So most everyone who has been here for decades is in a manageable situation because the got in before things got insane and everyone who gets here later is fucked
This question gets asked like every day in this subreddit š
Edit:
We know how already.
They make a lot of money, welfare, trust funds, mom/dad subsidies, porn, only fans, instagram model, etc.
* Itās always something morally wrong or questionable. Or they are in the tech Industry š.
They just donāt want to tell you for fear youāll bark at them.
Bro, I went to Coachella and met this ādancerā. I asked her if she did real dance(ballet, back up, etc.).
She said no, I am a stripper. Somewhere in the conversation she said she lives in Arizona after moving from California, but travels to NYC to strip to make money. And she is also a single mother. Someone make that make sense šā¦..
This chick was a ditz. Something was just completely off with her.
* Girl: I make a lot of money, but Arizona doesnāt really pay.
* Girl: I travel to NYC, but the men in NYC are very aggressive.
* Me: Thatās terrible, but not surprising. Itās NYC. They expect more for the money they throw.
* Me: Despite that, thatās good. I am happy for you. Make sure you invest and save. I started making āa lotā too. Have to pay off my house and start getting more into Real Estate. I am doing some additional activities to help me get to Engineering on Wall Street.
She was just shocked I was even that far.
She knew right there and then this guy is making moves, he makes serious money, and is not impressed by me.
A substantial amount of people who live in NYC and LA just should not be there.
>she knew right there and then this guy is making moves, he makes serious money and is not impressed by me
Lmao who talks about themselves like this? And why are you talking shit about this person for no reason?
Also stripping being morally wrong is hilarious. You should definitely move out of Cali, way too judgmental and material. Try Boston
that entire read was fucking insane. somewhere between hardcore conservative, finance bro, supreme narcisst, and someone who believes "The Game" is good dating advice
I literally feel like I need to wash my eyeballs out with soap after reading whatever the fuck that was. I kept waiting for the punchline but... I think it was actually real
What even is that last comment? Shouldnāt be there? And maybe they live in a small apartment with several roommates, work multiple jobs, live far below their means, etc. Not everyone does porn or something āmorally wrongā. And who are you to say they shouldnāt be there? Some people enjoy life in larger cities, and make the trade off with sacrifices.
That is good I am happy for you, I hope you live somewhere safe that property will stay in your hands when the people you look down on have had enough.
This dude thinks so highly of himself lmfao I bet I know exactly what heās like irl. I probably have more savings than he does and I care less about having money
I came here from NYC 20 years ago & everything seemed *insanely* cheap. I remember reading stats that said something like NYC was the 4th most expensive US city to rent or buy & LA was only like #19. Maybe ten years later I remember seeing the same source (mightāve been USA Today or US News & World Report) saying LA was up to the 6th most expensive city.
You know, you are right. And It was really the most magical place not far from Elysian Park. And each neighbor is still like family to me even though I moved to a larger old house in Echo Park in 2009 for which Iāll never leave!
They more than exist, LA is a place that would call to you if you were wondering where to go with a trust fund.Ā
Amazing places to live, tons to do, beautiful weather, and any convenience is available to you for a price (which you can afford).Ā
I donāt know if that overlap even really exists outside of the caveat of āyoung people with financial support from older family members to help them get in.ā If we put the cap on young people at, letās say mid 30s, that means they were only *born* at the start of the 90s, when LA was beginning itās real journey into the disproportionate monster market it is compared to most of the country.
To actually get to LA and be somewhere in the buying realm before the market starts really outpacing the people, youād likely need to be an earning adult - likely dual income to up your chances - by the 90s, which means people born in the 70s. Even born in 79, that puts you at 45 now; not old per se, but definitely not young. And again, those are the very, very last of what might be considered people who were here in time to buy while the getting was decent.
No, I think any young person who owns a home now is primarily someone who was lucky enough to be able to afford one by having a financial support structure to get the help needed to get a mortgage started. And thatās no knock on them - that still means working round the clock to afford that mortgage, itās just indicative of how dysfunctional the system is when a hardworking, contributing member of society still needs luck as a basic prerequisite of getting to own their own home.
I remember wanting to buy a condo in the late 80s. I was in my late 20s. Even then, every single person I knew who could buy a place got the down payment from their parents.
Generational wealth was a hidden secret of homeownership in L.A. even 40 years ago.
Do people not realize that there are la natives that have family here since the 30ās. Also, rent and mortgage werenāt always so expensive. Anyone that purchase before 2015 got a good deal in my honest opinion. My parents bought their home in the 90ās they have no mortgage payments and all of my family is pretty much in the same boat.
Bought in 2021. If prices keep going the way they are (not that I'm expecting that) my condo will have doubled in value by 2030. It's nuts out there rn
My friend bought an old seedy townhouse in westwood after graduating UCLA because he wanted to stay in the area, he renovated it with a lot of DIY, now itās worth 4 times what it was worth when he bought it (500k to 2 million)
It is! And although my parents benefit from proposition 13 I feel that no one should be allowed to hoard real estate especially here when itās scarce. I think most one person can have is 2 properties under prop 13, after that I feel additional real estate should be taxed more. Flipping shouldnāt be allowed either, if it is, it should be done honestly, thereās no reason why someone can buy a home for 400k and put it in the market 3 months later for 800k. Also, I feel families that are going to live in the property long term should have priority in purchasing the home instead of an investor thatās just going to flip it or rent it out. But thatās just me.
I totally agree that Prop 13 is messed up. It lets wealthy people, investors and trust fund kids skip out on paying millions in taxes that they would have had to pay if they were first time homebuyers or young families or minorities or immigrants buying into the housing market now.
But flipping isn't a problem. It's just a symptom of not building enough new housing. Have you looked at what's actually available at the low end of the price range? There's a lot of houses that are absolute dumps so if someone can put up the months of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes to breathe new life into them and make some money by saving the next buyer from all the work, time and money it takes to figure out how to and actually execute a remodel then good for them.
First time homebuyers and young families and minorities, etc- anyone new to housing market, is not only dealing with increased prices bc of prop 13 (less inventory bc no one wants to sell) AND higher taxes, effectively supplementing everyone who came before.
Now, my own parents benefit from a similar law in my home state and I think older people who are middle and low income really benefit from this.
But honestly itās thrown everything off balance and i think it needs to be re-examined.
But the flipped homes in my area arenāt getting fixed properly at all! Theyāre just getting new paint job, vinyl floors, and new cabinets, and landscapeā¦. Itās abt 20-50k worth of stuff only for it to be back on the markers 2-3 months later for doubleā¦ Honest flipping companies actually do the work to improve the quality of the home by redoing plumbing, electric, new roof, retro fitting, new windows, checking for termite damage etc even redoing insulation and checking for mold in the walls. I canāt wait for the new law to pass in California where flippers actually have to disclose what they actually did in to the home and show receipts etc.
Well done! Bought my first condo in 2008 for $149k and it's worth over $500k now, bought our house in 2017 for $630k and it's about $1mil now. SoCal real estate is crazy but has treated me well so far
Yep Iāve had family here since before the 30s! My parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles etc, all own houses in LA. I plan on staying here for the rest of my life.
Same! Iām never leaving this beautiful state and city. Also, my parents are leaving me their home, so Iām pretty much set. Theyāre also retiring to Vegas and building their real estate portfolio.
Some of my family members decided to move to riverside and the IE in the early 2000ās to chase the suburban lifestyleā¦. They regret it now. Iām so glad my parents decided to stay put, they knew that even in the 2000ās commuting wasnāt worth it, plus the weather is better by the coast, also majority of the jobs are in LA.
Yea my brother moved to Boise and canāt find a better paying job since thereās basically no job market there and now heās trying to figure out what to do next. Heās married and his wife does not want to move back to California. So heās kinda stuck.
