---------------------------------------------------I agree with finding safe neighborhoods near the L, brian, but you have a chronic case of "northsiderism" and are missing the whole southwest side opportunity.

However, in the case of CA, they have been holding for decades ... there has been a chronic shortage of housing and the conditions that cause that are not likely to go away ... the weather is nice so lots of people want to live here (strong demand), the economy is diversified with high paying jobs (strong demand), you can't build into the ocean (limited supply), there are practically no empty buildable lots unless you go way inland (limited supply), environmental and strict building regulations make new construction difficult/costly (limited supply) ...