[quote=Jazzman]Bearishgirl, I am with you all the way on Prop 13. The SD/Charlotte example was just to illustrate a point, that measures of life style, geography, weather etc alone don’t determine home values. RE is the biggest industry in CA. If memory serves me, it is a whopping 17% of GDP. The mortgage/Wall Street fusion was purportedly born in Orange County. CA has one of the largest foreclosure rates in the country. I don’t think this is all coincidence, or that people are simply “prepared” to pay higher home prices. Life-style is sold here big time, and some might argue largely on the back of Hollywood glitz and glamor, so one is “stuck” with the high prices.[/quote]
Jazzman, I don’t think a “lifestyle of glitz and glamor” are what people are buying in SD County when they purchase RE. ANY area of the US is free to “sell” its “lifestyle” and many do. I think, plain and simple that the weather in SD county is more consistent year round and year over year and less prone to natural disasters (we’ve also been lucky in recent decades in this regard). This is a BIG sell. One doesn’t need to visit here long in the winter or during hurricane season to experience the difference because between SD and Charlotte. I also think the diverse housing stock, diverse kinds of people and proximity to the Pacific Ocean and Mexico are a big draw, as well.
Foreclosures and property distress is happening everywhere in the US with some locales affected far more than others. NINJA loans were likely available in all 50 states. HELOCs and “cash-out” refis were regulated in a few states. The states with less mobility were affected the least. These “regulated states” and the ones with the least family mobility are often one and the same and are mostly located in the nation’s midsection where a young family will typically buy a 1-10 AC plot of land in the same area they grew up in and where the bulk of their family members reside. Then they will build a house on it (usually built by a family friend or relative and sometimes with the buyer’s help) and live in it for a minimum of 25 years and sometimes for life. Since homeowners don’t sell and move too much in these areas, there were few who took out NINJA loans. In addition, since buyers had constant contact with family members for counsel (legal and otherwise) during the buying process, they typically did not succumb to these types of financing pitches and instead accepted the help of family members for downpayment and rehab assistance and/or used FHA/VA financing.