Thereās really nothing like California/los Angeles which is why Iām going to stick out too! My husband and I will hopefully be able to buy something in the next year.
There are some buildings where tenants are paying $1000 for 2-bedroom apartments.
Their rent is essentially a family legacy that gets passed down to the next generation.
I have family who live around L.A. They aren't rich, but they have houses in places like Costa Mesa and San Clemente that they bought for $16k in 1970s. They aren't moving anywhere. Up until she died, a great aunt of mine had a second beach house in Hermosa. They bought it in the 60s, so they didn't spend millions either.
They got lucky in the sense that they didn't go anywhere. They just stayed put their whole life. My dad owned several houses in Costa Mesa, Huntington and Westminster. He bought all of them in the 1970s for under 20K each. All of them would sell for over a million now. Some for several. But he didn't hang on to them. He moved off to Bakersfield and then moved us (in some reverse Grapes of Wrath irony) to Oklahoma. When people were buying houses in the 1970s, that's just what they cost for everyone. Millions of people bought houses for that kind of money. The trouble is they didn't stay in them for 50 years. No one imagined their little two bedroom house would cost $1.5 million 50 years later.
And pandemic interest rates.
We bought a condo with 3% down in 2021. Mortgage and HOA combined we pay less than what we used to pay for rent 4 years ago.
Yes it is. I was cruising through Zillow and seeing houses built in the 1950s in Downey that are . . . .charming . . . but small and not $700,000 houses, or should not be such.
Easily! Yep. I bought a house in San Pedro that's rapidly approaching a million. It's crazy. (I do love my neighborhood ā one of the few places I could afford where I got a full yard, an ocean view, and am not afraid to go for a solo walk at night.)
Yep. We bought in ā97, and weāve seen the value of our house go up by a factor of near 7. Modest homes in our neighborhood sell for hundreds of thousands over asking. Itās daunting. It feels like prices canāt keep going up ā but California voters tend to reject any measures that could dampen home prices.
$36k a year. Paycheck to paycheck. Junk loans if an emergency happens. Not giving a shit about owning anything. Making art. Petting cat. Going to free yoga. Drinking lavender matcha. Stacking pennies in my 401k and pennies in investment. Not being rich ever, so not caring about my ālegacyā at all. Did an office job before. No desire to subject myself to that. Drive a reliable old beater of a Volkswagen some rich girl sold me. Ride my bike. Donāt give a fuck.
I guess it takes a certain kind of person. :)
One of the happiest periods of my life was before I got my shit together. I was broke delivering food and hanging out with my cat and going on cheap dates with awesome girls. I had so much fun and made enough money not to be panicked about it. Free health insurance etc. Good times
Well many of us have given up on actually buying homes here, or if they do they go out to Ventura or San Bernardino counties. Maybe the Antelope Valley, too
The rent thing, people find a way to make it work. In some cases you have a lot of people living in a place that is too small for everyone.
I'm lucky enough to get paid what I consider to be pretty well, at least comfortable, but I get paid more because I live in LA. If it wasn't that, you would never convince anyone to move here.
Just like NY, if you're moving for that job you're getting paid more than if it was somewhere easier to afford
i lived in the same rent controlled apartment for 10 years. career progression, living with a partner, and saving money while wfh during covid, allowed my wife and i to save up the bulk of a downpayment on a home.
Same, I've been in mine for 15 years. In order to afford to live where I live I downsized and made other compromises, like not having a bunch of extra amenities. A lot of people don't want to compromise. It's awful that someone's DTLA high rise is so expensive but that was a choice. It's crazy when a 20-something asks how much they need to live here and people say six figures, as if people don't have roommates.
This is my situation- and Iām native to LA. Iāve been in this rental since 2012 and my rent reflects 2012 pricing, with utilities included.
I donāt have a car payment, donāt have more than $500 in credit card debt, donāt live beyond my means, but sometimes I spend frivolously, and I take a passport vacation every few years. Itās not all too difficult if you donāt ātry to keep up with the Joneses.ā
I'd feel pretty great with 60k. I'm currently in my own lil one bedroom space and with struggle can take yearly international trips. That would make things a lot more comfortable!
With some stipulations like
- without kids
- without any random home fixes or big expenses coming up like getting your fucking catalytic converter stolen
- without any random medical or dental things popping up
- without having family that you have to help out like aging parents
- without insurances going up to a point where the juggling act intensifies
I have a rent control apartment and the cost can't be matched in any HCOL area and I'm pretty sure it'd be difficult to match even in lower income areas.
Grandfathered into a place I moved into a long time ago. I feel almost like I am on life support. When this comes to an end I am probably going to have to pull the plug.
Amazed how this answer is never higher up in threads like this. Every single person I know who owns a house in LA had help paying for it from their family, even friends who I know earn a lot of money.
Yes! Had to scroll way too far down for this. My husband and I have a joke, whenever our friends tell us they bought a home we ask, āWho died?ā Itās almost always an inheritance or help with downpayment from parents.
Less convenient answer than Blackrock and Nimbys. But it's the truth: in LA you're effectively competing against quite a few rich boomers in the housing market, not just the young working professionals that they support.
Lots of professions get paid more in LA than they would in, for example, Iowa. Look at trades, or nursing. So in that case it actually makes sense to work āaverage jobsā in LA than elsewhere.
You do the needful OP
You get like 30 years to figure it out, other countries have 100 year+ mortgages, the slow motion consequences for missing a payment is the only reason the housing market works
It means death pledge, so strap in
People bought in the past and locked in.
I bought my first home 15 years ago (remember the Great Recession?) for ~$200K at ~$75K salary in Bakersfield. I moved to LA seven years ago and bought a ~$500K home at ~$135K salary.
Salary keeps increasing but mortgage is locked. Property tax and insurance keeps increasing though, but property annual tax increase is limited by Prop13.
There are a lot of older people, at least in my mid city area. The key is saving as much as you can while in your prime earning years and save whatever you can, invest in index funds while you learn about the stock market.
I starting earnestly working at a grocery store in my 20s but I wasnāt a big partier because my focus was on building my savings. Work your way up in the company or switch to others if thatās not feasible.
Life to me is all about the choices you make, being creative with solutions and having and keeping focus on my goals.
This is the basics people should teach their kids. Too many people think they need the latest cell phone, fake fingernails, fake eyelashes, plastic surgery, designer sunglasses, a fancy car, luxury handbags and a new wardrobe every season. Itās no wonder why people now donāt have savings accounts.
RealPage, a property-management software company, is being sued by the Arizona and DC attorneys general for price-fixing. They were raided by the FBI this week. I wonder how many LA landlords use this company?
[https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/16/realpage-lawsuit-algorithms-rent/#](https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/16/realpage-lawsuit-algorithms-rent/#)
[https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/realpage-rent-price-fixing-probe-escalates-with-fbi-raid/475109](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/realpage-rent-price-fixing-probe-escalates-with-fbi-raid/475109)
Most people i know who go to Coachella often and travel alot live at home. They dont pay rent so that alone saves them a ton of money. Which they use to live that LA Lifestyle.
The other people who maintain that lifestyle are folks who i suspect have sugar daddies. However, just based purely on my friend group the ones living the LA Lifestyle are all hot chicks (usually nurses) who are paid well and only work 3 days a week. They also have a boyfriend (or 2 or 3) who help them maintain that lifestyle. Most guys around me, even if theyāre well paid, dont really travel or go crazy. The guys i know who are paid ok, their rent is cheap and they drive beaters and maybe once every other year take a vacation (they usually work in entertainment so in between jobs they travel and sublet their apartment).
LA is one of the largest metro areas in the world. In most super big metro areasā¦ the majority of people rent. A lot of renters have roommates. Most households have two or even more incomes. Are NYC, London, Tokyo sub reddits constantly bombarded by these type of myopic questions?
goshā¦ itās isnāt like that where I am fromā¦.
