Surely you exaggerate... A $100,000 won't even buy a trailer home that has a
legal parking space. Local building costs _start_ at about $300 a square
foot. I've talked to a few local remodeling people ... they say to budget
$50,000 if you want to remodel the average tract home kitchen.
The local economy is crazy compared to the US as a whole. Barely affordable
housing is extremely expensive for what you get. Big luxury homes (over $5M)
are often actually cheaper per sq.ft. and of course much better quality.
Part of what drives housing prices is history. Anyone who bought a house at
any time over the last 30+ years and kept it for 5 years or more, almost
certainly made a very sizable profit. If you were renting, your salary would
have had to increase steadily and significantly to be able to afford to even
stay in the same place.
It makes for interesting situations. A guy who had only a high school
education but owned his own auto salvage yard next to an area that was once
deemed the murder capitol of the US, became very wealthy. A very sharp PhD
engineer (single) who has worked 25+ years but didn't buy a home early on,
could only afford to buy a small tract house by teaming up with his brother.
But things can also change in an instant. People who've moved here then
unexpectedly had to move within two years because their company didn't
succeed have lost $50K in the blink of an eye. There are lotto winners ... A
Stanford student who worked as an intern at Google was hired after she
graduated. Two months later she bought an $800,000 condo without worrying
about the mortgage ... Is it possible to be regain one's sanity after living
in an insane asylum?
-jeff
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Bill Pearce
Jeff,
Just got a chance to look at the "house." That's a lot of money for what
looks to me like a two bedroom version of a long-stay hotel.
That kitchen looks like what we see in $100,000 tract houses.
Bill Pearce
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