You don't like California? Right back at you, America!

Hey! It's only $550,000 to $600,000!

 

Ding! A good friend of mine is an attorney in Southern California and she's actively seeking new employment in other states because even on her considerable salary she can't afford to buy a house.

 

But I imagine it's a great state to be a realtor.

 

My best friend lives in Redondo Beach. He has a modest townhome, three bedrooms, no yard whatsoever, no garage, probably about 1,600 square feet... He paid $800K for it.

 

During the boom, probably. California was one of the "Sand States" with the most hyperinflated housing markets. If he bought it in the last 5-10 years, chances are it has lost 20 to 30 percent (or more) of its value, which would put it in the $600-700K range.

There are places where $800K is a normal price for a house like that, but that definitely isn't middle-class or probably even upper-middle-class anymore.

Anyway, a small quibble. Whatever the price today, it would still be enough to make a Midwesterner pee his pants.

 

try buying a beer there.
We tried to give them a hint. We stuck them right next to Nevada hoping some of the gambling, strippers and boozing would rub off, but no.
Plus they kept the name "Jazz" for their NBA team when you know damn well nobody in that state has ever heard of Louis Armstrong

 

Some of the most fucked-up liquor laws I've ever seen.

- Can't carry a drink around the bar. Have to be seated at the bar or a table.
- Can't give you a drink until you finish the one you have.

 

I have three cousins who live in Orange County. one is a nurse, one owns his own pool business and the other one is a social director at a nursing home. I have no idea how they afford to live there, none of their houses are bigger than mine here in suburban Toronto (1600 sq feet or so) but I'd bet they cost at least three, maybe four times more, and this part of Toronto isn't cheap.

Absolutely love to visit Cali, it's easily my fave part of the US, but I'd never be able to afford to live there.

 

I think he converted to Mormonism posthumously.

 

Try living near or in Vancouver.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Vancouver+North+America+most+expensive+city/6150752/story.html

 

Can you do us a favor and make it 3, or maybe even just 2?

 

Don't see why Mississippi did so poorly. People in Alabama thank God for it all the time.