California real estate prices versus North Carolina and Florida

[mixxalot]

I have noticed that California in general has way inflated real estate prices compared to Florida (except for Miami) and North Carolina.

Why is that? All are nice places to live.

[surveyor]

(…)

California has been in a boom. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia have not participated in that boom until now.

There is also a lot of capital flowing around California in general (and a lot of wealth) as opposed to North Carolina. The economy in California is much larger than North Carolina. Sure, NC has a lot of industries, schools, and jobs, it doesn’t compare to California. Also, taxes and cost of living is much lower in NC.

Florida has no income tax, but has a brutal property tax.

There are more reasons, but those are the basics.

Expect North Carolina to have a mini-bubble because of the amount of investors going to North Carolina.

[CostaMesa]

I can’t speak for Florida… However, for NC – I have the ‘qualification’ of having lived there for ~14 years before I came to California in the late 90’s.

From the perspective of the housing market, it’s not surprising that NC hasn’t caught up to Cal in terms of raw median price – it’s definitely a less expensive place to live. There’s plenty of usable, open land.

I was looking at a place right before I left. A 25yo 3/3/3 on five acres with a half-acre pond out back and woods in between. Ten minutes to downtown Raleigh, ten minutes to RTP, main road backs up to a state forest. $185K

When I got here, a funky little 1952 2/1 SFH on 2200sf across from my rental sold for $260K. I knew it’d been renovated, but was stunned by what someone would be willing to pay for that place. The sticker shock was pretty intense – and that for a place where people are packed frighteningly close to each other. Less than two years ago the same place sold for $890K to a young couple of financial analysts that re-renovated it.

I hear that stuff near the Park (RTP) has tripled since then, which syncs fairly well with my observations here.

Not that my data is in any way complete or representative – the experience was just so intense that I felt like sharing.

[Cow_tipping]

I moved from CA to Charlotte Nc in 2002.
New houses were selling in charlotte for ~55 a sqft in the 3000 sqft range. I snagged myself one in 03.
However I drove around a little the last week looking at houses being built. The last of the cheapish developments are almost finished and about to be closed out. Around these developments are other newer developments where the cost of entry is 100 a sqft and up. 3-4 years ago, you couldn’t find 100 a sqft anywhere, now that’s all there is.
So Ladies and gentlemen, we are now officially inflating a house bubble.
OK I guess we are giving equity refugees from CA and NY/NJ etc a place to throw away their money. OK.
Another interesting fact was, 98-02 house prices in Charlotte went down. That is cos builders switched from stick built to part pre fab areound then. Now, they seem to be doing stick build again.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.

[mixxalot]

Bubbles and value

Well the key is to find a job where you can work from home or travel. That way find a cheap town and place to buy land and build a home. I dont want to throw my cash away.

[Anonymous]

They’re still recovering from the War of Northern Aggression…

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

CA has always been more expensive than these places (at least the last 40 years). The current difference is more exaggerated, due to the bubble.

Basic reasons for the difference under more normal economic conditions :

jobs

bugs

humidity

scenery, hiking, outdoor recreation (compared to florida)

[surveyor]

forgot some more…

oh, forgot some more factors: California is generally the most difficult place to get construction projects drawn up, approved, and permitted in the country. The regulations, fees, and the time cost involved in getting a project from dream to finish is so large that they have to charge so much to break even.

Bubble or not, California will always be expensive than other states under this and other factors.

Construction of a major subdivision often takes about 10 years or more in California. Other states this process only takes a couple of years.

[Cow_tipping]

FormerSanDiegan …

You forgot
earthquakes landslides etc
taxes
Extra Illegal mexicans
congestion

Cool.
Cow_tipping.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

touche Cow_tipping, but I was trying to be nice,
so I left out …

hurricanes
property taxes
hicks
drug boats
Don Johnson
more hicks
New York retirees
People who can’t count votes
country music
swamp gas

[mixxalot]

Too funny, ROTFL!
Well I agree. For me, my parents gave me 2 acres of land near Chico up north and so I can put a 3 bedroom modular home on it for 100k and not have a big mortgage payment. If I can keep doing the travel consulting work thats key.

San Diego needs a major crash in real estate before I can stomach a purchase here.

