Owning a home in California

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Hi guys,

So we all know that the cost of living in California is high. I have been looking at the real estate market and can't seem to understand how I would ever be able to afford a home without working two jobs or having a roomate. For those of you who own homes/condos/lofts how do you deal?

If you feel this is too personal of a question PM, just curios to know if I will ever be able to afford my dream...

Thanks

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

The Central Valley is the part of California where you are likely to get the most bang for your bucks when buying a house. In addition, the nursing pay rates are competitive for RNs. Look into the cities of Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Hanford, Modesto, Lemoore, and other cities in the San Joaquin Valley.

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Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.

Its tough. Now that I am an LVN and make a decdnt income we were looking to buy a house that is very unlikley to happen in the near future. We currently own a manufactured home in an exclusive park that the space rent alone is $1,100 mo we paid cash outright for the home so no mortgage on the house. I'm thinking our best bet is going to buy to buy a brand new manufactured home,ours is an older one, and deal with the monthly space rental. There are amentinies that the park has to offere that if we bought a house we would not have to guess it evens out.

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Its tough. Now that I am an LVN and make a decdnt income we were looking to buy a house that is very unlikley to happen in the near future. We currently own a manufactured home in an exclusive park that the space rent alone is $1,100 mo we paid cash outright for the home so no mortgage on the house. I'm thinking our best bet is going to buy to buy a brand new manufactured home,ours is an older one, and deal with the monthly space rental. There are amentinies that the park has to offere that if we bought a house we would not have to guess it evens out.

Is a manufactured home a trailer?, like a single wide or a double wide?

That's a huge lot rent. Amenities sound good.

I didn't like California, lived there in "88", "89". It was the only place I

ever lived where I had to prove I was a US citizen (born and bred). It feels like a foreign country to me.

You can get a lot of land and house for your money in the south, along with a lower cost of living.

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"I didn't like California, lived there in "88", "89". It was the only place I

ever lived where I had to prove I was a US citizen (born and bred). It feels like a foreign country to me."

This is tooooooooooooooo funny!!!!!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I didn't like California, lived there in "88", "89". It was the only place I

ever lived where I had to prove I was a US citizen (born and bred). It feels like a foreign country to me.

Since 60 percent of all immigrants who move to the United States select California as their final destination, it is perfectly understandable that certain areas of the state can feel like a foreign country at times.
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Specializes in Happily semi-retired; excited for the whole whammy.

I grew up in rural PA, and California felt like a foreign country to me when I got here. It had nothing to do with people of different ethnicities, either. CA is, in many ways, a world unto itself. I love it here, though.

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Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.
Is a manufactured home a trailer?, like a single wide or a double wide?

That's a huge lot rent. Amenities sound good.

Yes a manufactured home is another name for mobile home or trailer. Manufactured home tends to sound better. If ppl hear trailer then they tend to stereotype it. And the Community I live in is lovely and anything but the stereotypical "trailer park". We have a pool, Library club house tennis court, bb court, play areas for the kiddies and its gated only one way in and out.....

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Psych..

I am an immigrant, I am from Canada. I live in California....is it a bad thing to live with immigrant??;)

Lake Arrowhead just had a fire. I would not buy it there.

The houses are cheap now. Its a buyers market.

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Since 60 percent of all immigrants who move to the United States select California as their final destination, it is perfectly understandable that certain areas of the state can feel like a foreign country at times.

I have lived in many states, in many different parts of the country, I have been in Ca for close to 6 years now, and this is by far my favorite place! I love it here!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I have lived in many states, in many different parts of the country, I have been in Ca for close to 6 years now, and this is by far my favorite place! I love it here!
I lived in California from birth until 2005, for a grand total of 24 years. I lived on the coast for 22 years and hated it. I lived in the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley for the last 2 years, and I absolutely loved it. I might return within the next 5 to 7 years if the price is right.
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Specializes in Med/Surg, Psych..

I love California too. It has everything, the ocean, warm weather and also the snow. After reading all the posts it seems to me CA still pays the nurses the highest. Nursing is going to be same no mater where you go....

Its expensive to live here and the trafic is horrible. But you can not have it all:)

Housing market is bad now but its every where.

I also like the multiculture environment in California. It seems like Californian are more welcoming to the immigrants like me.....I love California:)

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I kept my condo in Irvine after having it for sale for about 9 months. The market completely tanked! I bought it back in the late 90's as a bank owned repo, sunk a couple thousand bucks into it and it is still my favorite place on earth! I'm so glad I kept it!

Great schools for my son, safe neighborhood, wonderful weather and a short drive to the beach. I have wonderful tenants who will soon be moving out. Since I am traveling back and forth from Nashville to California to work, I may end up renting it to my cousin and keeping a room available for when I come out. Hotel stays are killing me.

I'll never sell it. It's a great investment. Do what I did, make a friend who works for a title company, they get the bank owned lists and your realtor can make an offer before it goes to auction. I'm coming home soon.

I did buy a house here in the Nashville area. It's HUGE. It's also very quiet, the water and air quality is poor. The roads are bad. The demographic population is very repressed, lot's of obesity, just about every driver has a disability sticker on their car. No recycling. The environment does not seem to be a priority. People here seem very unhealthy and fresh produce and things like fresh fish are very hard to come by.

I hear lot's of folks are relocating for "better quality of life" but the weather here is very harsh (for me anyway) and so you end up living indoors most of the time.

People here in general are very kind and friendly, very family oriented and polite and things, everything in fact, moves a little slower than California. Also there seems to be less cattiness among women. Most of the women I have met are really sweet and none of that California competiveness, who's had the most botox, etc. It's a different world. And I'm born and raised Malibu surfer girl. Anyone need to rent a nice condo BTW ?

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