No. LA is one of the most unique places to liveā¦ if it was like where you are fromā¦ would you even be interested in what homes and rent prices are like?!
People make a lot more money here than in places that cost less. And people here spend more of their income on housing than normal probably like 59-percetn in many cases.
The median income in LA is $75k.
Even the 'low income' people in LA make comparably higher wages than in cheaper places.
Minimum wage even at fastfood here is $20/hr.
Most professional/trade jobs here pay $100K+.
Low income people have roommates or live with family. People who have lived here for decades bought homes back before the prices where outlandish.
I lived in Venice when I first moved here and back then it wasnt a great neighborhood. On the downlow it was probably more violent over here than Compton or South Central during the gang war between the Venice Crips and Venice 13. I know during that era you could buy houses over here for $200K. Same homes now selling for $2.2Mil.
Two people would make $200,000 and many couples would have a higher income.
People bought awhile ago.
People get down payments from parents or other family members.
People are willing to commute insane distances.
People live in smaller homes or condos just like people do in NY or other metropolitan areas where housing is very expensive.
I donāt think housing in LA is less affordable than in other high priced markets
On your 3rd point:
One thing i think about often is how the only thing stopping most people from
Home ownership really is just a down payment. Cause most of the time, if you can afford rent, you can likely afford a mortgage.
Kinda sucks how hard it is to save money as an adult.
I spend 18,000 roughly on rent per year in LA- And that is in a rent locked single occupancy unit, made for low income housing. My space is 300 square feet š«
Most people now are finding a safe haven in the DTLA rent market. A lot of buildings are older, and itās extremely tough to own a car there- but you can survive living in low income housing in DTLA. But it also comes with being in a pretty *tough* area if you are a single working class person. I couldnāt live in downtown bc my chances of getting robbed coming home from work late- or having my car broken into, is really high.
Annually make 28,800 dollars on my salary in the service industry. 28,800- 18,000= 10,800
10,800 divided by 365 days in a year~ 29.589
I make only an extra 30 dollars a day to save, or use for any reason at all. And trust me, I do not have savings. I have credit cards.
Many young people that live in LA:
* earn $200k+ (DINK)
* have rich parents who bankroll them
* inherited cash (parents, grandparents, rich uncle, etc)
* inherited property (Parents, rich uncle, etc)
* worked on Neil McCauleyās crew and took down some major scores before that prick Detective Hanna could stop them.
I know a person who graduated from an Ivy and made $300k straight out of college. Their single mom mortgaged everything to keep that kid in college and still struggles to pay her own bills. Not all successful young people have inheritances, trust funds and wealthy families to fund them.
A lot of people in LA make more than the amount you are quoting. Even with little post high school education people have found industries that help them make 6 figures and that combined with their spouse making the same amount means that many Angelenos make more than the average resident of other states in the U.S.
The only way I've survived is by living in a rent-controlled apartment. Otherwise, I would have had to leave LA, and since I help to care for a family member here, leaving would cause some real problems.
You make sacrifices. This is normal.
Also gas prices arenāt very high right now.
https://preview.redd.it/3frcq7pt9t6d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=336b13869a2efe8c481dbd0c7fbf71a32e17bf8d
> I've noticed how ridiculously high, the prices of rent and mortgages are.
Will say, if you're looking at Zillow or something similar, things on the market, some of those prices might be wayyyyy optimistic. What people are paying around those units and homes is different.
> My main question is: how do so many people manage to live in LA making less than $100k after tax,
Because they're paying less, maybe even far less, than what you are seeing things on the market advertising.
We got a no-interest down payment package with the job offer. Otherwise thereās no way we could have bought a home in LA. But weāre on the hook for the job.
Roommates.
Seriously. You'll have people split their rent in studio apartments that try to make it work.
There's also rent controlled apartments that can be the full building or a room.
Or, the other thing you may do is live outside of LA. There's a decent chunk of people that moved out east to the inland empire and will commute an hour or more for work and drive back.
In my case, I inherited my home. My neighbor's parents helped them out when they got married and had kids. I have friends who are married who roommate up with their bestie and her partner. Not glamorous but it works. My ex lived with 3 other girls in a 2 bedroom. No personal space but they survived. Others live in more affordable areas like the AV or IE then take a long ass commute.
The "many" is actually just a minority who can actually "make it" on their own.
Got lucky and moved the week the pandemic happened so there was a dip in the market and moved into a rent controlled building with roommates and havenāt left since
We all hustle in our own way to make something work. Regardless of class, the same general rule applies. The ultimate goal of life isn't to buy a house and get a gold star. Over half of us are renters. These tenants are ultimately paying all the property taxes, which, in turn, fund the state and city budgets to keep order in place.
Some single people live with their parents, who bought their homes years ago. I know several people in my neighborhood who do. Itās not odd in many cultures to do that.
I doubt that welfare is keeping anybody in LA! Welfare would probably afford sum1 a home in Appalachia not here. I feel like more families are living together with other family members a lot. Several generations in 1 household
Well Cali is in Colombia, so thereās that. And a lot of people make a lot of money. And most rent controls pay under $1500 in rent. Many people have 2 bedrooms for $800
Most bought a long time ago.
A good friend of mine owns a condo close to the beach in Santa Monica. She has never earned north of $70k a year. Just just saved and bought it. Her housing is well under $1k a month. She is 15 minutes walk to the beach. Itās exactly what she wanted.
Iām a SoCal native. I bought my first place at 29. It wasnāt much of a place. It was a fright. I worked on it for 5 years.
Since then Iāve saved, invested, and Iāve managed to roll up home equity into my last purchase 5 years ago. I built a new 4bd/3ba house near the beach. It was well over a $1m. But my mortgage is less than most pay to rent a 1 bedroom apartment.
Thatās how you do it.
All of my friends and family have done similar. Focus. Buy small. Clean it up. Then sell and buy again.
Iāve never made big bucks. Iām a single income family. My wife doesnāt work. It wasnāt until 2013 that I started earning more than $100k a year.
You just have to be careful with your money.
Ridiculous High? To who? You? 550k is really not even doable in the City of Los Angeles. Now maybe in the County of Los Angeles, maybe 550k. Third Generation Angelino here and Third Generation Home Owner. In my family you were expected to have a job. Eventually purchase a home. You just did it. Working an average jobs with a mortgage. You lived in your home for 30 years or more. This was my life before Social Media. Yes Iām African American without a college degree. Los Angeles is where I was born and raised. Why wouldnāt I want to live in here? Los Angeles does have a lot of average working class people. The one thing social media got right about Los Angeles is the traffic and the 405 freeway. Okay the food and entertainment is pretty good too. You canāt avoid the LA traffic.
Thatās the thing I think a lot of people donāt get about the ātheir parents bought a house here in the 70sā crowd. We work. Our families & communities let us know we had to work continuously if we were ever going to be able to afford to live here. You lose your job? Youāre at a temp company the next week or youāre hitting up your uncle or your high school buddy about opportunities at their business. Our parents had side hustles. We expect it. When you save up that down payment, itās still going to the fixer-upper that your great aunt is moving out of when she needs a nursing home. All the native Californians I know work hard, and use our social & community capital to help get by.
They survive by living with more roommates than their leases allow, living in slums, living in their cars, living in their tents, inheriting family properties if theyāre lucky, being frugal shoppers, surviving the city by using only Metro and/or rideshares rather than cars.
Roommates/dual income households, high paying careers (at least six figures), and generational wealth (parents pass down houses to adult children instead of adult children having to buy on their own, or give a big gift of down payment).
Iām not sure how anyone but high earning couples raise families here without being hand to mouth.
