ai6yr,

LA Times: These are the California cities where $150,000 still buys you a home. Would you live here? "...For the last 30 years, Ann Epperly has lived in Trona, one of only nine California cities, towns and unincorporated areas tracked by Zillow with median home values under $150,000 in February 2024." https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-24/california-9-cities-where-150-000-can-buy-an-average-home

mjausson,
@mjausson@mastodon.design avatar

@ai6yr I looked at some of those when I started thinking about moving some place cheaper. They range from deeply depressing to outright scary. 😱

Example: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/209-E-Monterey-St-Avenal-CA-93204/19078026_zpid/?

ai6yr,

@mjausson Oh my... that looks like someone took a bunch of free materials and installed them in a former prison, LOL... That's only a few steps away from "shanty town" construction quality, ha ha.

mjausson,
@mjausson@mastodon.design avatar

@ai6yr It it was sold a month ago and it looks like somebody started adding drywall to the ceiling in one room. Now it's back on the market for $30,000 more. 🤔 No thanks!

ai6yr,

@mjausson One of the sheds I built out back is more likely to stand up to a mild earthquake than that place, LOL. I'd be afraid that building would collapse upon itself for no reason at all.

mjausson,
@mjausson@mastodon.design avatar

@ai6yr Yes, it's a bad sign when nearby empty lots are more expensive than the home you're looking at.

If you have a bit more money, you can get something in Coalinga that at least manages to appear habitable in the photos. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/397-Adams-St-Coalinga-CA-93210/18636678_zpid/

Just don't move there if you have middle-school-aged kids, because the local middle school has a Great Schools rating of 1. 😂

ai6yr,

@mjausson Oh, that looks like a pretty little house. Yeah... schools....

exador23,
@exador23@m.ai6yr.org avatar

@ai6yr @mjausson

While a little more than $150k, this looks worth it. cabin plus 6 tripped out trailers on 5 acres.

https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/b52-singer-calif-desert-home-for-sale-19410117

mjausson,
@mjausson@mastodon.design avatar

@ai6yr Based on my experience so far, you want the school ratings to be good, but not too good. 4-6 is the sweet spot.

Below that, the crime rate is too high. Above it, you're dealing with rich, white Republicans.

samhainnight,
@samhainnight@mstdn.social avatar

@mjausson @ai6yr Goes to check the school rate at the new house…

samhainnight,
@samhainnight@mstdn.social avatar

@mjausson @ai6yr Weirdly, the middle school has a very low rating, but the high school is average.

ai6yr,

@samhainnight @mjausson 5, 5, and 7 in my neighborhood. 7,8,9 in the expensive areas nearby, with schools that are about the same (aside from hard drug problems at the expensive high school). I suspect that rating partially includes "cost of neighborhood" in its score 🤔

samhainnight,
@samhainnight@mstdn.social avatar

@ai6yr @mjausson Well, I live at the top of a mountain. Anyone who would want to rob us would have to really mean it to bother. Also, most of my stuff is second hand, so it’s not really worth the effort.

me_valentijn,
@me_valentijn@mastodon.social avatar

@ai6yr

I'd assume that the place where "the searing heat and highly saline soil kills grass" is trying to tell me something, and isn't that I should move in 🤷‍♀️

armerpunkt,
@armerpunkt@mastodon.online avatar

@ai6yr The towns in the desert are way too hot. The ones in Siskiyou County wouldn’t be too bad (local politics aside). Surprised there haven’t been more Bay Area tech workers who can work remotely that have moved there and driven up the prices yet.

ai6yr,

Trona's gas station... Bustling downtown Trona store. The dollar store! Trona starter home! What a wonderland!

Boarded up storefront
Abandoned Dollar Store
Pile o'Bricks that was a house

ai6yr,

(Those photos from this recent drive-through tour of Trona) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1p8VUka9wE

JohnJBurnsIII,
@JohnJBurnsIII@kzoo.to avatar

@ai6yr

You really have to have expendable $$ and a speculative mind - to buy into any of those properties.

ai6yr,

@JohnJBurnsIII There's exactly one employer in town.

JohnJBurnsIII,
@JohnJBurnsIII@kzoo.to avatar

@ai6yr

Watching the video right now...

I suppose if are interested in living "disconnected" from society, yet still like a city.


Seeing ghost towns from 1800's and older - you think, how could it get to that point...

Yet - here we are - just decades can do this...

JohnJBurnsIII,
@JohnJBurnsIII@kzoo.to avatar

@ai6yr

WOW - no water sources... only transported in. That's tough!!!

High School is still operational. So not a 100% ghost town.

tomjennings,
@tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org avatar

@ai6yr

I bought gas at that station last time I was through there, probably in the After Times.

ai6yr,

@tomjennings Yeah, the last time I was there (7, 8 years ago?) the gas station was open, I filled up there, too. Must have closed during COVID, that is a 6 month old video.

Pappy,
@Pappy@thepit.social avatar

@ai6yr Under $150k? You mean, under $50k, right?

ai6yr,

@Pappy LOL $25K for a 2 bd 1 bath home in Trona. And it comes with wonderful outdoor furniture! (with seatbelts) https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/13370-Clover-St-Trona-CA-93562/17483860_zpid/?

$24,999 home in Trona with a BBQ and the back seat of a van for a seat

dougfir,
@dougfir@mastodon.social avatar

@ai6yr @Pappy
Low maintenance yard, handicapped accessible, what's not to like?

ai6yr,

@dougfir @Pappy And the cost of the house is less than six months rent here on the coast...

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