[exeunt]

weather: +CA : winter, spring, autumn
+NC : spring, summer, autumn
housing: +NC
jobs: +NC for growth
+CA for income
education:+CA for the best public universities in the world
-everywhere for the dumbing-down of public-ed
crime: +inner cities everywhere
-suburbia everywhere
arts: +CA, by miles
racism: +NC, you’ll know once youre on the receiving end
bibles: +NC, if you’re a thumper – welcome home!
evolution:+CA
greens: +CA
vegetables:+CA
meat: +NC
race cars:+NC
museums: +CA, by miles
fat: +NC
yoga: +CA
nature: +CA for public lands set aside
+NC for greenery/trees (if you live in desert)
gays: +CA
bigots: +NC
flags: +NC
churches: +NC, by miles
buddhists:+CA

NC is small compared to CA. Within hours you could be in SC, which is one of the most racist backward bigoted bible-blot bubba places on earth. its not NC, but if you were to live in charlotte, as opposed to RTC, you’d feel it. Then again, you drive just as far out of LA and you’re in Bakersfield, which might be similar…

CA is crowded, expensive, superficial, and damn large. Its economy is among the largest in the world. There are lots of “illegal” “mexicans” here. They are a foundation of the economy and work harder for their keep than most. In NC, black americans have still the overcome the legacy of enslavement in an environment that condemns them to a prenially marginalized state.

Every place has its merits, stereotypes and little niches of humanity. Generally, suburbia anywhere disengages people from interacting with those who might differ from them, perpetuating sterotypes, resulting in human automata rather than critically thinking folk.

[Cow_tipping]

I thought we were doing FL vs CA … and I was just stirring the pot …
I’d definetly give winter to NC though. Not rain just ice and the whole place shuts down and we get to take “snow days”.
However racing I wont give that to NC … not real racing …
IMHO – NASCAR – stands for North And South Carolina Auto Racing.
OK fine I do get to enjoy the benifits of ASSCAR when I go to the scrap yard and pick up an aluminum rail sub frame that I can mangle on to the rear end of a bike and easily be absolutely certain it will hold up my 220 lb ass and it costs me 30 cents a lb … and it weighs … get this … 2.5 lbs. I call that NASCRAP.
Same with the Banana risers I needed for my cruiser. All I had to do was find the 12 mm bolts it needed instead of the 10mm my bike has … very cool if you’re just making up stuff.
NC isn’t quite and neither is SC because ironically these places are racist against blacks and I am Indian. I totally get accepted. I dunno maybe there may be a growing sentiment against Illegals and mexicans. But so far nothing of note against Injun. I felt CA was worse and I thought Boston was absolutely the most racist place on earth against Injuns.
Flame on … :-))

Mixxalot: Dont do modular – try steel.
http://www.heritagebuildings.com/steel_homes/models.asp
Check out their prices and you’ll know how much better they are.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.

[exeunt]

sridhar,
regarding those steel homes…
how utterly ugly and unbelievably gauche those “homes” look!
more like barns or warehouses than light and bright places to live in.
i’d much rather have an old craftsman or victorian to restore, with large windows and open beams.

i kinda agree about those bostonians; perhaps their covert racism is worse than the overt sort, which one might be able to avoid.

its the OTHER sort of bigotry, that driven by illiteracy and evangelism, lacking an appreciation of peoples diversity of belief or lack thereof, their sexual orientsation, their questioning of fossilized thinking that glorifies war and reduces the rest of humanity to simple “evil”, that is rampant in the South and in all of suburbia

i cannot really follow the references you make to steel bolts and “bikes”. i’m not sure how germane to the conversation it might be – perhaps some fantasy of machismo that one has to flaunt? My own bikes-n-bolts story has more to do with adding a kid-trailer to the seat-post of my bicycle.

[Cow_tipping]

My name is not Sridhar. And I am trying to be incognito … so dont dig it up and repeat it.

The steel houses comment was directed at Mixxalot who was planning a modular in chico. I wont randomly toss things at people. A steel house is really much nicer than you’d think and they are inexpensive to build and absolutely maintenance free and resistant to almost any natural disaster.

Bikes as related to Nascar: I have lots of jap bikes (mid 80’s through mid 90’s) that I buy, ride and sell and make parts for. The local metal scrap yards are full of cool stuff for them. I was just saying, even thogh I dont care for nascar, I believe I am enjoying living in its armpit in a sorta pigs in shit kinda way. No fantasy machismo there. I was responding to someone earlier who said racing was a + for NC.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.

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