Has anyone here ever lived in a home worth $1,000,000 or more?

[ElOgro]

Homeschooled surf brat that never paid a due in his life?

We are talking South Orange County here after all.

In the 70’s I lived in the gingerbread houses in the 204 bowl area in SC. You could make it as a cook, waiter, whatever and surf when it was good with enough money to buy boards, weekday trips to Baja, etc. Make more in construction but less surf time in the winter. Easy peasy. Lots of young attractive beach bunnies.

I don’t see how money much matters if you gotta live in a fvckin anthill to make it.

 

[the janitor]

Next time turn north. Past Pt. Conception it gets really nice, past San Francisco even better...

not anymore, now we veer between out of control marauding packs of urban campers pooing on your car, wildfires that leave the landscape looking like Mars, floods and home invasion robberies from meth addicts looking to rip off cannabis growers. Best to stay south of Pt. Conception

 

[Muscles]

So, what it basically boils down to, is the we have quite a few people here in $1 mill+ homes, that have appreciated as such since they bought 10-30+ years or so. Great!

I bought my house two years ago. And I'm not a genius nor am I a Dr or investment banker. Didn't receive money from Mom and Dad either. What I did do was have a plan and saved money until it hurt.

 

[Surfdog]

I bought my house two years ago. And I'm not genius nor am I a Dr or investment banker. Didn't receive money from Mom and Dad either. What I did do was have a plan and saved money until it hurt.

So good for you. You are the exception to the norm/typical today in So Cal.

Did you pay cash or big down payment? Or finance with minimal down?

If you have a big mortgage, you need to be pulling some coin. Or you bought a fixer and did well with it.

 

[grapedrink]

Next time turn north. Past Pt. Conception it gets really nice, past San Francisco even better...

Agreed on the Pt Conception to SF part
North of SF is amazing, but not exactly ideal as a surfer. There are long stretches of unsurfable coast between spots. Plus you either live close to the ocean where it's 55 degrees and windy all year with minimal conveniences, or you drive far from somewhere inland. The former may appeal to some, but I'd prefer to not have to drive so much, because you will either do that for surfing or for everything else (groceries, visiting friends, medical care, etc).

 

[hammies]

I bought my house two years ago. And I'm not genius nor am I a Dr or investment banker. Didn't receive money from Mom and Dad either. What I did do was have a plan and saved money until it hurt.

Good on you! In 20 years or so you will probably have a mil in equity and look back on the late-teens and marvel at how low housing proces were then.

 

[Ifallalot]

I did.

Obviously you didn't.

Chalk it up to another one who has the rose colored glasses on

 

[Mr Doof]

Next time turn south. Past TJ Sloughs it gets really nice, past Ensenada even better...

Couldn't agree more!

 

[Mr Doof]

Sometimes when I pay my mortgage I want to say fook it, pack up, and move inland to somewhere where I can have a nice house for less.

My mental trick was tell myself it was 30 yrs of rent control.

After the first decade I started to actually believe it.

 

[rice]

Obviously you didn't.

Chalk it up to another one who has the rose colored glasses on

I maybe missed it, but I didn't see what is keeping you in CA, vs all the reasons you dislike it.....?

 

[manbearpig]

Seeing the positives of living somewhere =\= seeing things through rose colored glasses

NOWHERE is perfect, everywhere has its downsides.

Life is a hell of a lot better, and easier, when you focus on the positives.

 

[Kento]

Seeing the positives of living somewhere =\= seeing things through rose colored glasses

NOWHERE is perfect, everywhere has its downsides.

Life is a hell of a lot better, and easier, when you focus on the positives.

You can have a high-class ho (California) for $2,000 or you can get a needle-tracked death-smelling skank (flyover country) for $4.

 

[manbearpig]

My mental trick was tell myself it was 30 yrs of rent control.

After the first decade I started to actually believe it.

That’s essentially my trick too. Although mine went up this year (thanks trump!)

I hate banks but I think I hate landlords more.

I’ve had some sh!t experiences with landlords which makes me strive to be a good one.

