Die, "New Economy", and go to hell.

The BBQ Pit
1

The New Economy never helped me!

I took a look at an open house today. It was a nice little two bedroom house from the forties. It was nice, but small. The inside was well kept (although the hardwood floors were badly crafted and it needs a new roof). Certainly nothing special. It was in a decent area, near a large community garden, but it the backyard also backed up to a loud busy street and the surround area was mostly commercial.

So what would a sane person pay for a cute little two bedroom house, the sort of thing that in a saner time would be called a “starter home”?

Would you pay half a million dollars? Four hundred and forty eight dollars to be exact? Did you catch that? HALF A FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS!

Perhaps if you are a dot-com millionaire that sort of thing may make sense. There are certainly enough of them here to make this town unliveable. I was reading a travel guidebook about my town from about ten years ago. It said this was one of the few beachside towns where you “exist without having much money.” I’m looking at twelve hundred bucks a month rent next year for a one bedroom shack in a bad area…and I’ll call myself lucky for finding a place to live! It’s hard to exist now even if you aren’t a dirty jobless hippy.

Every time I read of tech stock crashes I fall to my knees in praise. Fuckedcompany.com is my oracle of joy. I cannot wait for this new economy to crash and burn and then burn some more. The only person I know that this “economic miracle” has helped has been my uncle who can now afford to pay thousands of dollars for electronic dogs, while I bust my ass trying to keep a roof over my head. Some economic miracle that is.

I savor the dotcom economy’s death throws. May it die in pain and burn in hell. Perhaps the economy can return to normal and the people that work, learn, teach and create in this town can afford to live here again. Perhaps I won’t be forced out of this state after I graduate from college. Maybe even buying a home at some point will be a reality, instead of a privledge literally reserved for millionaires.

sigh I never thought I’d actually be praying for a recession…Come on Bush, give us all you got!

2

Note to economists around the world: having a higher GDP per capita does not actually improve the quality of life if the majority of that growth is concentrated amongst the top 1% of the capita involved, especially considering that those particular capita are much more likely to invest that money offshore than (oh, say) spend or invest it locally to improve the economy as you assume they are supposed to.

3

You probably won’t want to especially considering that we voted in the old flag, but if you come to Mississippi, I’ll set you up. I have a two story Victoria style house on 2.3 acres that I’ll sell to you for $200,000. It has over 3000 square feet and a separate garage. Taxes and insurance are under $3000 per year. Someone got their lawn mower stolen about 10 years ago and we still haven’t gotten over the crime rate that threw us into.

4

I lived through an era of record prosperity and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.

Actually, come to Kentucky. We’ve got cheap real estate. Too cheap. The house that my parents bought nine years ago has barely increased in value at all. Now they want to sell it because they don’t have kids hanging around, but they still owe $90,000 on it.

I wonder how much it would cost to move that house to the SF area.

5

Good freakin’ god man! Half a million? Move to Indiana. My mom lives in a nice two story turn of the century farm house. Over 7 acres of land, a lake, a pool, and a nice barn. The price when my mom bought the house? A little over $70,000. Now since we’ve done a shitload of work we’ve managed to get the value to about $110,000 but still it ain’t no half million.

6

even sven,

If it helps you any, I live in Colorado Springs. We are about 60 miles south of Denver proper, the house next door sold for about $134,000 last year. Not a mansion, just a little two bedroom with a small den and a bath, but has a two car garage and a pretty decent sized yard. The house I live in, 3 bedroom, corner lot, two full baths, two car garage would probably sell today for $170,000 - $175,000 About 1600 feet or so total, I guess. This house is in the middle of Suburbia, very few commercial areas around, mostly cookie cutter homes but it’s a nice middle class area that has everyone from the older couples that are on a fixed but good income to the families with 2.5 children and people like me, single and making a decent living. We call this Briargate, the Highlands Ranch of Colorado Springs.

The key is to find places where, what might be considered a shack, will sell for shack pricing. AKA, take a cut in pay and live in an area that you can actually afford. You might actually be able to make it in the Denver area. Nice weather, lots to do and reasonable pricing. If my figures are right the average home – nice home – sell for around $250,000. Remember, that’s average pricing and it’s been a while since I have seen the figures.

One of my brother’s best friends recently moved back to Colorado from Connecticut where he and his wife both held full time, extremely high paying jobs (one with Price Waterhouse the other with Morgan Stanley as a VP) to a one income household so mom could stay home with the kids. They live just outside of the Denver metro area in Castle Rock. I still giggle at the “soccer mom” thing, but I am glad they can afford, and did move back and do it for the sake of their children.

I am guessing, but the average 1 bedroom apartment rents for around $600 a month in my area, slightly higher in Denver. I rent this house for $945, I am lucky in that I know the owner and he’s one of my best friends. You could probably rent a house this size on the open market for about $1200 - $1300 a month.

An experienced techlike person can easily make around $50,000+ a year here plus the other jobs in our area pay okay, we are still considered good, economically, here – if you commute to Denver (not recommended) you can make more. It’s only an easy 45 minute to an hour drive depending on the traffic and weather in the winter…much easier than some of the commutes in California.

Anyhow, not trying to rain on your whining parade, but in some places it’s not that bad…just don’t tell your friends to come here if you do. I don’t want them driving up the cost of living here. :wink:

7

Oh, and if you want to buy a place to live, don’t you DARE move to Montreal. Enough apartments in the Plateau, Village, Centre-Sud, and Saint-Henri have been turned into condos already to make life quite difficult for people like myself who have to rent.

8

Let me quess. You are in the greater Los Angeles area? Hmmm?

9

My guess, taken from hints in the op, is that even sven is in Washington state somewhere.

Come to Fargo, sven! I saw a house like the one you described going for about $70,000.

Of course you have to get used to -40[sup]O[/sup] winters…No. Strike that. There is NO getting used to -40[sup]O[/sup] winters…

10

The “New Economy” has died and gone to Hell. Perhaps you were too busy house-hunting to notice.

11

Well, hot damn and hallelujah! Maybe now people who make less than $100K a year will actually be able to afford shit from time to time.

12

No, I’m pretty sure shit has stayed affordable through the boom. At least, it only cost me $100 for the garden fertilizer this year.

13

Good guesses!

I live in Santa Cruz, CA. It is a once peaceful beach community, about an hour and a half south of San Francisco, brimming with ageing hippies and community-minded families and college students. It also happens to be an easy commute to San Jose.

An equivalent to this house in San Francisco (in the Sunset) would cost…half a million dollars. That’s right! It is as expensive to live here as it is in one of the most expensive places to live in the country!

I am so jealous of you people with housing in your area. Likewise, I am jealous of my friends in Sacramento who have their own two bedroom apartments (“see…this room is for my drum set…”) in nice areas for $400.00 a month. You can rent a three-bedroom house there for the price that it costs to rent a single room in a shared household here.

I’d move, but I am going to school here, so I am pretty much stuck. What scares me is what I am going to do after school. If things don’t change here quickly, I’m not going to be able to live here, I certainly won’t be able to live in San Francisco, as Spooje pointed out, anything having to do with LA is out of the question. I’ll see you all in Fresno!