How Many Can Afford To Buy There Own House
@crossbones27 (53005)
Mojave, California
February 20, 2017 2:05pm CST
They say renting is just throwing away money. Well, California did a good job of making sure most could only rent a place and not buy a place of their own. State wide, only 31 percent of its households can afford to buy a house.
My county does fairly decent at 54 percent. Households need to earn $49.500 to pull off this feat. That sounds pretty reasonable, unless you are single. Pretty much forget about it. That is $1,240 dollars a month for mortgage on a house that is worth about $250,000. They say having a mortgage is actually cheaper than renting if you do it right.
The worse in the Land is of course San Francisco. Only 13 percent of its family inhabitants can afford a house of their own. Does anyone else see a problem with this picture?
Hopefully people will think twice the next time they see that online ad that everyone can make 10,000 dollars a month. The 6th largest economy in the world and only 31 percent of people can afford to buy a place of their own. Still think Tiny houses are a dumb idea in that capitalist land?
Seems like the only sustainable way, but sure corporate America will make even Tiny houses unsustainable if they get their grubby greedy hands on it. Make California Great Again.
A typical Southern California household’s ability to buy a house got slightly worse in most of the region at the end of 2016, according to one affordability index.The California Association of Realtor’s measure of what it took to
10 people like this
11 responses
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
20 Feb 17
Maybe a touch with the drought. They definitely raised utility prices, but mostly it is because we have so many people and also so many wealthy here. There is lots of competition, so it is easy for them to over charge people. You would actually think that the drought would have drove prices down, but that would involve people moving to another state and stop people from coming here. The drought seems to have done neither.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
20 Feb 17
@librarygeek1980 Not to mention the commute to get to work. Many people drive an hour or more each way because that is where all the good paying jobs are and come back here because that is where the cheaper housing is. That also drives the prices up here in the long run and makes it really hard for us poor people. California is a big money pit. Do not come here. lol
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@librarygeek1980 (3137)
• United States
20 Feb 17
I was gonna say the same thing, isn't the cost of living in California high too? Ivery got a couple of friends living there, and they are struggling.
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (48198)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
20 Feb 17
@crossbones27 Toronto is definitely expensive. Vancouver as well is quite expensive. Some parts of downtown Montreal as well. It's crazy.
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
20 Feb 17
Indeed, not easy anywhere and I heard Canada is extremely expensive like in Toronto and what not.
1 person likes this
@pumpkinjam (8876)
• United Kingdom
23 Feb 17
I know how difficult it is. It's true that mortgage payments can cost less than some rents. It's irony, catch-22, whatever you want to call it, that if you can't afford to buy a house, you end up paying more in rent. Also, yes, it's often cheaper to pay a mortgage but you still need a lot of money saved in the first place. Of course, while you're paying rent, it's not easy to save for a deposit. Even for rents, you often need to pay large amounts in fees.
I'm lucky, in a lot of ways, that I live in 'social housing', meaning that my rent is fairly cheap. I have, however, lived in privately owned rented places where the monthly rent cost more than my sister's and my parents' mortgages put together, but I'd never be able to buy a place because, according to lenders, I couldn't afford it. So, of course, I'm paying a lot in rent but somehow couldn't afford half that amount in a mortgage. :/
I'm in the UK, though, so there are differences between here and the US. It doesn't seem to matter how hard we try, buying a house is beyond the reach of so many.
1 person likes this
@pumpkinjam (8876)
• United Kingdom
24 Feb 17
@crossbones27 I think it is a lot to do with greed. I have a friend who owns a place which she rents out. It's quite small and not in a really great area (it's not a bad area but nothing special) and I don't understand how she can justify the amount she charges (which is almost twice as much as I pay for a larger place)
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
24 Feb 17
Yeah, definitely tough the more populated the area and little land. California has lots of land, just a lot is National parks and a lot of desert. Which shrinks the land. Need population control, sad to say. Granted many are having less kids and what not, but then greed kicks in and as much as everyone complains about immigration. Corporations want it because it keeps them growing and exploiting and profiting more and more each day.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
20 Feb 17
Yes it is an ever increasing issue the house affordability.
