[quote=temeculaguy]Because I read that alot on other threads, how 40 years ago a blue collar worker could live in carlsbad with a stay at home wife and life was good. It’s probably true, but it’s not true anymore and I don’t believe it will be true again. [/quote]
I’m one of the folks who’s made comments along those lines. But what people expect to buy now is not the same as what they expected to buy 40 years ago.
Jim the Realtor posted a trulia.com article about McMansions… turns out the term was coined here in San Diego in 1990 – probably in response to the Carlsbad tracts that went in around that time. Bigger and bigger houses, on smaller lots.
From the article
For a little historical context, 1,200 square feet was the average home size in America in the 1960s. That grew to 1,710 square feet in the 1980s and 2,330 square feet in the 2000s.
50 years ago 1200 sf houses were the norm. You can extrapolate that 40 years ago it was around 1500 sf. Now people feel deprived if they can’t get 3000 sf.
I have friends who bought in the early 90’s up in Carlsbad. At the time, it was a trade off of commute time for size of home the same way this thread talks about commuting from Temecula. But my friends were a Marine who worked at MCRD and his wife who was an office manager in Del Mar. They were thrilled to get a 3000 sf house… less thrilled to have a backyard that was only 15 feet deep.
I worked in Oceanside in the late 80’s – commuting from downtown San Diego. For me, personally, I made the decision to never have a commute over 30 minutes each way again. I’ve lived in less fancy, but more expensive, homes as a consequence. But it’s a decision I have not regreted. But, that’s my metrics/choice. I understand the desire for a bigger, affordable house, and the tradeoffs people make.