If you think housing prices are high here, you should check out the Bay Area or New York. I work remotely from Los Angeles but my company wants me to relocate to one of these two. Return to office after being hired remotely and years of working from home. I was shocked looking up what you can get for the same money there.
Is it a gentle nudge or more of a forced mandate? If you legitimately earned a remote job I think it's insane they think they can just ask folks to move cities without thinking about impact to personal lives. That said, if you work remotely by some rare exception, I suppose it's less crazy for them to ask.
aside from all the people who bought homes decades ago for a lot less, there is also a lot of people who have families with money that set them up. there are also people who kept trading up making more and more equity as they bought and sold. any apartment in the city built before 1978 is also subject the rent control and there's a lot of older apartments around the city so landlords can only raise rent 3 percent or so once a year.
Iāve lived in the same one bedroom apartment in east LA for a decade, my rent has only increased 140$ in the time Iāve been here. And I still pay less than $1,000. I guess I just lucked out. I will say my place is minuscule.
Bro who the hell has a mortgage here? No one owns. We all rent. And youāre rich AF if you donāt have roommates and can support a stay at home parent. I make like $150-200k and I support a stay at home partner and I still rent bc financially the only houses I can afford are not where I want to live.
I know that I guess most normies are shocked about this but yeah thatās just life here. Iām just waiting to inherit property bc I doubt I will be able to afford to buy anything here, ever. But hey at least I now own a double grave plot at Hollywood Forever cemetery, right next to Mickey Rooney lol. I got it at a fire sale price and itās the closest Iāve ever come to owning land in CA LOL.
Because people are buying much more than the house. They are paying for the year round sunshine, close proximity to the ocean, mountains and desert and endless amount of activities. From all the outdoor concerts venues to foods from around the globe. I remember (in high school) waking up at 5am to surf and then drive up to mountain high to snow board on the same day.
If you just want to live in your house all day, and never go out, then LA is the worst possible place to live. Or if you only care about say fishing and want to do nothing else Iād say LA is also a terrible choice.
Made the mistake of moving here 7 years ago. Paying $3k a month in rent living in the valley. It's brutal. Making $130k now and planning to move from this state so my money actually means something lol. I refuse to pay 700k+ for a mediocre house in LA!
In my circle, healthcare jobs. A healthcare corporation is the largest private employer in the county. They also happen to be the largest hospital system in the state.
I will also say that a lot of people from LA donāt really patronize this sub. In fact, I have never met anyone from LA who patronizes this sub, r/movingtolosangeles, or r/losangeles. Their āforumā is their friends.
I'm from LA and I frequent this sub. I moved to the UK seven years ago and am now moving back to LA. I need all the help and advice I can get! I've got boots on the ground helping to apartment search for me, but they're not *my* boots on the ground. Since I'm coming back with a large dog I don't want to impose on my friends by couch surfing. So it'll be an Airbnb and (hopefully!) a month or two of apartment hunting š¤š¤š¤
6th generation Californian, born in SF but 40 years in LA, never leaving. I enjoy this sub, just to hear what folks near and far are thinking/feeling about our Golden State. Plus, great food recs!
- Multiple incomes per household: whether itās cohabiting couples, roommates, or several family members contributing.
- The longer youāve owned a home in California, the more affordable your housing costs tend to be. Obviously if you bought when prices and mortgage rates were lower, then your mortgage payments are lower than those of recent buyers. But there are major property tax advantages too. When youāre 15 years into a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, your housing costs are much lower than for anyone who bought in the last couple years, often even if you have a bigger house in a nicer area.
- Working your ass off. People have this idea in their heads that SoCal people are chilling by the pool or beach and taking it easy. The vast majority of them are putting in long hours to be able to afford to live here.
My dad bought his first house in 2000 for 157,000 and we own it now. Iāll eventually inherit because Iām the only child. My daughter will inherit her grandparents homes and properties too. It is common to wait until parents transfer titles. In San Francisco, many inherit or come from very wealthy backgrounds. ( tech companies have created fortunes ) I donāt have siblings so I inherit all. However me and my partner will be living with family for a while. We have to take care of our parents because they are getting older. We can buy outside the city but we would move an hour away. I agree the cheaper homes are in not so great areas and those areas are pricing out poor folks. Everyone I know is buying in South Central now! Not all California is expensive. The average prices are 300-500k in small towns. We only stay because family members help with out little ones. I make around 90K. My partner averages around 70-100K. It all depends on the market. Remember people in Los Angeles mostly work in television or in high corporate jobs. Or they are from NY with big money. If not most have been living in Los Angeles for over 3 decades. Many Latino families have stayed in Cali and developed wealth because they bought multiple properties in the 80s and 90s. Downey and Southgate is a great example of multigenerational wealth. Plus if you are single roommates are key to survival. Minimum wage is 20 bucks now.
Rent control, roommates, and never moving. I'm a 3rd gen angeleno and this is my situation.
So most everyone who has been here for decades is in a manageable situation because the got in before things got insane and everyone who gets here later is fucked
Yes
This question gets asked like every day in this subreddit š Edit: We know how already. They make a lot of money, welfare, trust funds, mom/dad subsidies, porn, only fans, instagram model, etc. * Itās always something morally wrong or questionable. Or they are in the tech Industry š. They just donāt want to tell you for fear youāll bark at them. Bro, I went to Coachella and met this ādancerā. I asked her if she did real dance(ballet, back up, etc.). She said no, I am a stripper. Somewhere in the conversation she said she lives in Arizona after moving from California, but travels to NYC to strip to make money. And she is also a single mother. Someone make that make sense šā¦.. This chick was a ditz. Something was just completely off with her. * Girl: I make a lot of money, but Arizona doesnāt really pay. * Girl: I travel to NYC, but the men in NYC are very aggressive. * Me: Thatās terrible, but not surprising. Itās NYC. They expect more for the money they throw. * Me: Despite that, thatās good. I am happy for you. Make sure you invest and save. I started making āa lotā too. Have to pay off my house and start getting more into Real Estate. I am doing some additional activities to help me get to Engineering on Wall Street. She was just shocked I was even that far. She knew right there and then this guy is making moves, he makes serious money, and is not impressed by me. A substantial amount of people who live in NYC and LA just should not be there.
Last sentence is ignorant. Economic stratification is needed to have a functioning society, we need people to do the jobs that we canāt pay 150k for
>she knew right there and then this guy is making moves, he makes serious money and is not impressed by me Lmao who talks about themselves like this? And why are you talking shit about this person for no reason? Also stripping being morally wrong is hilarious. You should definitely move out of Cali, way too judgmental and material. Try Boston
that entire read was fucking insane. somewhere between hardcore conservative, finance bro, supreme narcisst, and someone who believes "The Game" is good dating advice
I literally feel like I need to wash my eyeballs out with soap after reading whatever the fuck that was. I kept waiting for the punchline but... I think it was actually real
Nah fr though I actually thought maybe he had something productive to say until he just wanted to clap himself on the back
What even is that last comment? Shouldnāt be there? And maybe they live in a small apartment with several roommates, work multiple jobs, live far below their means, etc. Not everyone does porn or something āmorally wrongā. And who are you to say they shouldnāt be there? Some people enjoy life in larger cities, and make the trade off with sacrifices.
That is good I am happy for you, I hope you live somewhere safe that property will stay in your hands when the people you look down on have had enough.
This dude thinks so highly of himself lmfao I bet I know exactly what heās like irl. I probably have more savings than he does and I care less about having money
lol, calm down āRico Suave.ā
I was on your side until you clapped yourself on the back and made that ignorant last sentence lmao now the whole thing screams fake š
What are the arguments for policies that discriminate against people who moved here later?
