[quote-no_such_reality]….Negative connotations aside of your post, you make our point, 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. And I’m OC/LA where the housing and expense issue is even more pronounced than SD….[/quote]
IIRC, you are a SD North County resident, NSR. Let’s assume your grandmother on your mom’s side with whom you spent many weekends swinging on her tree swing as a child enjoying the view and good family times and remember them fondly, has recently died. She was widowed at 44 and you just found out she has left you her home and adjacent lot, free and clear with Prop 13 “protection” on it. Taxes are currently $505 annually, per SD Assessor.
Would YOU live in it? Would YOU move your family into it? Would you do repairs/improvements on it? Would YOU live there for the rest of your life in order to pay NO MORTGAGE and LOW TAXES and live “stress-free” in Cali (with lots of discretionary income)? OR would you immediately mortgage it and invest in the stock market or buy another rental and/or vehicles and bling. Would you rent it out and keep paying your current mortgage? OR would you immediately sell it and lose the Prop 13 “protection” on it forever?
The truth is that the vast majority of these “heirs” who were fortunate enough to be “left a house” in CA moved into it before or shortly after the death of the owner and will live out the rest of their lives in residence and perhaps even pass it on to their children. They weren’t “picky” about anything regarding the property, i.e. location, size, condition, etc. They simply did as much work they could afford to do on it when they took title of it (or did NO work if they couldn’t afford to at the time) and moved in. They don’t have a “glamorous lifestyle” but can live, eat and pay for their utilites (often at “lifeline rates”).
MOST of these heirs didn’t mortgage their “inherited” properties to death to buy vehicles and bling. And many of the ones who did lost their longtime family homes to foreclosure.
So, what would YOU do, NSR??
And where do you consider to be the “good parts of Cali?”
