We recently got orders for our next tour and it is going to be Alameda, California. Both, my husband and I were very excited initially, because that’s not too far from where we met and we loved the area. Of course, that was eight years ago and just from doing a little research about our home state for the next four years or so, I see a lot has changed and unfortunately not for the better.
We have been talking about buying a house for a while. We are in decent shape financially, our family is growing. It would be nice to start putting time, effort, and money into something that belongs to us. So, we got on the phone with a mortgage officer – that went really well. We qualified for a little over $500,000 and although we knew that prices in CA are substantially higher than in VA, we felt that we should be able to find the house we want, especially with the lower housing prices since the mortgage crash. We weren’t looking for a mansion, just a not too old of a home, four bedrooms, a little yard, good school district type of house. We are a very average size family – 3 members with a forth one on the way with a decent income, so that should be no problem, right?
Nope….
Evidently, such house doesn’t really exist within my husband’s reasonable commute time to work. That’s HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!!! Even if I take into consideration all the cultural riches, endless entertaining possibilities, and all the sourdough bread I can eat in San Francisco – this is wrong!
So, then I go on to further reading about CA housing market and I am puzzled as to how the prices of homes can be so outrageously high in a state with an unemployment rate of 12.6% as of March of 2010 – the highest in nation. The loan officer also warn us about property taxes, which apparently vary and the rates are not very well published (hmm…I wonder why that is).
I wouldn’t be so upset if the incomes were as much higher in CA as the housing prices, and consequently if our BAH (basic allowance for housing) was THAT much higher than here in VA. But they are not, so get our head out of your tanned bottom, California! You’re not worth what you think you are. The sooner you realize it, the sooner you can get things back on track. You know, where the income levels and the price of an average home match up.
As for us, we’ve accepted the fact that we will be most likely be living in base housing and continue to be excited about living out west for the next four years.
Buying a house is currently out of the question and I am no longer certain of making California our home state forever. I don’t like where things are economically, and I don’t understand how a state with so many intelligent people got there. I shall wait and see how things progress.
For all I know now, we might be moving back East in four years…where I know a half a million dollars will buy a decent house.
[...] (Not) Buying a House in California [...]
[...] (Not) Buying a House in California [...]