Leaving California for "sunnier" skies!

[Russell Strazzella]

Hey everybody,

For the last dozen years I've been working in eCommerce in Los Angeles, but am finally scratching the itch to get into real estate.  I have sold my home and plan to use the profit I made as capital to build and grow my small empire in a smaller market with much lower acquisition costs.  I'm here to learn everything I can to decide which place is right for me.

[Brent Seehusen]

@Matt R.

The best part of that William Yu story in the LA Times is the chart of 'real' home prices.

Notice that somebody buying in 1997 effectively paid the same price as somebody buying in 1980.  Similarly, somebody buying in 2012 paid the same price as somebody buying in 1989, a full 23 years later!  And for anybody that bought during the 2005-2007 time frame, they will still be selling for break even until sometime in the early 2030's, accounting for inflation.  That's a long hold time to break even!

I think this illustrates perfectly that appreciation in LA/OC is not a slam dunk. You can own a property for 20+ years and still not see any REAL appreciation at the end of it.  

Buy wisely folks.