June 24, 2008
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Depressing
So, the other day, I was approaching the end of my four-mile training run when I passed by a house in our neighborhood that just went on for sale. Johnny and I will be house-hunting next spring, and although we are not looking for a house in our current neighborhood (because we'd like to move to the suburbs and because West LA is just too expensive), I was still curious.
The house was cute but definitely not something to write home about. According to the flyer, it has four bedrooms, three baths and a small yard. It's 2,600 square feet. Since housing prices have supposedly gone "down, down, down!" in recent months, I thought it might be comforting to sneak a look at the price of this house. I knew that prices in our current neighborhood are often inflated just because it's in West LA, and that I can't use the price as a barometer for housing prices that Johnny and I are likely to encounter, but the asking price still blew me away.
Are you ready??
$1.3 million.
That's right, folks! $1.3 million for a 50-year-old house near a busy intersection. Again, this is much more than what houses cost in the 'burbs (who am I kidding? LA is one giant suburb), but it was not very comforting. I was like, "Where do I live? Crazyland?" (OK, yes, I know all you East Coasters are like, "We could have told you that without this entry.") I showed the flyer to Johnny and we (for the millionth time) lamented the fact that we'll probably end up in a three-bed, two-bath ranch house, and we will be lucky if we get away with it for just a bit over half a million dollars. It will be adorable just because it will be our first house, but we try not to think about how for the price we'll probably pay for said house, we could probably buy something much nicer and newer in our beloved Chicago (or at least, its suburbs).
However, beloved Chicago does not have many of the attractions that Crazyland has, like my mom, June, Char-izzle, Johnny's job, and (hopefully soon!) Chris, Victoria and Maddy. Not to mention the friends we have here. I'm not going to mention the weather, because yes, it's great here, but Chicago's fun factor and homey feel really trump its insane weather. Besides, have you ever seen the waves in Lake Michigan frozen into shape? It is so wild, it's (almost) worth the six months of winter. So, Southern California it is. I am a happy resident, except when it comes to housing prices! I guess the nice thing is that no matter what, housing prices in the LA area just seem to rise over time, so we can always sell for a higher value later on. Unless we get that huge earthquake and become an obsolete island. Hmmm.
Comments (23)
Oh my gosh - that is horrible depressing. I mean - 2600 feet is awesome, but that would be about a $300,000 to $400,000 home here. Yikes.
hey Beverly,
I appreciate your comment yesterday. honestly, I don't think the manager's attitude will change but we'll see. I'm considering other options as well so I'll update you if any changes.
so yeah, housing prices...seriously. When I was living in Charleston, I could get a 2 story, 3 bedroom house with a patio for less than 300K but here, that would be like 700-800K in my neighborhood and not even have a yard or parking garage...just a tiny townhouse thats 1700 square feet or so...sad huh.
love cali, hate housing prices. welcome to my club hehehe.
btw, Jack is looking more adorable day by day. I can see why its hard to leave this little gem at home and go to work:)
@annadotes - Yeah, I know. Perhaps NOT the best time for me to become a SAHM, but we'll make it work!
I am always so baffled at housing prices in other states!! John and I bought our home for $215,000 and it's a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom in a 2,000 sq ft space with a big backyard and garage! So, my point is, move here!
J/K. The weather here is way too hot and if it wasn't so expensive to live in California, John and I would have probably moved there a long time ago!
Wow! OMG, that is sooooo expensive for a house. I would not be able to live on my own in CA b/c its SO expensive!! Since I live in Georgia, a million bucks would go a long way. You could by ten homes for that price!! But, I totally understand you love where you live since you have friends and family there and CA is such a nice place. I love the sunny weather and all of the beaches.
) I'm sure when the time is right you, Johnny and Jack will find an adorable and comfortable home. 
) My condo is kinda small, but its just right for Sophie and I. So, its not always the size that matters, but what you make of it.
ryc: Your comment made me laugh!
@PeanutPuff - Jody, I think I will now dig a hole under my cubicle and bury myself in there. Just kidding. It is rather tempting to move out to AZ ... $215,000 for a 3bd, 2.5ba with yard and garage?!! Let's be next door neighbors, and Johnny and I could use the extra money we would have spent on a house out here to throw a giant "Noah-warming" block party.
Can't wait to see pics of your new place!
that's about how much it would cost here in NYC!!! but if u go to a suburb area, u can get it around like 380,000
we've been searching for a condon for almost a year now and nothing we like
Move to Kansas! lol. My aunts house is five bedroom, 5 bathrooms, HUGE basement with kitchen, jacuzzi, huge yard for under 300 thousand. That is INSANE.
@bRoWnEyEzHyPnOtIzE_87 - Yes, that IS insane! Find us a couple of jobs and we're there!
