There's no other place I would rather live than SoCal, nothing beats the weather, beaches are gorgeous, and I live across the border from Tijuana. What could be better than that?

A 3-bedroom house in a safe, comfortable neighborhood for under $800,000?

Although I live in an apartment, there's plenty of that around here. Also, if I ever get sick and need pretty powerful shit, I can just cross the border and save me the trip to a doctor here in the States.

Christ. This is why the NYC and Cali or die mentality really doesn't inflict me at all. I mean I can at least say that in Cali you can get a house with space and drive a car if you want (plus you get good weather)--but in NYC you can't get a house, you can't really drive like that if you want, you can't get much space, and then the weather sucks.

I mean seriously the fact that people even consider a 3 bedroom house in a comfortable neighborhood for under $800,000 to be a good deal or reasonable is insane. A house anywhere near that price in places outside of NYC and California has 5+ bedrooms, an in ground pool, a multi car garage, probably has a library and a guest room plus a tub with jets in the bathroom. In NYC or Cali a $800K house has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms....that's unreal....

If I end up deciding to practice in Atlanta with a 160K salary I could live incredibly well, but in NYC they'd call that "middle class".

Only for safe communities that are close to actual jobs. You can always accept a day-long commute or a shack in the 'hood if you wanna live cheaper...

Every time I go to NYC, I look at how many condos start at seven digits because of the location, and I cringe. I understand San Diego, San Francisco, etc. are only "cheaper" in comparison to this. To the rest of the country, the prices there are unconscionable.

Yeah you're right; good God the more I think about it I really might not even interview with firms from either market when it comes time for me to participate in OCI.....

You can definitely get that in SoCal, NorCal not so much. There are several places that are about 10 miles from downtown LA which are great neighborhoods and you can get a 3 bedroom for less than 800k. South Pasadena, Eagle Rock, and Culver City, for example. San Diego is even better. I, for one, see some silver lining in the declination of home values.

ETA: Also Glendale. And lots of places in Orange County where there are downtown areas and decent cost of living.

I will admit the last home values I saw were pre-bubble-burst, so I don't know how much they've fallen. At their highs they were fucking ludicrous, though. Also, "less than 800k" is not exactly defining something as cheap. I'm from TX, I'm used to being able to get a starter home or a condo in a nice quiet neighborhood for around $150K max. I understand other parts of the country are more, but "we're actually below five times what you're used to" is not very persuasive to me on affordability.

Sorry but that's really not that great. A house with only 3 bedrooms should cost less than 450K--at most--let alone 800K. 800k is a ton of money; for a house of that cost you should be living like a king. To be honest what are all these people in NYC and Cali doing that they can afford to own a house that is that expensive? I mean unless you are in top level finance, Big Law, doctor, or a corporate exec how the hell do you pay for a house that costs that much while avoiding massive debt???

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

TJ is a complete hell hole that is run by Narcos. There are more beheadings there than in the Middle East. I've been in SoCal for 10 years now. Weather is great and I love to surf but traffic, high cost of living, boom-bust economic cycles, lack of professional job opportunities, inept state legislature, and lack of ethics among many Californians make it a challenging place to live. I'm not interested in purchasing a home for $500K on the wrong side of the tracks. I'll take stable employment, stable $200K housing, and a legislature that knows how to balance budgets any day of the week. Sorry Cali state worker, most of you do not deserve $150K pensions per year.

I can do without NorCal after living here, but I would like to live IN San Francisco before making that judgment. However, it is, borrowing the native language, hella cold up here.

But SoCal....yes. LA is alright, but give me Santa Barbara or San Diego any day. Besides Miami (my motherland hehe), i cannot think of anywhere else I would want to live.

I'd estimate about 500k being the rock bottom entry level for a 3 bedroom in the LA places I listed, if you factor in fixing up a major fixer upper, maybe 400k. I don't know about San Diego as much, but there are much nicer areas there that are within 10 miles of downtown for cheaper than LA. The problem with SD is it is hard to get a good job here. Nothing less than 800k in SB. Nothing less than 1 mil in SF, or almost anywhere on the peninsula for that matter.

