[quote=bearishgurl][quote=protorio][quote=jstoesz] population of people with poor fiscal values. [/quote]
Well, its more than that, and perhaps speaks to Scarlett’s mention of professionals. Markets are shaped not just by economics, but by culture and ideology. No one disputes that the ideology of home ownership in the U.S. is very strong (if sometimes illogical). But people who earn a certain income often want to stretch that income to the limit in order to achieve homogeneity within a particular taste culture – aesthetic, social, economic. So many “professionals” (I suppose I’m one) seem to have driven up prices by going “all in” with stretching dual incomes, rather than live rather modestly in more diverse neighborhoods.
Of course, I’m not drawing from any data – purely anecdotal and general observations.[/quote]
Agree with this, protorio. “Young professionals” (YP’s) in the 70’s or 80’s didn’t mind buying a house for their families in Univ Heights, North Park or Golden Hill and perhaps turning the granny flat into an office for one of them. And “API scores” were unheard of. I think today’s YP’s in SD County have different housing expectations because there are so many choices on where to live now (many outlier areas/zip codes that didn’t exist then). SD County also has 3x the population, more and wider freeways and more job centers, now. The “YP’s” of yesteryear wouldn’t have dreamed of complicating their lives by commuting long distances, like many of today’s YP’s do. The “values” are different between Gen Y, Gen X, boomers, WWII gen and Greatest gen . . . very, VERY different.[/quote]
I wouldn’t really chalk it up to YPs’ outlandishly high expectations. Back in the 70s and 80s, you had many more “middle-class” neighborhoods that, while not fancy, were certainly quite safe and clean, and the schools were very adequate.
Along with the decimation of the middle class, we’ve seen the decimation of middle class neighborhoods, so that today’s families have to choose between gang-infested barrios, or insanely-priced, “fancy” neighborhoods where all the white and Asian families are fleeing to in order to escape the gang ‘hoods. It’s like people have been left with no real options: they either subject their children to the gangs at school and in their neighborhoods, or they have to pay the piper to get them into schools with “Buffy” and “Skip” so they can feel safe and get a decent education. There is no more “middle” left in our society, and this speaks to the root of our problems, and the problems of the world, right now, IMHO.
