Santa Barbara's home prices are (and have always been) so out of reach for folks who are not independently wealthy. It's a wonder anyone is available to even work fast food there. Nearly all the engineers (highly paid, mind you) working at companies there commute from out of the area for this reason. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/21/realestate/21hunt-zero.html#realestate#SantaBarbara
@dougfir That is certainly part of it. Although foreign buyers are not the exclusive problem, there's been a lot of PE speculation here, and even -- locally -- it's people who bought their homes in the 1970's, moved on to bigger houses and are now renting those homes out for a LOT less than they pay in mortgages (or their children, who inherited the homes). It may make perfect financial sense for those property owners, but, for society, it definitely creates a huge renter underclass...
@ai6yr That is insane. I don't have a NYT subscription and can only read sans javascript, which means I can't answer the questions and get to the reveal. What did they do?
@ai6yr Outbid on a 750k mobile home. I don't even know what to say. I live in a brand new 3 bedroom townhouse 15 minutes from downtown Richmond VA for about 35% of their budget.
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