Would you like to buy a spacious condo at over 1,700 square foot for just $182,000, in sunny breezy Southern California in a neighborhood where you are close to everything, and I mean everything, within a 15-minutes drive?
I said yes to this question and therefore I went to see the place. I thought to myself, what a bargain, meanwhile everybody in California are complaining about how expensive home prices are!
On my way there, I finally understood why this beautiful spacious condo was bought at $203,000 in 2009 and now is listed for sale in 2016 for $182,000. The place is recently beautifully remodeled and I wonder how much this cost? Now for those of you who are strong believers in real estate being the safest and best investment, how about this one? If you were the owner of this condo, could you see how much money you already lost from 2009 to 2016, and that doesn't even include the $400+ monthly HOA fees and the approximately $3,000 annual property tax. In order to sell this property, the owner even had to remodel it. Imagine all the beautiful brand new kitchen, bathroom, recessed lighting, crown molding and new flooring!
I really love the interior of the condo so much, and the ocean view that comes with it. But I just don't feel safe in that neighborhood despite the fancy Marina across the street. It's because the building was sitting on a neighborhood that is infested with crimes. The safety and goodness of the location stop right outside the gate of the fancy Marina from across the street. The road right outside the Marina is the cutoff line between safety and the "no-go" zone. The back and side of the building are surrounded by very scary apartment buildings that appear to be subsidized housing (or section-8). I suspect that the condo building itself is also sort of subsidized by HUD.
After I went home to do more research on the crime rate in that specific neighborhood, it's unfortunately very high even in Los Angeles standard. From the crime report, the neighborhood appears to be one of the most dangerous areas in Southern California. This is why the streets I drove through to get to the condo look so shady. I got scared just to go into the underground parking of the condo building to park my car. It was right there that I realized I would not want to buy into this condo, because I don't know who else are also living in this building, if only there are section-8 housing or any government HUD subsidized elements here.
I want to ask everybody who are complaining about how housing cost and rent are so expensive in California to think hard. Are you seeing why we are paying ton loads of rent or mortgage at wherever we live? It's not because there isn't enough land or housing in this state. It's because there are too many subsidized houses and apartments sitting in too many crime infested neighborhoods, vacant, looking for the next subsidized HUD buyer or the next subsidized renters to occupy. While our taxes are subsidizing developers to build affordable apartments that make neighborhoods unsafe to live (including prime real estate near the ocean and downtown) , we are being pushed to move farther and farther away into the country to avoid the crimes that subsidized housing attracts.
Housing aren't just built fast enough in safe neighborhoods in the country for us to flee to. This is one of the reasons why we have a shortage of housing for regular middle class people. There are plenty of cheap housing in California, many are surrounded by the government's housing projects, and more are cornered by section-8 rental apartments. But do we dare to go buy our homes in these neighborhoods despite the short driving distance to where we work, despite the nice weather and the ocean view?