 

[hammies]

Rent control on steroids! Due to refinancing and lowering interest rates, my mortgage P&I has gone from $1650 to $1200 in 19 years. Rent for a house like mine has gone from about $2200 to about $4200.

 

[Muscles]

You can have a high-class ho (California) for $2,000 or you can get a needle-tracked death-smelling skank (flyover country) for $4.

I kind of like certain places in flyover country or inland California. Some of the places in California in the Sierra Nevada foothills are nice and significantly cheaper than the coast.

Hear me out. We all love to surf which is presumably why we pay so much to live where we do. But, the older I get the more I realize surfing is just a time wasting hobby like anything else. Raising kids and working a job to pay to live next to the water results in an average surf time of two to three times a week for one or two hours. Now, what if I just replaced surfing with mountain biking? Or trail running? Or anything else that is fun? You could buy a nice house with mountain bike trails running through your neighborhood for far less than the cost of a condo in San Diego.

Would I miss the ocean? Probably. But I don't think it would be that bad. I'd adjust pretty quickly like I did when I was in the military and got stationed somewhere without waves.

 

[mundus]

Life is all about trade offs.

 

[Kento]

I kind of like certain places in flyover country or inland California. Some of the places in California in the Sierra Nevada foothills are nice and significantly cheaper than the coast.

Hear me out. We all love to surf which is presumably why we pay so much to live where we do. But, the older I get the more I realize surfing is just a time wasting hobby like anything else. Raising kids and working a job to pay to live next to the water results in an average surf time of two to three times a week for one or two hours. Now, what if I just replaced surfing with mountain biking? Or trail running? Or anything else that is fun? You could buy a nice house with mountain bike trails running through your neighborhood for far less than the cost of a condo in San Diego.

Would I miss the ocean? Probably. But I don't think it would be that bad. I'd adjust pretty quickly like I did when I was in the military and got stationed somewhere without waves.

Valid points. Although if I were to live in the Sierras, I would lean towards the Nevada side of Tahoe as there are no state taxes. I got gambling pretty much out of my system in my 20s during many Kirkwood trips.

Of course you would adjust. You wouldn't sit around and mope. If it was just surfing, that would be one thing but just the smell of the ocean, the tidepools for the kids to play in, the ability to just chill and enjoy the serenity of the beach/ocean, man, I would miss that. As would my wife and kids. And that's the one thing about Southern California is that you have both an incredible variety of terrain and almost perpetually good weather to utilize that terrain. Literally, right now today, you could go surf in the morning and then go backcountry snowboarding an hour or two later, then go dirt bike riding in the desert later that afternoon/evening, if that's your thing. There are only a small handful of places in the world that you can do that. I've lived here my whole life, done a ton, and feel like I've barely even scratched the surface of what you can do here.

Something I think a lot of people forget is that you can always make more money but you can never get back time and memories and those are far more valuable. And I don't consider material objects to be of anything but ephemeral value either. Simply put, your return on investment on living by the ocean is more valuable that buying a new car every year because you can.

 

[Muscles]

I don't disagree, but the traffic and constant development in SOCAL has killed it for me. Just driving through the Temecula-Murrieta corridor is now almost an hour at any time of day. 215-60-91 merge out in Riverside is a constant traffic jam. I used to like taking day trips up to San Bernardino mountains to explore and ski but just going from Temecula resulted in 4-5 hours of car time. So while you could technically ski and surf in the same day, you'll probably spend more time in traffic than doing either activity.

And yet developments keep getting built. The stretch of I-15 between Murrieta and Corona is now development after development being built.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

It used to be so easy for me to get to riverside, san bern, fontana etc. from san diego for work but now it's like going to LA

 

[afoaf]

the "think of all the wonderful things you'll do" argument for living in California
is pure marketing fantasy.

if you have a wife and kids, you're not surfing, doing runs, AND squeezing in
a third x-game at sunset. I mean...how many times have you even nailed a
twofer? I can count mine on one hand.

if I lived in Montana I could shoot a bear, hit the lifts, and catch a hog on a
fly reel all in one day!

I'm counting down the days until I can bounce out