BG, you’re wrong. I said [quote]you need to down-grade your material lifestyle or make $200K plus to be in the good parts of Cali. And unless someone left you a house, $100K in Cali is lower middle income existence and it just gets worse as you go down from there[/quote]
As for stress free, I never said stress free, I said being given a house was a major economic advantage. As I said in a follow-up post [quote]As for the Escondido house, think about the economic advantage of not having rent, what’s that? $1400-$2200 a month they’re not forking over?[/quote]
One that took someone from being $100K or less earner and essentially “poor” to being on the same or better “housing” playing field as out of state. Or if nothing else, relieves them of paying “rent” in the $1400-$2200 range. Or puts them in a much more comfortable house for a much lower payment.
If someone gifted me that Buena Park house, I’d keep it and rent it. I know that area and it’s manageable for me as a rental. The Escondido house, is much less accessible being an hour plus without traffic to get to and I have no familiarity with the area.
The little rough gem in BP is sadly, probably a $2000+/month rental. I’ve lived in far worse when I was a renter.
And again, my real point with the BP house is that it’s essentially upper bounds for a $100K earner in Orange County without making yourself stupidly house poor. A living wage is 1/3rd of gross for housing. Well, they’re running close enough and that’s making $100K.
