their kids–and the list goes on.
As you mentioned, it’s not everyone, but there seems to be a fairly large percentage in the areas I mentioned.
