gotta love CA

[Dan F]

My home on 1/3 acre just appraised at $441,000. I can't believe it thats double what we paid for it. A realtor that lives accross the street from said that wa actually a low number. Whoever said these homes don't increase in value on land was crazy!

[janie]

I gotta love that I was right in my post in the other forum, only in CA would that happen. I can't imagine being that desperate for housing to pay that much, good thing I only vacation there sometimes. Just crazy. I wouldn't love it, I would hate that I was living in such a whacked out place that a MH on 1/3 acre would get you 400K. It's pathetic really, to the people living in $1 million homes you're "trailer trash" when you paid over 400K.

[rmurray]

Maybe you ought to sell out...move to GA...pay cash for a 2400 foot top of the line house and 5 acres with your profits...of course you will have to figure out what to do with the left over $130,000 of the profit you have not spent..

[Art]

Dan,

Way to go! I think we have talked a the phone and you are in Napa County. The price of home I placed in Lake County has almost doubled in 2 years. We just put ours on the market and plan to move to Oregon. Can't take the Lake County heat in the summer!

Sounds like Janie doesn't really understand the real estate market in California. 400K for a home in California is no big deal. Everything is relative. Salaries are higher in Calfornia and buyers are driving the prices up. In the Sunday Santa Rosa newspaper they said the average price for a home in Santa Rosa is almost 500K, an increase of almost 100K in the last year.

Also, if I was putting 200K+ in the home "bank" after such a short period of time, they could call me anything they wanted too!

Art

[mac]

I have been amazed at it also. I grew up in the Bay Area. The old Silicon Valley saying was, "You can always find a job, but you can never buy a house." This was because one's pay might go up 5%, while the price of housing went up 10%. I finally threw in the towel in 1994 - since then, the condo I was trying to buy has doubled in price. Folks there also look at their place as their retirement nest egg - unable to put anything into a 401(k) due to their high mortgage payment. California was 60% renters, back then. You could tell the homeowners by their beater cars

[Art]

Mac,

I lived in the Bay Area from 1970-2002 and owned a home there from 1975 until I sold it in 2002. You would almost think no one could own a home there but check the paper, tons of homes listed with no shortage of buyers. After the dot.com bust the only home prices impacted where the million dollar plus homes. When I sold my home in 2003, it sold before it was listed. Go figure, California is just a different ballgame than the rest of the country.

[Dan F]

Hey Janie It is whacked out that I can make $200,000.00 in just over a year on a home I put 0 dollars down on. I think it would really suck to live where you have to beg someone to buy your home and provide them with financing. Just so you understand I would be willing to bet you $100.00 dollars if you could drive down the street I live on and tell my home was mfd, its huge with awsome lake views. I could have bought a stick home but why when I can make this kind of money and pick the home out down to the shape of the exterior and colors. Oh and I can also afford a $50,000.00 dollar Roush mustang, new motorcycle, and 04 GMC truck. Plus support my two kids and put jewelery on my wife. Go figure only in CA can I make this kind of money. hardley trailer trash.
Dan F.

[martha]

Hi-

I am sure I am not the only one who would like to see a picture of your home.

BTW- There is a manufactured home in an area of our community that is listed right around the 1 million dollar point. And it is not even on a lot of land! It is the only MH in that neighborhood and you would never know that it is an MH.

[janie]

Said by Dan

"Go figure only in CA can I make this kind of money. hardley trailer trash."

That statement right there, really says alot about you. And I'll take that bet, what's your street? I know I'd have that 100K in about 5 minutes. Have a good day.

[Laura]

No offense, Janie, but where does all the bitterness come from? I live in California, too, and I've lived in several other states on both coasts. You can't beat the weather, the people, the natural beauty, and the convenience. I am now in the central valley, and it's peaceful and beautiful beyond description. We are on twenty acres, in a double wide manufactured home that we completely gutted. In five or so years we probably will build a stick built home, because there's something very special about having a chance to design something molded after our dreams, but in the meantime I love our manufactured home. I keep telling my husband that I can't understand what makes it any different from the stick built home that we left -truly. We paid 350K for it, but everyone who sees it can't believe we got such a great deal. I am grateful that there wasn't a stick built home here, because if there had been we wouldn't have been able to afford it. Walk into our home, and you'll find textured ceilings, laminate flooring, quality doors, custom window treatments, and Benjamin Moore painted walls. It sure beats the enormous tract home we left in the gated community - and that' s not even taking into account the twenty acres. The "skirting" is something I'd rather due without, and we'll no doubt invest in brick or cement skirting down the road, but nothing's perfect. A home is what you make it - all you need is a bit of creativity and imagination.
Laura