Showing Up Late to the Party Part 2

That’s something that left-coasters need to know when researching where to buy properties. What are the prices in other states now? Get some rough ideas. It varies. Certain sections of the country have inflated to amounts that make them useless for cash flow. Others have some low-priced areas left, but low prices should not be the only consideration: Californians tend to think EVERYWHERE else is low-priced.

Along this line of thinking is the idea that just because a place is not California, it must be cheap. That’s ridiculous, but not uncommon. There are countless places across the states that have California-level prices. What casts most of CA into the theater of the absurd is that here, there is no current ownership option for anyone other than the wealthy or over-extended. It’s not like you can choose the $250,000 house because the $700,000 house is over your head. The less expensive house does not exist (in stick-built form; manufactureds obviously do but the space rent on such can eat the owner alive as easily as any huge mortgage can). If you’re not loaded or willing to go up to your neck in debt, homeownership is not available. In most other places, homeowners can start out in the less expensive houses/neighborhoods and “move up” when ready: there are varied price ranges of houses to accommodate that.

Many Californians aren’t used to that reality. Nor are many of them prepared to hear that prices have skyrocketed up in many national locales. It’s like, if a place isn’t in CA, it’s the boonies, inherently cheap, and waiting another ten or twenty years to buy there won’t matter because the prices will forever be stuck in the 70’s.

See part 3 of this series for the continuation...

I'm Shannon Gunderson and I'm a professional real estate investor, artist,writer , and more. In over two years of being "unemployed", my partner Jonathan van Clute and I have invested in residential real estate in 8 states and have bought more houses than we ever dreamed of. We are creating the life we have always wanted and will never again be at the mercy of a paycheck. We love to help teach what we do, which is why among other things I write on our blog. I love to get feedback, and would be happy to hear from you!