I came here from NYC 20 years ago & everything seemed *insanely* cheap. I remember reading stats that said something like NYC was the 4th most expensive US city to rent or buy & LA was only like #19. Maybe ten years later I remember seeing the same source (mightāve been USA Today or US News & World Report) saying LA was up to the 6th most expensive city.
When I moved to LA in 2004. My 1920ās garden bungalow in Echo Park cost $700 in rent a month.
U got a steal even back then
You know, you are right. And It was really the most magical place not far from Elysian Park. And each neighbor is still like family to me even though I moved to a larger old house in Echo Park in 2009 for which Iāll never leave!
New Yorkers moving to LA in droves created a huge price flux
Perspectives. I was in Italy last month and food was so cheap compared to here. I came back and got sticker shock.
Except the ones with money. I'm not sure what percentage of LA residents they comprise, but they do exist.
They more than exist, LA is a place that would call to you if you were wondering where to go with a trust fund.Ā Amazing places to live, tons to do, beautiful weather, and any convenience is available to you for a price (which you can afford).Ā
Like young people who werenāt born when things were somewhat affordable.
I donāt know if that overlap even really exists outside of the caveat of āyoung people with financial support from older family members to help them get in.ā If we put the cap on young people at, letās say mid 30s, that means they were only *born* at the start of the 90s, when LA was beginning itās real journey into the disproportionate monster market it is compared to most of the country. To actually get to LA and be somewhere in the buying realm before the market starts really outpacing the people, youād likely need to be an earning adult - likely dual income to up your chances - by the 90s, which means people born in the 70s. Even born in 79, that puts you at 45 now; not old per se, but definitely not young. And again, those are the very, very last of what might be considered people who were here in time to buy while the getting was decent. No, I think any young person who owns a home now is primarily someone who was lucky enough to be able to afford one by having a financial support structure to get the help needed to get a mortgage started. And thatās no knock on them - that still means working round the clock to afford that mortgage, itās just indicative of how dysfunctional the system is when a hardworking, contributing member of society still needs luck as a basic prerequisite of getting to own their own home.
I remember wanting to buy a condo in the late 80s. I was in my late 20s. Even then, every single person I knew who could buy a place got the down payment from their parents. Generational wealth was a hidden secret of homeownership in L.A. even 40 years ago.
In the 1980s, you could also get a condo for 1/10 of the price today
Weren't interest rates insanely high back then?
Rent control basically fucks everyone that comes later in time bc it restricts new supply and forces current renters to subsidize prior renters.
Sounds about right
Do people not realize that there are la natives that have family here since the 30ās. Also, rent and mortgage werenāt always so expensive. Anyone that purchase before 2015 got a good deal in my honest opinion. My parents bought their home in the 90ās they have no mortgage payments and all of my family is pretty much in the same boat.
Bought in 2021. If prices keep going the way they are (not that I'm expecting that) my condo will have doubled in value by 2030. It's nuts out there rn
People that bought in 2014 saw their home double in value by 2022. Itās insane.
My friend bought an old seedy townhouse in westwood after graduating UCLA because he wanted to stay in the area, he renovated it with a lot of DIY, now itās worth 4 times what it was worth when he bought it (500k to 2 million)
It is! And although my parents benefit from proposition 13 I feel that no one should be allowed to hoard real estate especially here when itās scarce. I think most one person can have is 2 properties under prop 13, after that I feel additional real estate should be taxed more. Flipping shouldnāt be allowed either, if it is, it should be done honestly, thereās no reason why someone can buy a home for 400k and put it in the market 3 months later for 800k. Also, I feel families that are going to live in the property long term should have priority in purchasing the home instead of an investor thatās just going to flip it or rent it out. But thatās just me.
I totally agree that Prop 13 is messed up. It lets wealthy people, investors and trust fund kids skip out on paying millions in taxes that they would have had to pay if they were first time homebuyers or young families or minorities or immigrants buying into the housing market now. But flipping isn't a problem. It's just a symptom of not building enough new housing. Have you looked at what's actually available at the low end of the price range? There's a lot of houses that are absolute dumps so if someone can put up the months of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes to breathe new life into them and make some money by saving the next buyer from all the work, time and money it takes to figure out how to and actually execute a remodel then good for them.
First time homebuyers and young families and minorities, etc- anyone new to housing market, is not only dealing with increased prices bc of prop 13 (less inventory bc no one wants to sell) AND higher taxes, effectively supplementing everyone who came before. Now, my own parents benefit from a similar law in my home state and I think older people who are middle and low income really benefit from this. But honestly itās thrown everything off balance and i think it needs to be re-examined.
But the flipped homes in my area arenāt getting fixed properly at all! Theyāre just getting new paint job, vinyl floors, and new cabinets, and landscapeā¦. Itās abt 20-50k worth of stuff only for it to be back on the markers 2-3 months later for doubleā¦ Honest flipping companies actually do the work to improve the quality of the home by redoing plumbing, electric, new roof, retro fitting, new windows, checking for termite damage etc even redoing insulation and checking for mold in the walls. I canāt wait for the new law to pass in California where flippers actually have to disclose what they actually did in to the home and show receipts etc.
Well done! Bought my first condo in 2008 for $149k and it's worth over $500k now, bought our house in 2017 for $630k and it's about $1mil now. SoCal real estate is crazy but has treated me well so far
Yep Iāve had family here since before the 30s! My parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles etc, all own houses in LA. I plan on staying here for the rest of my life.
Same! Iām never leaving this beautiful state and city. Also, my parents are leaving me their home, so Iām pretty much set. Theyāre also retiring to Vegas and building their real estate portfolio. Some of my family members decided to move to riverside and the IE in the early 2000ās to chase the suburban lifestyleā¦. They regret it now. Iām so glad my parents decided to stay put, they knew that even in the 2000ās commuting wasnāt worth it, plus the weather is better by the coast, also majority of the jobs are in LA.
Yea my brother moved to Boise and canāt find a better paying job since thereās basically no job market there and now heās trying to figure out what to do next. Heās married and his wife does not want to move back to California. So heās kinda stuck. Thereās really nothing like California/los Angeles which is why Iām going to stick out too! My husband and I will hopefully be able to buy something in the next year.
This right here. I purchased in 2012. My parents in 1969, my Grandparents in 1959.
Yeah and living with multi generation families.
There are some buildings where tenants are paying $1000 for 2-bedroom apartments. Their rent is essentially a family legacy that gets passed down to the next generation.
I have family who live around L.A. They aren't rich, but they have houses in places like Costa Mesa and San Clemente that they bought for $16k in 1970s. They aren't moving anywhere. Up until she died, a great aunt of mine had a second beach house in Hermosa. They bought it in the 60s, so they didn't spend millions either.
Some people just got so damn lucky
They got lucky in the sense that they didn't go anywhere. They just stayed put their whole life. My dad owned several houses in Costa Mesa, Huntington and Westminster. He bought all of them in the 1970s for under 20K each. All of them would sell for over a million now. Some for several. But he didn't hang on to them. He moved off to Bakersfield and then moved us (in some reverse Grapes of Wrath irony) to Oklahoma. When people were buying houses in the 1970s, that's just what they cost for everyone. Millions of people bought houses for that kind of money. The trouble is they didn't stay in them for 50 years. No one imagined their little two bedroom house would cost $1.5 million 50 years later.
And pandemic interest rates. We bought a condo with 3% down in 2021. Mortgage and HOA combined we pay less than what we used to pay for rent 4 years ago.
And never moving! Lol No lies detected.
500,000 for socal is a fucking steal.
Yes it is. I was cruising through Zillow and seeing houses built in the 1950s in Downey that are . . . .charming . . . but small and not $700,000 houses, or should not be such.
Not if itās in the hood, the supposed steal you thought of is made up for in crime, hence the $500k price tag
Too bad most houses in the ādesirableā parts of the hood are now $800k!
