Post #46923 by Hanalei_Pirate on Fri, Aug 8, 2003 2:09 PM

Well, there are still condos for $300,000 I believe near the beach. But they are old and falling down condos with popcorn ceilings. Many TCers who live out of state are enjoying much better housing and lifestyles so to speak than many of us living here in Hoity Toity ville - housing is just so expensive. My husband wants to leave the state because he just can't see how we can afford to retire here- but I will face the delimna you are trying to escape from now - being out in a remote state somewhere alienated from other TCers - if we do that, so I am fighting to stay but who knows what will happen in the future? So. Calif. is very very crowded and buying a house involves checking listings daily, having a top realtor/financing team that can throw together a qualifying letter in a matter of hours. I was making offers on houses after only seeing them for the first time 2 hours before and before my husband had even gotten down to take a look - even then all houses had multiple offers usually for $20K to $30K over asking prices. Even our house here in Glendale - man, we just got lucky - who knows why (well, I did bid $5K over asking) why our offer out of 6 others was accepted - the house went up for sale on Tuesday and by Friday all offers were in and bidding closed and our offer had been accepted - that is how fast this market is,(and this was in Glendale) - the boonies - in Redondo Bch you better have alot of cash and be able to bid very high to "win" the house from other bidders.