The California Dream is Gone

February 23, 2007 | Real Estate | 14 comments

Over the past 100 years California was the place to be. Great weather, beautiful coastlines, and plenty of jobs for a comfortable living.

However, as the time past and droves of people moved in it has become overcrowded, overpriced, and not worthy of its reputation. Everything is more expensive in California. Last summer the local Edison company raised its rates by 250% in Orange County,?leaving many families with a $750 per month electric bill! They established ridiculously low quotas and anything over that you are penalized for. It was the result of deregulation (which was voted on and passed). Some families are still paying those bills off. Gasoline is always amongst the highest as well. The general quality of life has been reduced to a point where more people are leaving than coming these days.

The California dream now is meant for those who earn more than 10K per month and don’t mind breaking even every month at that level. That is about an average of what it takes to live here. My son-in-law earns?a decent income?and? still can not afford an entry-level?home without my daughter working full time as well. Retirement can be nearly impossible for the average worker and as time passes I expect we will see more people leaving and less people coming. Maybe over the next 25 years it will balance out again but in the meantime anywhere else is a better value than California.

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Scott Keller on February 23, 2007 at 10:41 am

Tom, you are so right. I moved here from the Midwest (my wife’s family lives here), and I cannot believe the insanity here. My wife and I make almost $80,000 a year combined, and we live in a 1 bedroom craphole.

The only reason people stay here is family. My wife and I will probably have to leave if we want to own a home. I don’t know anybody under the age of 50 who has bought a home west of San Dimas.

Scott Keller
Pasadena

tom.voli on February 23, 2007 at 10:47 am

You are not alone Scott…and yes…family is the main thing that keeps people like us fighting the battle. However, as we start reaching middle age and high blood pressure starts kicking in it becomes harder to justify.

Thanks for your input.

R M on February 23, 2007 at 11:42 am

I hear you Scott. The only people I know under 50 that recently bought a home did so with 100%, no-money down financing with some crazy adjustable rate mortgage. In 4-5 years they’ll be foreclosing and following me out of state.

RICH M. on February 24, 2007 at 5:44 pm

I fully agree with you folks

I’m an expat returning to the States in a few months. I’ve lived in California most of my life except for the last 8 years, that, I’ve been out of the country (Europe). I have seen and heard most of my life long friends telling me that they are leaving or have already left due to the outrageously high cost of living. I am already reevaluating where my new home will be, and as others have indicated almost anywhere else is better than Cal. The sunshine tax has just gotten way out of hand. I hope that it will get better someday. However, I doubt that this will occur anytime soon.

Chris on June 21, 2007 at 1:52 pm

Couldnt agree with you more Tom. Shoot, I make that $10k a month, and I still live in a (San Fran) ghetto apartment with no laundry, parking, and of course, no frigging garbage disposal. I grew up in California, and have a heavy disdain (hate is a strong word) for all the carpetbaggers who have driven up the cost for everything. Hey, I cannot blame ‘em, alot of ‘em are my friends, but lets get real, I never would want to live in NYC, Texas or the midwest. If there was any other place to go, one that offered a dynamic economy, cultural (ARTS) diversity and affordable housing, I would be there. Yea, I know, who wouldnt huh?

Besides, people need to use birth control… too many ugly
(& stupid) people having kids. Have you noticed, even in LA, some of the uglies walking around? Bad DNA + Bad DNA = ugly person. And chances are, YOU are going to pay for it in your taxes.

One last rant….Space. Not in the heavens, but in personal space. Westerners, those who come from the Western US states, like to have their space. We do not like to live on top of each other, like in Europe or other high density locations. We enjoy our privacy, so to those that come out West, please realize that we enjoy and cherish this personal space.

Cheers, Chris

missy on June 25, 2007 at 10:49 am

I’ve been in CA all of my life (50 yrs.) and I agree with everything said. The one thing you’ve left out is that here in LA county it’s beinging to look a lot like Asia. It doesn’t feel like my homeland anymore. The influx is so great, it looks and feels like theirs. What (besides earning 90K a year and not being able to afford a home at my age) could be more of a slap in the face???

yoli on June 25, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Rich M: “sunshine tax” - Love it! Going to co-opt that one. Hope you don’t mind…

Chris: “cultural [ARTS] diversity” - Interesting… I guess cultural diversity - as in people of different ethnicities living amongst each other is not considered all that appealing, eh?