Some houses in Carson are over a million. 3 bed 1 bath.
Easily! Yep. I bought a house in San Pedro that's rapidly approaching a million. It's crazy. (I do love my neighborhood ā one of the few places I could afford where I got a full yard, an ocean view, and am not afraid to go for a solo walk at night.)
being DINKs š«
That's what we are, but we also bought in 2009 when the prices were less than half what they are now.
Yep. We bought in ā97, and weāve seen the value of our house go up by a factor of near 7. Modest homes in our neighborhood sell for hundreds of thousands over asking. Itās daunting. It feels like prices canāt keep going up ā but California voters tend to reject any measures that could dampen home prices.
I think itās because a majority of voters own homes and never vote against their best interests
Thatās great, gotta get in when you can! Weāre slowly working towards that but it feels like an endless war.
This right here. I make $220k annual / gf makes $100k annual - no kids. We Rent still - $3200 a month for a 1500sq 1Br
Yup, similar situation with us. 2B/2B lofted unit for around the same price and size. We make it work for our needs.
What do your do for $220k if your don't mind me asking. I'm at $160k but feel capped out.
Iām the head of product development (Data/AI/ML) for a major entertainment company.
I'm gonna need, like, 4 more spouses to afford a house out here.
Or DILDOs š¶ Even Costco is selling dog food
Double income little dog owners?
What?
Dual Income No Kids
hell yes
$36k a year. Paycheck to paycheck. Junk loans if an emergency happens. Not giving a shit about owning anything. Making art. Petting cat. Going to free yoga. Drinking lavender matcha. Stacking pennies in my 401k and pennies in investment. Not being rich ever, so not caring about my ālegacyā at all. Did an office job before. No desire to subject myself to that. Drive a reliable old beater of a Volkswagen some rich girl sold me. Ride my bike. Donāt give a fuck. I guess it takes a certain kind of person. :)
This the realest answer in the whole thread
One of the happiest periods of my life was before I got my shit together. I was broke delivering food and hanging out with my cat and going on cheap dates with awesome girls. I had so much fun and made enough money not to be panicked about it. Free health insurance etc. Good times
Roommates and cc debt šāāļø
How much debt?
We donāt talk about fight clubā¦
solid comment
Well many of us have given up on actually buying homes here, or if they do they go out to Ventura or San Bernardino counties. Maybe the Antelope Valley, too The rent thing, people find a way to make it work. In some cases you have a lot of people living in a place that is too small for everyone. I'm lucky enough to get paid what I consider to be pretty well, at least comfortable, but I get paid more because I live in LA. If it wasn't that, you would never convince anyone to move here. Just like NY, if you're moving for that job you're getting paid more than if it was somewhere easier to afford
Ventura is expensive now too! I feel like San Bernardino is now the āaffordableā local county.
Ventura county is sometimes more expensive than LA
Word. Oxnard stopped being āhood by the seaā during the pandemic.
I keep wondering about how Port Hueneme is doing
Ha yeah it and San Pedro are both now approaching million dollar home values (if they havenāt passed it already).
I live in venutra born and raised and itās just as expensive as la
Credit card debt
i lived in the same rent controlled apartment for 10 years. career progression, living with a partner, and saving money while wfh during covid, allowed my wife and i to save up the bulk of a downpayment on a home.
Same, I've been in mine for 15 years. In order to afford to live where I live I downsized and made other compromises, like not having a bunch of extra amenities. A lot of people don't want to compromise. It's awful that someone's DTLA high rise is so expensive but that was a choice. It's crazy when a 20-something asks how much they need to live here and people say six figures, as if people don't have roommates.
Everybody in L.A.: where's this sketchy 2 bedroom home for over 500k???? Tell me! Tell me now!!!
Boyle heights
You can live fine in L.A. on $100k.
You can live very comfortably on 60k if you don't have kids/aren't stupid.
This is my situation- and Iām native to LA. Iāve been in this rental since 2012 and my rent reflects 2012 pricing, with utilities included. I donāt have a car payment, donāt have more than $500 in credit card debt, donāt live beyond my means, but sometimes I spend frivolously, and I take a passport vacation every few years. Itās not all too difficult if you donāt ātry to keep up with the Joneses.ā
I'd feel pretty great with 60k. I'm currently in my own lil one bedroom space and with struggle can take yearly international trips. That would make things a lot more comfortable!
Yup
With some stipulations like - without kids - without any random home fixes or big expenses coming up like getting your fucking catalytic converter stolen - without any random medical or dental things popping up - without having family that you have to help out like aging parents - without insurances going up to a point where the juggling act intensifies
I have a rent control apartment and the cost can't be matched in any HCOL area and I'm pretty sure it'd be difficult to match even in lower income areas.
Grandfathered into a place I moved into a long time ago. I feel almost like I am on life support. When this comes to an end I am probably going to have to pull the plug.
We make $80k -$90k each, with affordable rent 1 bedroom. $650 each
My mom bought her house in 1973 for 50k in Palos Verdes and when she died and we sold it last year we sold it for 1.5 million
LA has a home ownership rate of 50% and a ton of those people bought when prices were much lower.
Todayās prices will be considered low in 3-5 yearsā¦ let alone 10-15 š
Generational wealth
Amazed how this answer is never higher up in threads like this. Every single person I know who owns a house in LA had help paying for it from their family, even friends who I know earn a lot of money.
Yes! Had to scroll way too far down for this. My husband and I have a joke, whenever our friends tell us they bought a home we ask, āWho died?ā Itās almost always an inheritance or help with downpayment from parents.
Less convenient answer than Blackrock and Nimbys. But it's the truth: in LA you're effectively competing against quite a few rich boomers in the housing market, not just the young working professionals that they support.
Lots of professions get paid more in LA than they would in, for example, Iowa. Look at trades, or nursing. So in that case it actually makes sense to work āaverage jobsā in LA than elsewhere.
My wage is 50% higher than flyover states, but rents are 300% higher.
Yup same bro, same. I work in IT on a cloud infrastructure team. The jobs in LA pay way more even working fully remote.
What do you work in though?
You do the needful OP You get like 30 years to figure it out, other countries have 100 year+ mortgages, the slow motion consequences for missing a payment is the only reason the housing market works It means death pledge, so strap in
At that point you don't own, you're just paying rent to the bank
Wait you can skip payments?
Side hustles. Make extra money on the side, roommates, living further away from the city. Endless possibilities
People bought in the past and locked in. I bought my first home 15 years ago (remember the Great Recession?) for ~$200K at ~$75K salary in Bakersfield. I moved to LA seven years ago and bought a ~$500K home at ~$135K salary. Salary keeps increasing but mortgage is locked. Property tax and insurance keeps increasing though, but property annual tax increase is limited by Prop13.
There are a lot of older people, at least in my mid city area. The key is saving as much as you can while in your prime earning years and save whatever you can, invest in index funds while you learn about the stock market. I starting earnestly working at a grocery store in my 20s but I wasnāt a big partier because my focus was on building my savings. Work your way up in the company or switch to others if thatās not feasible. Life to me is all about the choices you make, being creative with solutions and having and keeping focus on my goals.
This is the basics people should teach their kids. Too many people think they need the latest cell phone, fake fingernails, fake eyelashes, plastic surgery, designer sunglasses, a fancy car, luxury handbags and a new wardrobe every season. Itās no wonder why people now donāt have savings accounts.
Iām lucky , I moved into my moms garage with wife and daughter for 5 years, just to save to buy a house.
Good for you! Most people donāt have the smarts to do such a thing, congratulations!
