When the wife and I moved from Ecuador back to California in April of 2005 we knew we couldn’t afford a home. We were shocked at how expensive homes had become here. Neither of us could figure out how anyone could afford to buy a home in Orange County when the prices were stratospheric! So we moved to Sacramento to stay with her sister while we looked for jobs and a house. When finding a job that would support a home in Sacramento became harder and harder we moved to San Antonio, TX. There we found a 3600+sq ft home for $327k. Then my father-in-law got sick, and we had to move back to CA in Nov of 2006. Home prices were even higher by then, and we resigned ourselves to renting for the rest of our lives. We finally found a home in Meniffee for $478k that we fell in love with. The commute prevented us from buying it. In hindsight that was the best decision we ever made! Now we’re in a position to be able to afford a home here in OC if we chose to, or buy a bigger home with some land in Oceanside.
So, the long and the short is that around April, 2005 we knew things couldn’t keep up the rate of appreciation due to the income to price ratio. Until I found this site I wasn’t sure how bad things truly were, and am now sitting and saving for another 8-15 months before buying a home.
