Say it ain't so....all I keep hearing is booming economies with GDP jumping and jobs plentiful with 4.1% unemployment then I read this headline and think how is this possible....seems like all that income inequality comtines to spread throughout the states and is creating hardships on many people....guess this booming stock market only makes the rich richer since 80% of the value is held by the richest 10 percent!!! As California's housing crisis worsens, more residents are forced to sleep in their cars In affluent areas such as Santa Barbara, the cost of living continues to rise while wages stay stagnant, leaving residents struggling to make ends meet. Even many of those with jobs can barely afford to stay in the city they've called home for years, and more of them are now forced to live out of their cars. "It's a kind of middle-class homelessness," writes Steve Lopez in an article on the issue for the Los Angeles Times. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/inc...-to-sleep-in-cars.html?recirc=taboolainternal
that is the way it always is. the middle class, particularly those working in private industry, are the suckers. the "bourgeoisie" have their dignity and their morality. the poor in the US, particularly in the major cities are well fed and have their expenses paid by the government.their children get free college education. the middle class goes into hock to pay for their children's education, the rich are well rich and do not have to interact with the poor. the middle class does not have the nature to protest and pays the price.
Maybe some of those people made bad decisions like renting an expensive apartment and leasing a range rover, instead of buying a small apartment and a regular vehicle. But those stories don't make for good headlines. Landlords must be printing cash out there. Good for them.
Consider finding a new home in a different state. That probably the easiest solution they're going to get
At least one doesn't have to pay rent or property tax on cars (once it's paid off). Also a good way to save 2 hours per day instead of driving. So these people have to live in California? They can't move to one of the other 49 states?
Landlords are printing cash everywhere...I have a friend who owns 2 houses and they are fully rented at market price...the return on his investment has paid out more money than stock market gains over 20+ years....yes there was a time when being a landlord was troubling, this was late 90s early 2000, rents were suffering and places stood empty for months and months but today everyone is willing to pay top dollar...I have a friend who rents paying$2200 for a two bedroom...to me that's crazy...I bought years ago and glad I did because my over head is now 1/2 to almost 2/3 cheaper than what I'm seeing people paying for rents..... Like you said buying a small place and a simple vehicle with little to no overhead is smarter than those who go out and lease $85000 dollar cars and buy 5000 sqf house where taxes are $15-$25k a year!!!!
as long as the government screw up up rental markets through regulation existing houses will be good investments
The Foreigners,mostly Chinese buy houses sight unseen in California and don't even rent them out or live in them.
this scenario is not limited to California. in California there are nursing facilities catering to pregnant foreign chinese women. if the baby is born in the US it is an anchor baby with automatic US citizenship. under obama administrations US embassy officials were not allowed to ask female visa applicants if they were pregnant. smart rich chinese are obviously hedging their bets against regime change on mainland china