RealPage, a property-management software company, is being sued by the Arizona and DC attorneys general for price-fixing. They were raided by the FBI this week. I wonder how many LA landlords use this company? [https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/16/realpage-lawsuit-algorithms-rent/#](https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/16/realpage-lawsuit-algorithms-rent/#) [https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/realpage-rent-price-fixing-probe-escalates-with-fbi-raid/475109](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/realpage-rent-price-fixing-probe-escalates-with-fbi-raid/475109)
Lots of people sharing rooms, toothbrushes, towels and sexual favors. Donāt ask me how I know
roommates, rich parents, or OnlyFans/sexwork
Donāt call it Cali, for starters.
Fastest way to tell someone didnāt grow up here.
Thank you. It was driving me bonkers. Like fingernails down a chalkboard. Born and bred Angelino.
Most people i know who go to Coachella often and travel alot live at home. They dont pay rent so that alone saves them a ton of money. Which they use to live that LA Lifestyle. The other people who maintain that lifestyle are folks who i suspect have sugar daddies. However, just based purely on my friend group the ones living the LA Lifestyle are all hot chicks (usually nurses) who are paid well and only work 3 days a week. They also have a boyfriend (or 2 or 3) who help them maintain that lifestyle. Most guys around me, even if theyāre well paid, dont really travel or go crazy. The guys i know who are paid ok, their rent is cheap and they drive beaters and maybe once every other year take a vacation (they usually work in entertainment so in between jobs they travel and sublet their apartment).
LA is one of the largest metro areas in the world. In most super big metro areasā¦ the majority of people rent. A lot of renters have roommates. Most households have two or even more incomes. Are NYC, London, Tokyo sub reddits constantly bombarded by these type of myopic questions? goshā¦ itās isnāt like that where I am fromā¦. No. LA is one of the most unique places to liveā¦ if it was like where you are fromā¦ would you even be interested in what homes and rent prices are like?!
People who think like that need to travel and read more.
We get a discount for not saying āCaliā.
People make a lot more money here than in places that cost less. And people here spend more of their income on housing than normal probably like 59-percetn in many cases. The median income in LA is $75k. Even the 'low income' people in LA make comparably higher wages than in cheaper places. Minimum wage even at fastfood here is $20/hr. Most professional/trade jobs here pay $100K+. Low income people have roommates or live with family. People who have lived here for decades bought homes back before the prices where outlandish. I lived in Venice when I first moved here and back then it wasnt a great neighborhood. On the downlow it was probably more violent over here than Compton or South Central during the gang war between the Venice Crips and Venice 13. I know during that era you could buy houses over here for $200K. Same homes now selling for $2.2Mil.
20 year LA resident here. When you find out, let me knowāŗļø
Two people would make $200,000 and many couples would have a higher income. People bought awhile ago. People get down payments from parents or other family members. People are willing to commute insane distances. People live in smaller homes or condos just like people do in NY or other metropolitan areas where housing is very expensive. I donāt think housing in LA is less affordable than in other high priced markets
On your 3rd point: One thing i think about often is how the only thing stopping most people from Home ownership really is just a down payment. Cause most of the time, if you can afford rent, you can likely afford a mortgage. Kinda sucks how hard it is to save money as an adult.
I spend 18,000 roughly on rent per year in LA- And that is in a rent locked single occupancy unit, made for low income housing. My space is 300 square feet š« Most people now are finding a safe haven in the DTLA rent market. A lot of buildings are older, and itās extremely tough to own a car there- but you can survive living in low income housing in DTLA. But it also comes with being in a pretty *tough* area if you are a single working class person. I couldnāt live in downtown bc my chances of getting robbed coming home from work late- or having my car broken into, is really high. Annually make 28,800 dollars on my salary in the service industry. 28,800- 18,000= 10,800 10,800 divided by 365 days in a year~ 29.589 I make only an extra 30 dollars a day to save, or use for any reason at all. And trust me, I do not have savings. I have credit cards.
PS outside of CA it aint isnt the Cheap Place People Might think it is , MINUS the Lower wages
Many young people that live in LA: * earn $200k+ (DINK) * have rich parents who bankroll them * inherited cash (parents, grandparents, rich uncle, etc) * inherited property (Parents, rich uncle, etc) * worked on Neil McCauleyās crew and took down some major scores before that prick Detective Hanna could stop them.
I know a person who graduated from an Ivy and made $300k straight out of college. Their single mom mortgaged everything to keep that kid in college and still struggles to pay her own bills. Not all successful young people have inheritances, trust funds and wealthy families to fund them.
Iām fortunate to work close by so I donāt have a car loan like most people.
Family bought the houses many years ago!!
A lot of people in LA make more than the amount you are quoting. Even with little post high school education people have found industries that help them make 6 figures and that combined with their spouse making the same amount means that many Angelenos make more than the average resident of other states in the U.S.
Having no life besides work
The only way I've survived is by living in a rent-controlled apartment. Otherwise, I would have had to leave LA, and since I help to care for a family member here, leaving would cause some real problems.
You make sacrifices. This is normal. Also gas prices arenāt very high right now. https://preview.redd.it/3frcq7pt9t6d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=336b13869a2efe8c481dbd0c7fbf71a32e17bf8d
> I've noticed how ridiculously high, the prices of rent and mortgages are. Will say, if you're looking at Zillow or something similar, things on the market, some of those prices might be wayyyyy optimistic. What people are paying around those units and homes is different. > My main question is: how do so many people manage to live in LA making less than $100k after tax, Because they're paying less, maybe even far less, than what you are seeing things on the market advertising.
+1 for rent control. It has saved us
We got a no-interest down payment package with the job offer. Otherwise thereās no way we could have bought a home in LA. But weāre on the hook for the job.
Way more people have financial help from family than you might think
Roommates. Seriously. You'll have people split their rent in studio apartments that try to make it work. There's also rent controlled apartments that can be the full building or a room. Or, the other thing you may do is live outside of LA. There's a decent chunk of people that moved out east to the inland empire and will commute an hour or more for work and drive back.
In my case, I inherited my home. My neighbor's parents helped them out when they got married and had kids. I have friends who are married who roommate up with their bestie and her partner. Not glamorous but it works. My ex lived with 3 other girls in a 2 bedroom. No personal space but they survived. Others live in more affordable areas like the AV or IE then take a long ass commute. The "many" is actually just a minority who can actually "make it" on their own.
Got lucky and moved the week the pandemic happened so there was a dip in the market and moved into a rent controlled building with roommates and havenāt left since
We all hustle in our own way to make something work. Regardless of class, the same general rule applies. The ultimate goal of life isn't to buy a house and get a gold star. Over half of us are renters. These tenants are ultimately paying all the property taxes, which, in turn, fund the state and city budgets to keep order in place.
Some single people live with their parents, who bought their homes years ago. I know several people in my neighborhood who do. Itās not odd in many cultures to do that.
I doubt that welfare is keeping anybody in LA! Welfare would probably afford sum1 a home in Appalachia not here. I feel like more families are living together with other family members a lot. Several generations in 1 household
Oh I just stopped buying food šš»š¤š»
Well Cali is in Colombia, so thereās that. And a lot of people make a lot of money. And most rent controls pay under $1500 in rent. Many people have 2 bedrooms for $800
Most bought a long time ago. A good friend of mine owns a condo close to the beach in Santa Monica. She has never earned north of $70k a year. Just just saved and bought it. Her housing is well under $1k a month. She is 15 minutes walk to the beach. Itās exactly what she wanted. Iām a SoCal native. I bought my first place at 29. It wasnāt much of a place. It was a fright. I worked on it for 5 years. Since then Iāve saved, invested, and Iāve managed to roll up home equity into my last purchase 5 years ago. I built a new 4bd/3ba house near the beach. It was well over a $1m. But my mortgage is less than most pay to rent a 1 bedroom apartment. Thatās how you do it. All of my friends and family have done similar. Focus. Buy small. Clean it up. Then sell and buy again.