As well as the mortgage, then there are the property taxes, so depending on where one lives, it is a big chunk.
Yeah, something wrong.
And how high the population is, there is lots of competition in jobs and housing.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
20 Feb 17
Yeah, someone needs to come up with a new strategy because this way looks to have gone astray. To bad there is just to many greedy people who are holding on to the current ways of living.
They are making low income housing down the road from me. I basically live in the Ghetto of Redlands, Which is still nice compared to most places, but down the road is Middle Class Housing and that is where they are putting the low income housing. The complaints came in how people do not want those houses there because it would drive property values down form the people who already live there.
You can understand, but at the same time, it shows it is always profits before people even from the non-wealthy sector. . Need a new strategy. lol
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
21 Feb 17
@TiarasOceanView I think that is illegal here also. No living under trees, because that really brings down property value. I think that is why LA invented Skid Row.
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@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
20 Feb 17
@crossbones27 Yes I belong to a site called Nextdoor which is a site for each neighborhood all over USA and the community here is always beetcheng about any housing that is going to be built and is affordable. And beetching about traffic it will cause..um then stop letting people move here? What is one supposed to do live under trees?
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
20 Feb 17
Wow, how times change that would been like 3 quarters of million dollars here and a 500,000 profit in this time.
@librarygeek1980 (3137)
• United States
20 Feb 17
I think it all again depends on location location location. I'm in a rural area and pay only 560.00 a month on my mortgage (subsidiary through USDA rural development) the downside is not many jobs. But compare to the metro areas price skyrockets. I hear Texas is cheap... but my observation is that everyone is having a hard time, and has been for quite awhile
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
20 Feb 17
Texas is cheap in many areas, but like you said in urban areas pretty expensive. Many are seemingly struggling more and more and figure something is gonna to have to give sooner or later.
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@librarygeek1980 (3137)
• United States
20 Feb 17
@crossbones27 I know, I agree, people can only stretch so much......
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@Fishmomma (11658)
• United States
24 Feb 17
My husband and I purchased a house in California, so it can be done. We work hard and purchased the house not that long ago. Yes, it wasn't easy and agree a lot of people can't buy one in California. I don't know anyone that has purchased a tiny house in the area I am living in now.
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
20 Feb 17
I own a house back in the Midwest that I'm trying to sell since I moved to Arizona for my granddaughter. I bought it for $92K after my divorce and the mortgage is only $650 a month. I have some very nice people in it that are trying to get financing, they love the house and have made improvements.
On the other hand, I cannot afford a house here in Phoenix. To get a decent house in a safe neighborhood I'd have to pay at least $250K. I rent because it's cheaper than buying but not by much, I pay $1150 a month for a 3 bedroom house and I pay the utilities and landscaping upkeep. I can barely afford to live anymore!
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@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
20 Feb 17
That is pretty cheap, might want to move back. It does seem harder and harder to get by each day. You know it is bad when you feel every little price raise. If is not corporate america then it is the government charging a little extra for something. They are going to triple our waste pick up costs over the next year and that is just the city. Then the state raises the price on car registration or something like that and there is no getting ahead, just falling a little more behind.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
21 Feb 17
Yeah it is crazy, and do not even like watching those flip this house programs because I think they created the craze and then the Big Banks took it from there.
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
24 Feb 17
Where you live in the country also plays a part into that. Cost of living is different everywhere. Its cheaper to live here in the south and its actually a better chance at being able to afford to purchase a home and not go broke doing it.
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@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
24 Feb 17
Yeah,population plays a huge part and how many wealthy plays a huge part.
@teamfreak16 (43664)
• Denver, Colorado
20 Feb 17
I never could and never will be able to.
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@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
20 Feb 17
Me neither buddy, you want to chip in for a tiny house They will not let us put it anywhere, but we could at least say we own a house. lol
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