The Peoples Republik of Kalifornia is nutz!!

[RubySlow]

/\ /\ /\
I agree. I live in the Heart of the Bay area and its nuts! You know this isnt the first time The laws havent made any sense in the Golden State. I remember a few years back someone wanted to put up solar panels on thier house and there was a ordinance that say you cant obstruct the view for others... because of the angle you would have to tilt the Solar panels.. O do you know your Sen Feinstein is? She says you shouldnt be able to carry a concealed weapon, But she can! I could go on for days but Yes like the others have Stated, The weather is a major factor. Most people have to live around the weather. Here the weather lives around us. It might not snow on Christmas But where else do you have the beach, Forest, Snow, Desert, Lake all within a drive.. The problem In Cali is they pass more laws than they repeal. So Its still illegal to give or recieve oral sex in San Francisco, But because of Privacy issues, its ok!

 

[Stang Girl]

But TX has some of these problems too... and I am CA, this is home - and those people that leave here to go to TX, they are just like me except they don't seem to realize that CA is more welcoming to all types than TX is, you have reason to be critical, but in turn the economy of your state is now tied to CA - your property values are up because of CA.

Ok, I had to jump in here. My issue with property values going up, especially in the Austin area, is that people (I really could care less where they are from except they didn't orginate from this area) have totally changed what Austin was. As Jeff said, the Music Capital of the World now has a sound ordinance. People build loft homes one street over from 6th Street, 5 blocks of clubs and restaurants, that is known for the college crowds and the partying. And now, they are complaining of the trash, the homeless, and noise. Geez, don't build there if you don't like it.

Here is the situation: People are coming in, and not necessarily buying the new homes or going to the exclusive neighborhoods, they are going to the East side, the run-down and low socio-economic part of town, buying up older homes, tearing them down, building the "McMansions" as they are calling them here and forcing property values to sky-rise. What's the problem with this? The elderly and the poor are losing their homes. They may have owned these home for decades but are now losing them because they can't afford the taxes. As far as I am concerned, I really could care less the value of my property at this point. We love our acre lot, it's full of trees (which Jeff just transplanted 14 trees last weekend from the backyard to the front and side yards) and has a nice 4-sided brick house which is perfect for us, and we like our property taxes where they are right now.

Now, there are issues around here as well, the mayor in Austin tried to get some kind of deal passed that all homes have to have all new efficient appliances and "green" stuff before they could be sold. Like people who have to sell their house can afford to put all this money into these appliances, which cost twice as much as regular ones, just so they can even put it on the market. And yeah, you have to get the city to look at everything before you could sell it and pay the permit thingie. I thought he was gonna get hung on the front steps of the Capitol building for that one. At least that didn't go through.....but I will tell you what, 10 years ago, no one would have ever thought about anything like that.

 

[bisjoe]

This is another great reason why most of us home owner's here are jacking our prices up $50k-100k, one reason is thier retarded enough to pay it and two, if there not, then they won't land here.

Funny thing is, most of them are retarded enough to pay our inflated pricing, which is bank in our pockets, but then again with the ironic eco laws they have instilled in Cali it just proves the fact that they indeed have thier heads up ther ass.Jeff - :navajo:

So with that being said anyone from Cali wanna buy our house 3-2-2 on one acre of wooded land, it's at a sweet $190k non-nego.

You'd better ask for more than that!

We sold our house in CA back in 1993 for $190,000, and it was an old 3 BR 1 ba on a 5,000 sf lot. Here east of Seattle for the same $190,000 we bought a 3,000 sf newer home, 5 br 3 ba plus bonus room on 1/3 acre.

That house in CA was worth $650,000 a year ago.

 

[Donner]

Same thing in No CA...

Ok, I had to jump in here. My issue with property values going up, especially in the Austin area, is that people (I really could care less where they are from except they didn't orginate from this area) have totally changed what Austin was. As Jeff said, the Music Capital of the World now has a sound ordinance. People build loft homes one street over from 6th Street, 5 blocks of clubs and restaurants, that is known for the college crowds and the partying. And now, they are complaining of the trash, the homeless, and noise. Geez, don't build there if you don't like it.

Here is the situation: People are coming in, and not necessarily buying the new homes or going to the exclusive neighborhoods, they are going to the East side, the run-down and low socio-economic part of town, buying up older homes, tearing them down, building the "McMansions" as they are calling them here and forcing property values to sky-rise. What's the problem with this? The elderly and the poor are losing their homes. They may have owned these home for decades but are now losing them because they can't afford the taxes. As far as I am concerned, I really could care less the value of my property at this point. We love our acre lot, it's full of trees (which Jeff just transplanted 14 trees last weekend from the backyard to the front and side yards) and has a nice 4-sided brick house which is perfect for us, and we like our property taxes where they are right now.

Now, there are issues around here as well, the mayor in Austin tried to get some kind of deal passed that all homes have to have all new efficient appliances and "green" stuff before they could be sold. Like people who have to sell their house can afford to put all this money into these appliances, which cost twice as much as regular ones, just so they can even put it on the market. And yeah, you have to get the city to look at everything before you could sell it and pay the permit thingie. I thought he was gonna get hung on the front steps of the Capitol building for that one. At least that didn't go through.....but I will tell you what, 10 years ago, no one would have ever thought about anything like that.

When the people from the Bay Area moved in to the surrounding counties, buying everything and forcing long-time residents out, lotta people got upset. Others benefited from increased prop value. But long story short, aside from the foreclosure heck those areas are in right now, Bay Area transplants changed the culture just a little, but enough to make it more like the Bay Area than the small towns that existed before. The people that I know that were doing well before the Bay Area invasion, are struggling now.

Sorry TDavis, I didn't mean to imply that you were part of the mindset of our native wackos. We know if you were, you'd own a few SUVs, but would be telling us not to buy them