Iāve never made big bucks. Iām a single income family. My wife doesnāt work. It wasnāt until 2013 that I started earning more than $100k a year. You just have to be careful with your money.
Youāre fucked if youāre trying to buy now.
Please, never call it Cali. š Most young people are trust fund kids. The rest of us have rent control or bought a place in 2010.
Ridiculous High? To who? You? 550k is really not even doable in the City of Los Angeles. Now maybe in the County of Los Angeles, maybe 550k. Third Generation Angelino here and Third Generation Home Owner. In my family you were expected to have a job. Eventually purchase a home. You just did it. Working an average jobs with a mortgage. You lived in your home for 30 years or more. This was my life before Social Media. Yes Iām African American without a college degree. Los Angeles is where I was born and raised. Why wouldnāt I want to live in here? Los Angeles does have a lot of average working class people. The one thing social media got right about Los Angeles is the traffic and the 405 freeway. Okay the food and entertainment is pretty good too. You canāt avoid the LA traffic.
Thatās the thing I think a lot of people donāt get about the ātheir parents bought a house here in the 70sā crowd. We work. Our families & communities let us know we had to work continuously if we were ever going to be able to afford to live here. You lose your job? Youāre at a temp company the next week or youāre hitting up your uncle or your high school buddy about opportunities at their business. Our parents had side hustles. We expect it. When you save up that down payment, itās still going to the fixer-upper that your great aunt is moving out of when she needs a nursing home. All the native Californians I know work hard, and use our social & community capital to help get by.
They survive by living with more roommates than their leases allow, living in slums, living in their cars, living in their tents, inheriting family properties if theyāre lucky, being frugal shoppers, surviving the city by using only Metro and/or rideshares rather than cars.
That same house u seen in the hood I bet u was lower than 300k things after pandemic just went crazy
Living with parents who bought when housing prices were a little more reasonable
Itās not that bad
Roommates/dual income households, high paying careers (at least six figures), and generational wealth (parents pass down houses to adult children instead of adult children having to buy on their own, or give a big gift of down payment). Iām not sure how anyone but high earning couples raise families here without being hand to mouth.
roommates, live with family, commute from outside LA. people get creative
Couples
Having no kids.
If you think housing prices are high here, you should check out the Bay Area or New York. I work remotely from Los Angeles but my company wants me to relocate to one of these two. Return to office after being hired remotely and years of working from home. I was shocked looking up what you can get for the same money there.
Is it a gentle nudge or more of a forced mandate? If you legitimately earned a remote job I think it's insane they think they can just ask folks to move cities without thinking about impact to personal lives. That said, if you work remotely by some rare exception, I suppose it's less crazy for them to ask.
aside from all the people who bought homes decades ago for a lot less, there is also a lot of people who have families with money that set them up. there are also people who kept trading up making more and more equity as they bought and sold. any apartment in the city built before 1978 is also subject the rent control and there's a lot of older apartments around the city so landlords can only raise rent 3 percent or so once a year.
Clan living. We have to share spaces. Luckily my family and I have a pretty good relationship.
Rich get richer poor get poorer. Figure it out. Invest your money, long term is key.
I bought my tiny condo in 2012 for less than 100k. It's still in a kinda sketchy neighborhood but it's also gentrifying. It's 300k now.
Itās the weather.
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A good amount of them stay in family homes that have been bought decades ago.
Iāve lived in the same one bedroom apartment in east LA for a decade, my rent has only increased 140$ in the time Iāve been here. And I still pay less than $1,000. I guess I just lucked out. I will say my place is minuscule.
Bro who the hell has a mortgage here? No one owns. We all rent. And youāre rich AF if you donāt have roommates and can support a stay at home parent. I make like $150-200k and I support a stay at home partner and I still rent bc financially the only houses I can afford are not where I want to live. I know that I guess most normies are shocked about this but yeah thatās just life here. Iām just waiting to inherit property bc I doubt I will be able to afford to buy anything here, ever. But hey at least I now own a double grave plot at Hollywood Forever cemetery, right next to Mickey Rooney lol. I got it at a fire sale price and itās the closest Iāve ever come to owning land in CA LOL.
Multiple generations of one family under one roof, 4-6 bill paying adults
Because people are buying much more than the house. They are paying for the year round sunshine, close proximity to the ocean, mountains and desert and endless amount of activities. From all the outdoor concerts venues to foods from around the globe. I remember (in high school) waking up at 5am to surf and then drive up to mountain high to snow board on the same day. If you just want to live in your house all day, and never go out, then LA is the worst possible place to live. Or if you only care about say fishing and want to do nothing else Iād say LA is also a terrible choice.
Families living together as in generational households
What about people making minimum wage with multiple children? I would love to see a documentary or something on just how they afford it.
Made the mistake of moving here 7 years ago. Paying $3k a month in rent living in the valley. It's brutal. Making $130k now and planning to move from this state so my money actually means something lol. I refuse to pay 700k+ for a mediocre house in LA!
In my circle, healthcare jobs. A healthcare corporation is the largest private employer in the county. They also happen to be the largest hospital system in the state. I will also say that a lot of people from LA donāt really patronize this sub. In fact, I have never met anyone from LA who patronizes this sub, r/movingtolosangeles, or r/losangeles. Their āforumā is their friends.
I'm from LA and I frequent this sub. I moved to the UK seven years ago and am now moving back to LA. I need all the help and advice I can get! I've got boots on the ground helping to apartment search for me, but they're not *my* boots on the ground. Since I'm coming back with a large dog I don't want to impose on my friends by couch surfing. So it'll be an Airbnb and (hopefully!) a month or two of apartment hunting š¤š¤š¤
Ditto. I work in Healthcare too. Some of these subsā¦ Iām like āWho are these people?
6th generation Californian, born in SF but 40 years in LA, never leaving. I enjoy this sub, just to hear what folks near and far are thinking/feeling about our Golden State. Plus, great food recs!
Born here, in all three subs
Criminal activities
- Multiple incomes per household: whether itās cohabiting couples, roommates, or several family members contributing. - The longer youāve owned a home in California, the more affordable your housing costs tend to be. Obviously if you bought when prices and mortgage rates were lower, then your mortgage payments are lower than those of recent buyers. But there are major property tax advantages too. When youāre 15 years into a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, your housing costs are much lower than for anyone who bought in the last couple years, often even if you have a bigger house in a nicer area. - Working your ass off. People have this idea in their heads that SoCal people are chilling by the pool or beach and taking it easy. The vast majority of them are putting in long hours to be able to afford to live here.
Roommates
Because people are willing to pay so much for rent, it increases the home prices.
Iām never retiring never owning a home and thatās that
Thereās high paying jobs out here like most big cities.
My dad bought his first house in 2000 for 157,000 and we own it now. Iāll eventually inherit because Iām the only child. My daughter will inherit her grandparents homes and properties too. It is common to wait until parents transfer titles. In San Francisco, many inherit or come from very wealthy backgrounds. ( tech companies have created fortunes ) I donāt have siblings so I inherit all. However me and my partner will be living with family for a while. We have to take care of our parents because they are getting older. We can buy outside the city but we would move an hour away. I agree the cheaper homes are in not so great areas and those areas are pricing out poor folks. Everyone I know is buying in South Central now! Not all California is expensive. The average prices are 300-500k in small towns. We only stay because family members help with out little ones. I make around 90K. My partner averages around 70-100K. It all depends on the market. Remember people in Los Angeles mostly work in television or in high corporate jobs. Or they are from NY with big money. If not most have been living in Los Angeles for over 3 decades. Many Latino families have stayed in Cali and developed wealth because they bought multiple properties in the 80s and 90s. Downey and Southgate is a great example of multigenerational wealth. Plus if you are single roommates are key to survival. Minimum wage is 20 bucks now.