That's absolutely ridiculous.

Re: housing prices. Shrug. You pay for what you get. There are very few desirable locations (at least imo) that don't have high cost of living. Maybe Austin. Maybe Phoenix.

Thank you for adding that. Atlanta is a great place to live--especially when you are living in a $800K house http://www.century21.com/realestatelist ... BR88389558. So are a lot of places in Texas.

http://www.century21.com/realestatelist ... BR44756660

http://www.century21.com/realestatelist ... BR71493607

http://www.century21.com/realestatelist ... BR48249538

http://www.century21.com/realestatelist ... BR67826207

http://www.century21.com/realestatelist ... BR68051329

I've lived in CA my whole life and its not that expensive to live in a safe area...there are many places in the bay area that are decent and not super expensive...i cant speak for so cal though

Anywhere that isn't East Bay? I think 1 mil stands for peninsula and the north side of the golden gate within reason. Otherwise, you are looking at San Jose (which I actually like) or pleasanton/livermore, which don't do much for me, and don't have good enough access to public transportation. Maybe Albany or Emeryville? But those are probably at least 7-800k for a three bedroom.

Yeah, in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but a shopping center, housing developments, and empty hills for a good hour or two.

You are crazy dude. There are all kinds of houses in Redwood City/San Mateo right now for $500-600k. I'm talking 3-4 bedrooms in a nice, safe atmosphere.

You can actually get a nice single family house in Santa Clara right now for under 500k. All of those houses were just under $1m at the peak. Walnut Creek is not that expensive if you will take a 50 year old place in need of work. Dublin/Pleasanton is relatively affordable and very quiet and safe + has BART.

Of course all of this is due to the housing bubble crash. Everybody expects the Bay Area to be one of the fastest housing markets to recover, so I am sure most of us won't have a chance to cash in before prices go berserk again.

Please, I have properties across the border and the violence isn't that bad. yeah I've seen a couple of shootings here and there but tell me, what city in the U.S. is free of violence so that I can move over there?

the townhouse im renting in santa clara...close to downtown san jose is in a very nice neighborhood and is actually for sale for under 400....definately won't move at its asking price either...so i dunno..

also the median income is higher in these cities that have higher COL....it doesnt completely make up for it but i dont see how a high COL would be a reason to not want to live somewhere, unless u plan to be poor or something..

places have high COL's because they are the most desirable places to live in the nation.

When the cost of living get's to the point where a 3 bedroom house is somehow worthy of 800K it more than makes it a reason not to live there. When 160K a year becomes a "middle class" salary then that location's COL has reached a point where it more than makes it a reason not to live there. What's more is that no one "plans to be poor"; it just sort of happens to you, kind of like no one hopes to be in a car accident. And in locations with the COL we are talking about, being poor basically means making under 60K a year--which is pretty easy to do ITE.

I could get a really nice house in Austin for $2-300k. Which is one reason I'm considering trying to go back there when I graduate. (Unfortunately there aren't that many legal jobs in Austin, unless you get elected to one.)

Define "nice" single family house. My parents have a house in Santa Clara in an average-ish neighborhood where the average 2 story house costs 700k-800k ite....with an average sized yard. When you talk about 500k homes it makes me think of the ghetto areas, like Sunnyvale. There are some pretty bad areas in Santa Clara where you can get a place to live, but you will probably have to live in a totally Mexican neighborhood right next to commercial outlays.

As for Dublin/Pleasanton, they are really far away from jobs and in the middle of nowhere. I know someone who bought a house in Pleasanton and has to commute to SJ for work - it takes about 2-3 hours one way because of traffic every morning. Doesn't seem worth it. BART is very inefficient too, considering there are very limited stops and then you have to take the light rail. It probably doubles your commute if you end having to take the BART and light rail versus just driving. BART isn't like a subway, there are very few stops in comparison.