Here’s an idea. Move to a place like Des Moines,Iowa where companies like Principal Financial are actually expanding by 1,500 jobs (And Wells Fargo is also expanding) and homes cost $150,000 for a 4br, 3ba home w/basement in a nice area with great schools and a yard. Your home and car insurance will drop by 50%, your neighbors will actually care about you, and you will find many of the same amentities exist that you probably think you would miss in SoCal.
For example, in West Des Moines – the ‘well to do’ area of Des Moines – there is a huge mall called Jorden Creek that is similar to the Irvine Spectrum, complete with a Costco to make you feel at home. The Cubs have a minor league stadium that is dirt cheap, and brand new. Don’t like the ‘big city’ of Des Moines? Move to Iowa City or Ames, fantastic small university towns complete with sports events, civic activities, zero crime and fantastic schools.
I live in one of these towns, 500 yards from a brand new gym that rivals the one next to ViaSat in Carlsbad and has an indoor pool. Next door is a high end, brand new cafe/restaurant that is world class. And get this – these businesses are in a master planned, Midwest style neighborhood that is similar, but on a much smaller scale, to San Elijo Hills. And the city of 25,000 full time residents + 25,000 college students just approved a $10 million water park. My commute went from 1 hour to 5 minutes, my salary stayed the same, and I get to eat tasty corn every night. There are more city parks than I can count, bike trails, and for those of you looking for diversity, in the past month we have met couples from Kenya, Korea, South Africa, Zimbabwe, China and more. 5-10% of the population is Asian, many of the grad students are from the Middle East, and if you look hard you can find Amish and Mennonite students. Look harder and you may see them in their horse drawn carriages. At intersection stop signs here, you have to force people to go before you, even if they got to the stop sign first. Every single time.
I can appreciate the desire to wait it out, see what happens to prices, and keep hoping for a drop. My point is that there is an alternative. If you allow yourself a paradigm shift, you will see that there is a world of opportunity in fly over country. We miss the weather, the relatives, Sea World and Lego Land, but other than the relatives, my kids, wife and I really don’t need that extra entertainment to live a good life. Did I mention that I also reduced my housing costs by $1,500/Month and grocery costs by 20%? School tuition is also 50% less, and the kids are playing soccer and swimming all at a fraction of Encinitas costs.
Congratulations if you bought when prices were low, are sitting on equity, and are living a great SoCal life. To the rest of you poor souls who are slaving away as teachers, engineers and even lawyers, socking away every last dime with the hope of someday buying a SoCal stucco box in a city with poor schools when the market crashes, I’m here to tell you that there are alternatives. Does it tick you off that prices haven’t really fallen in North County yet, or that surfer guy Bob who doesn’t work is sitting on $1 million in equity because his parents passed down a broken down Encinitas beach house to him when they died? And that you went to law school and still can’t afford a condo? Get rid of that negative energy and just leave. Treat every day as if it could be the last day of your life and start building that American dream for your family now. Who knows if prices will ever drop, and if they do you can always move back.
I moved away, and have not posted here since we left. No regrets, and no desire to ever return…