Missy: I have some bad news for you hun, Cali is NOT going to become less culturally diverse. You have your government’s lack of immigration policy to thank for that. It may be time to realize that people are more alike than they are different and move on to making the place somewhere worth living.

My $.02.

Tom: You are on point with this post. It’s becoming ridiculous to maintain a middle class (or better) standard of living in Cali if you make less that $150K a year - and want to live within 75 miles of where you work.

Missy on June 26, 2007 at 9:21 am

Rich M., your 100% correct. I was kicking myself for the remark left I left yesterday. I know better. The real challenge is in the State’s ability to support the infrastructure under the burgeoning mass migration. We are not prepared and of course, we all suffer under it. Let’s us not forget the Land Developer’s who are all to happy to make a buck on turning California from open land to row after row after row of new housing development and shopping Malls. It’s not the California I grew up in, but it is the California of today. A wise man said that when you are faced with adversity, you have three choices 1. Accept it fully, 2. Work within it to change it or 3. Leave it completely. Anything else is insanity…

If you haven’t seen the video below you may want to check this out. It won’t make you feel better, but it explains what is going on. It’s entitled “Immigration by the numbers” and it’s an eye opener.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4094926727128068265&q=numbersusa&hl=en

james on July 1, 2007 at 9:19 pm

ca is full of nuts & fruits & its actually warmer in ca then yesteryear.

Feedbacker on July 10, 2007 at 3:12 pm

Actually, my thoughts on the video “Missy” posted are:

1. Based on this man�s arguments, some of the points he�s making closely resemble hate speech.
2. He�s trying to elicit emotional responses to his argument. If his information is truly fact-based and intended to broaden the knowledge of facts as they pertain to the impact/outcome, emotion is irrelevant.
3. There is no progressive country on this planet that has not been impacted by immigration. Population has continued to grow (number of births per year versus the number of deaths per year � people are living longer) over the history of time. No one can deny this. Therefore, to say that a country the size of the US that now has 300 million people utilizing roughly 2/5 of the land mass is at its breaking point as far as how many people it can sustain is ludicrous. He�s worried about �who� is immigrating � not �how many.�
4. His only valid argument is that more people (immigrants or native-born) equals more strain on an infrastructure that is ill-prepared to handle in the influx of people. If Congress focused half as much energy on strengthening the infrastructure as it does on Iraq, we would all be much better off.

From the start of the video I could tell it was fishy. It�s thinly-veiled, right-wing propaganda at best and biased, emotion-driven, bigoted hate-speech at worst.

Mike on November 11, 2007 at 4:44 am

After visting CA and come back to the coast of Connecticut I kissed the ground. I had always wanted to move to Southern (not Northern) CA for one reason only - the months of December to March. I hate cold/snow. I love the East Coast the other 8 months of the year, I l love the tropical humidity in summer, the warm beaches in Rhode Island and Ocean City, MD, just can’t take the cold.

NOw after seeing SOCAL talking to people, had knowing in my heart that a earth sceience major like me only makes average (about 45 K a year) income, I would throw away the next 15 to 20 years working my life away to just to pay the bills. For what - to get out of 4 months of cold. I’d be better off just going to Florida or the islands in the winter months and staying here (CT).

Tom Voli on November 11, 2007 at 3:07 pm

Smart move….or rather…smart NO move.

Brian on November 11, 2007 at 10:42 pm

Personally I think you are all a bunch of whiners. If you can’t survive making $10K a month your a douche! I make $3K a month. I live in a 3 bedroom house w/ a 2 car garage and yard that I share w/ my best friend. I live in a city that has little to no tourists (sorry won’t tell you where) but is 5-10 mins from the coast. I moved out here from the midwest because this is more my lifestyle. A lot of people are into extreme sports and the outdoor lifestyle out here. California’s beauty is amazing it’s worth the little bit of extra cost a month in housing. Thank goodness you morons are leaving! You sound like the typical California silver-spooners that think not being able to afford a new Mercedes Benz every year means you aren’t making it.

Tom Voli on November 12, 2007 at 1:38 pm

When you grow up and live by yourself you will find that $3000 won’t come close to cutting it. However, that would afford a nice living in other areas.