Looking at all the “green” counties, it is CLEAR where the “boomers” and older have chosen to retire: the wine country areas of Ukiah to Mendocino (Anderson Valley), Ft. Bragg, Eureka, Crescent City, Mt Shasta, Yreka, Yosemite and Mammoth Lakes).
I may very well be right behind them 🙂
This could also be a function of “old-timers” in those counties who never had anything to prove. Thus, they didn’t repeatedly remortgage their homes over the years to buy vehicles, bling and vacations, etc, as homeowners in the more populous CA counties did.
Note that one of the counties with the lowest percentage of paid-off homes is SB. This obviously includes the “resort” areas of Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake, which are both small in size in terms of permanent population (in relation to other SB Co cities). These two towns also likely represent mostly vacation-homeowners (whose primary home is somewhere else) and retiree-homeowners. And, of course, as we know, the City of SB had to file for BK protection, mostly due to the “boom and bust” nature of all the excess subdivisions they approved, causing them to hire hundreds of employees that they couldn’t continue to pay. And it appears that all the overbuilding that went on in the high desert since the early nineties (Adelanto, Victorville, Hesperia and Apple Valley) will be mortgaged for a VERY long time yet :=0
Thanks for sharing this “very-telling” article and chart, paramount!
