[quote=UCGal][quote=bearishgurl]
In other words, while shopping CA, you had much higher standards for a retirement home than you did in HI or France.
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Wow – I read the same threads from Jazzman, and did not reach the same conclusion. I have no way of judging whether he had higher standards in one place or the other.
… Nor do you.
I will say that he bought *different* homes in HI and France, than he was looking at in Santa Barbara… but that doesn’t mean he was applying lower standards to those homes. Just that he found homes that fit his needs and made him want to purchase in those locations. . . .[/quote]
Uhh, except … he DID apply lower standards to his retirement home search after he decided to give up his home search in CA. He decided he wanted TWO homes for the same investment he was willing to make for ONE residence in CA.
Jazzman states here that he is now purchasing a ~2000 sf home in France which not only does not appear to have a garage big enough to park in, it is located approx 117 miles (188 kms) from the coast.
In addition, he purchased a condo (1300-1400 sf? … IIRC, he posted the size somewhere but can’t recall) last year on or near a beach on the island of Maui, HI, USA.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, Jazzman, but weren’t you looking in the $750K to $1M range in your choice CA coastal cities for a single-family principal residence to retire in? Weren’t all of your first choice cities and areas in CA which you were shopping in situated within five miles of the coast?
Three of the areas on your list (Marin County, Palo Alto? and Santa Barbara) were (and are) epicenters of the original environmental movement on the west coast of the USA. For example, smoking is banned in almost all public places in and out of doors in Santa Barbara proper. No franchises (incl big box stores) or comm’l signage larger than about six feet in diameter and no higher than about 25 ft are have EVER been allowed in the coastal cities of Marin County (incl the bayfront cities of Sausalito and Tiburon).
There are several other CA coastal cities and adjoining enclaves with similarly strict regulations.
This type of regulation doesn’t come cheap. Pristine environment? SURE! Undisturbed open space and protected wetlands? In abundance! It takes an astute city council who understands the far-reaching ramifications of their decisions to realize the gravity of their positions of land stewards of some of the finest coastal land in the world. Unlike the sellout SD city and county officials in prior years and decades (they’re only now beginning to get a clue), officials in other choice CA coastal jurisdictions have ALWAYS been fully cognizant of the ramifications of their votes on the many ordinances before them and managed to vote in the very best interest of the environment of their respective cities and constituents.
These very exclusive areas are the same areas where Jazzman posted he was shopping in between 2010 and 2012.
I have stated repeatedly here that there is nothing wrong with deciding not to purchase a retirement home in any of them, instead deciding to retire elsewhere. Last time I looked, this was a free country and free world.
Again, folks, you get exactly what you pay for in this life. Sometimes you get lucky, but with RE, more often than not, that “luck” was caused from HARD WORK, creating “sweat equity.”
If you will indulge me, Jazzman, I just have a few questions for you:
Did you place offers on any condos in CA?
Did you place offers on any homes without garages or with a (substandard) one-car garage in CA?
Did you place offers on any properties situated over 100 miles from the coast in CA? How about 30 miles from the coast?
In brief, what were the approximate sizes (sf) of the houses you placed offers on in CA?
Thank you in advance of your responses, Jazzman. BTW, the country or farm? house you are buying in France is very pretty as are the photos of surrounding areas you posted 🙂
Your answers should clear up any confusion in this regard so I will “rest my case.”
LOL, Flyer_in_High, is your “Temecula” suggestion supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek depiction of what Jazzman could have purchased there (65-70 mi from the coast) for approx $488,110??
