[quote=The-Shoveler]Well I got to throw this out as well, all the time I have been a home owner, I have NEVER lived less than 45 minutes from work., almost EVERYONE of the CA natives I know have ever lived less than 30 minute’s drive from work, none of them had an ocean view home from their first home at least.
None of them bought a New home as their first home, in fact most of the homes were at least 30 years old and needing some repair.
Most were 30, or near 30 when they bought their first home in SoCal, Meaning they were well on their way to established careers by the time they bought their first home in SoCal.
Yes it has ALWAYS been tough to buy a home in SoCal I would say especially for boomers (we had a lot of competition, each other!).[/quote]
As someone at the very tail of the boomer generation (born in early 60’s)…
I left CA in the 1990 because I couldn’t afford the housing…
I bought in WA state… a 2bedroom fixer. I made money. Then moved states again for work.
I bought in PA state… A 4 bedroom twinhome (semi-detached) made money. And moved back to CA…. in my early 40’s.
In both previous purchases (WA and PA) I looked at 15-20 houses, easily… maybe more, before deciding to purchase. My budget was limited by my down payment (this was back when 20% down was the RULE not the exception.) So I wanted the best value for the $$. Both homes were older fixer upppers..
When I moved back home, my criteria was extremely limiting. Within 5 miles of the coast. (Not ocean front, but some coastal weather effects.) Within 30 minutes of work.
Actually – the less than 30 minutes of work was a requirement for all home purchases. I was willing to trade size/newness for proximity.
I agree that some first time home buyers seem to want to start out with their forever homes. They seem unwilling to do improvements or repairs. That’s their choice…. but it limits their options and may keep some out of the market.
Buying when I did, and moving up in size/value each time… allowed me to put a HUGE downpayment when we purchased here. (we financed less than 50% of the purchase price.) If I’d waited for the perfect home I wouldn’t have been able to make equity gains with each transition.