Wow! Jersey is expensive, but not nearly that bad - well, at least not the area we live in. My brother and his family live in SoCal and I remember when they were looking to buy a house they ended up with a townhouse and it still cost them an arm and a leg.
home is where the heart (and family) are. i am always baffled at how californians can afford to live there, housing is so freaking expensive there!
luckily all of our immediate family and lots of relatives live in houston so this is home for us. good thing cuz you can get a brand new 2500 sq ft home with a yard and 2 car garage for ~ 200k.
we had our home built in 2002 (2500 sq ft) for 170k.
Wow, everyone! It has been really interesting to read about your home prices. So far I am drooling with envy at most of you. I've decided to stop viewing our lack of a house as a "failure," given the crazy prices out here!
OH MY GOD! (And believe me I don't say that phrase a lot...oh my goodness, yes. Actually using God's name there...NO!) I told Chris as I was reading it all. We figure that we should move our house (4 bedroom, 2 bath, MORE than 2,600 square feet, and 11 1/2 acres to LA so we can become RICH! Who cares that the floor around the downstairs toilet is rotting out?! We could still get a good price I am sure! OMG! OH....MY....GOD!
I just don't get it...I really don't. How could anyone even afford something that expensive without it being a mansion?
Hi Beverly! Yes, I was just as surprised when I heard from a friend about San Francisco home prices. It's just absurd that people should pay so much, but who am I to judge, right? Maybe I'll end up in one of those million dollar duplex, but I'll have to try very hard not to wonder about what I could have gotten in another state! I agree with you that Chicago is just a beautiful city, and if it's not for the cold, Han and I wouldn't mind living there at all. By the way, we reserved an apartment in Long Beach! It's the complex we wanted, and although the location is not ideal (by the street) and the apartment is on the first floor, it was a great deal and within our budget! Granted, we are still paying twice as much as our current apartment, but it's time we stopped getting spoiled by midwest prices.
Gosh that would be depressing. Our house is 1624sq ft 3 bed 1 1/2 bath 2 story brick home and we only paid $81,225 for it. We watch alot of the shows like property ladder and other shows that people are buying or selling homes and it amazes us how much different the same house in different places can be.
I totally hear ya. Chris and I have started looking and as you can imagine, NYC doesn't fair much better. So far we've seen really crappily-constructed 2bed-2bath condos for over half a mil. I'm talking about warped floors, leaking inside closets, shoddy trim work. And these are the new constructions! Hang in there though. Prices are still dropping and next year would be a good time to buy.
Oh yes, totally hear you on the depressing news - 1.3 Million huh? I should quit complaining with the $300,000 houses I see! LOL
ryc: Hi Beverly! Thanks for the comment. You always give great advice. I thought about practicing on a stuffed animal too!
) I'm sure it will be super easy, once I figure out how to put it on. I like your idea of attaching the leash first before putting it on. I think I might go back and get one and practice a bit. That is so cute Atari would lift his paw to get in his harness! Sophie usually backs away for some odd reason when I try to put on her collar and the last time she tried on a harness, she would not move! She has to get used to it when I buy it and its better for her health. 
)
That is so ridiculous. While I'm sure the house is nice and California is great, I really do NOT understand why it's so expensive to buy a house there. We lived in Riverside for a few years - rented, of course - and when it was time to think about buying a house...well, we moved to Arizona. Where we discovered they still have an inflated sense of how much their homes are worth. Now we're in FL and it's so much more reasonable here and we live at the beach! Crazyness.
Hey there - I saw you on annadotes' Xanga so I decided to swing by. My boys are 5, 3 and 9 months. Ash our youngest is a couple of months younger than your Jack but everyone says he looks really big for his age. He's actually smaller than my other two boys were at that age so I guess I don't notice his possible ginormosity, heh heh. I subscribed to you so I'll definitely be back again as well. Thanks for stopping by!
char-izzle feels very special being mentioned!
but that's so crazy. cuz we looked at a house in pv that's like...4500 sq. ft. with 5 bed/bath for 1.7 million!! i mean it's expensive but it's in PV! and it's so much bigger..west LA sucks...
Well, you know I'm from NYC, so 1.3M is average to me. Not like I paid that much for my house, but I live in a 60 year old small 1500 sq ft house in Queens. This was our starter home and all we can afford, we do plan to upgrade when Tristan starts school in 2-3 years. Good luck house hunting next year...
Wow, who knew my house-hunting post would generate so much passion? I loved reading all the comments. I'm jealous of all you folks who live in lower-housing-cost areas, and I'm also grateful for my readers in NYC ... you guys feel my pain!
Jarlsberg Cheese, I knew mentioning you would draw me to my Xanga!
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