[Dan in Pasadena]

I think we make a bit more than other areas of the country but mostly we just know we have to alot a much greater percerntage of our net income to housing costs.
In 1978, I was 23 and with my then-wife we bought our first house for $63,000(had been a rental, needed a lot of work). It was a 3/2 single story stucco on a typical 60x100 suburban lot. Owned it 15 months and sold it making $15,000! Bought another 3/2 house, better area for $88K. Sold that about 6 years later for I think $125K. I think I was paying 12% interest which wasn't all that high then.

The last home my wife and I bought, still a 3/2 but up in the hills in the nicest part of the town I grew up in cost $165,000 in 1986. Sold it upon divorce for $255,000 in 2000. Bought the house I am in now (yup, 3/2, 50x100 lot) TOO damned near the freeway, needed a lot of work (sound familiar?) no where near as nice/exclusive as my former house for $304,500. It was the first house in the neighborhood to go for more than 300K. It now appraises for $800,00. Crazy? Of course but THAT is California real estate. I am now trying to pay this house off before I retire - a bit of a long shot. My mortgage payment is just under $4,000/mo including property tax, which is high here.