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SLO County ranked third least affordable place to live

March 11, 2014

redevelopment-agencies-199x300San Luis Obispo County is ranked third on the list when it comes to being the least affordable small market place to live in the United States, according to a study conducted by the National Association of Home Builders.

Of the metro markets with populations of 500,000 and less evaluated in the study, only Santa Cruz-Watsonville and Salinas were ranked less affordable than SLO.

The study focuses on median incomes and median home prices.

According to the study, SLO County’s median home price during the fourth quarter of 2012 was $424,000. With an average county family income of $70,900, only 28.7 percent of the homes in San Luis Obispo County were affordable to county families during that time.

Kokomo, Ind., with 96.3 percent of homes sold in the fourth quarter being affordable to those earning the median income of $60,100, was rated the most affordable place to live in the country.

 


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I wonder what that median income would look like if they removed government jobs from the calculation…


Just sayin’


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Do some research or talk to a real estate agents. It IS because of OUTSIDERS selling out elsewhere then paying cash here jacking prices up. Same with SPECULATORS doing basically the same to cash in. How did it get that way?? Simple….advertise in every magazine, newspaper, tourist publication etc,etc, Sunset, LA times, Better Homes and Gardens,Whiners magazine, etc,etc,etc about how bitchen SLO Co is. Then sit back while tourist dollars pour in for the small handful of business owners who cant get enough whilst our once quiet, beautiful, reasonably priced place to live becomes a mecca or traffic,smog, trash, graffiti, gang bangers from Vato land, and a general over crowded mess every summer.

The scenery is still tops here,but what greedy people and greedy politics have turned this place into in the last three decades is pitiful, just pitiful.


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:::clap:::clap:::clap:::


Well played sir.


“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi


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In 1971, my parents bought a house in SLO for $41,000. The per square foot price at that time was roughly $17.60/sq. ft. In 2009 I bought a house in South County. The per square

foot price was somewhere around $220.00/sq. ft. Thus we see that prices have increased dramatically while earning power is basically flat. So maybe we should ask ourselves what has changed between 1971 and 2014 and see if we can reverse some of the problems. I do know that California had a much more vibrant manufacturing base back then, and a more business-friendly climate. I have noticed over the decades that people who want to “limit growth” usually already have their homes. We need, not just as a state but as a nation, to start actually building stuff again, and we need to recognize basic, timeless laws of supply and demand. Limit housing construction and homes increase in price. We need water; when was the last big reservoir constructed in CA? We need a healthy environment but CEQA at this point is overly restrictive, in my opinion, and don’t even get me started on the CARB and their insane anti-diesel agenda. The idea that we used Chinese steel to build the new Bay Bridge literally sickens me as an American. We need, on both sides of the political spectrum, to do some deep and searching self-analysis and ask ourselves if we are really doing the best we can. We need to look past the old paradigms and ditch the career politicians, right and left, and elect sober people who will enact policies that will put Californians to work. This state is using up the last remnants of its heritage from a time when practical hard-asses made things happen. This is just one man’s opinion. Enjoy.


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Caltrans avoided legal requirements to use domestic steel by not using federal funds for the job and claims there was a $400M bid differential between the foreign bid and closest domestic.


The SacBee reported on jan 22nd of some of the many safety issues that have arisen including thousands of cracks in welds on the main tower and snapped anchor rods. At $12/day labor costs the quality control appears to be compromised.


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One of the things that changed was that the federal government ramped up their efforts to make everyone a home owner. It became easier to sell loans off not just because of the derivative instruments but because the government dumped a ton of money into the market as well and then of course bailed out the financial institutions later. This let people bid up the price of housing through the roof, and then the market was never allowed to correct. It’s targeted inflation, basically.


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Salinas:


Median household income: $38,093

Median house or condo value: $248,694

Median contract rent: $799

Unemployment: 11.2%

Residents below the poverty level: 19.4%

Median resident age: 29.2


85% Hispanic…


http://www.city-data.com/income/income-Salinas-California.html


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Have you ever been to Kokomo, Indiana? Just sayin’.


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Who cares about these rumors, CAPSLO is thriving, this is the happiest place to live and some big companies measure their produtivity to be better here than anywhere else.


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Salinas ???? What gives with that ?


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It’s a ratio of median income/median home price. Housing is cheap in Salinas (relative to SLO), so median income must be abysmal.


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I suspect that “Salinas” also includes Monterey and adjoining suburbs for statistical purposes in this study.


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