One comment about the “irresponsible Californians”…
From what I’ve seen, it’s not the native Californians who are so irresponsible. Most of us look at today’s prices and think people are crazy for paying them. We’ve been around California RE long enough to know that we have one of the most volatile markets around, and people can *lose their a$$es* in CA RE, and often do — they’ve been winning and losing for a very, very long time.
The people I see overpaying for housing are almost always newcomers who, even though they might be from the midwest (or wherever), are the ones who want to emulate the “California lifestyle” they see on TV and in the movies. They have funny notions about “paradise” and think that California is filled with “beautiful people” and the newcomers are the ones who are attracted by the “bling” of California.
Most natives are actually very low-key and, dare I say…normal. We’re not usually the ones driving around in showy cars and overbidding on properties because of some fairytale about housing prices “always going up” in California. We know better than that.
The obnoxious “Californians” are usually not Californians at all. They are almost always from somewhere else.
