Ok, so who here really is rich(spin off of rub it in thread)

[stiltman]

The whole trick to being well off.......

Live within your means!

[ViRaL1]

I live in a van down by the river. That's alright though, my forune's coming any day now. There just aren't as many DIY meth lab sites as I had hoped. I should have studied more in chemistry.

(Disclaimer : Drugs are bad mmmkay.)

[Guest]

I wasn't saying a teacher making $50k was rich, all I was saying was that that seemed like a pretty decent teacher's salary but maybe I'm wrong. I see making over $150k per year as living pretty well. $300k and up per year would definitely be on the rich side of things.

You would be surpised,I hope I never go back to that kinda dough. You can live nice but far from rich.Rich=living well off of interest/investments.

[pyrate83]

In this school district, teachers starting salaries are just north of $40k, goes up to about $70k.

And guess who pays? They tack on a school district tax of $650 a year if your house is under 2000sf. If it's over 2000sf, you pay just over $1000 a year in taxes.

This is on top of CFD's (community facility district taxes, like "mello-roos" taxes) of $450 a year, then you have the regular property taxes on top of all that, of just over 1% of assessed value (i.e., a $400,000 house = $4000/yr basic tax + $450/yr CFD + $650 ETD tax, total $5100 property tax, not pocket change). Those are absolute minimums, it could be more.

Of course, it's hard to find a decent house here for less than $400k, and you have to go to about $500 - 600k to find something over 2000sf and not falling apart. In Orange County it's even worse.

To me, $50k is a decent salary for a teacher, esp. when you can earn up to $70k. I could live quite nicely on that sum, methinks (as long as I don't have 6 kids, anyway). This wouldn't be considered rich, by any means, but you could live O.K. and have most things you need or want.

IMO you need to earn over $100k/yr to be well off, and over $250k to be semi-rich. That's leaving out the astronomical and (IMO) obscene salaries of Professional sports players and movie stars. Oh, and CEO's.

I take it we're talking about California here? Anyway, my uncle told me once(he lives in Chicago) that if my folks had built the same house with the same 4 1/2 acres of woods in Chicago or even california it would easily be worth $1.5 million in Ohio it's worth about $500k total. That always gets me how much property values differ from state to state. Location, location, location as the saying goes.

[jakol]

Of course, it's hard to find a decent house here for less than $400k, and you have to go to about $500 - 600k to find something over 2000sf and not falling apart. In Orange County it's even worse.

.

hi,
ur right on that roundabout, here in orange for 2000 sq. ft. house ur looking at > $ 750k at least. our house almost triple its value since i bought it 3 years ago. im planning to sell it and move to other state, but im so chicken to do it now. ..i like the weather here...oh well.

me too not rich.. im married with kids...the thing is you should be happy of wat u have and enjoy life. And stay healthy.

[pyrate83]

Of course, it's hard to find a decent house here for less than $400k, and you have to go to about $500 - 600k to find something over 2000sf and not falling apart. In Orange County it's even worse.

.

hi,
ur right on that roundabout, here in orange for 2000 sq. ft. house ur looking at > $ 750k at least. our house almost triple its value since i bought it 3 years ago. im planning to sell it and move to other state, but im so chicken to do it now. ..i like the weather here...oh well.

me too not rich.. im married with kids...the thing is you should be happy of wat u have and enjoy life. And stay healthy.

You're right! I was hoping for someone to say that!! Thank you.

[AarontheRipper]

Yeah, housing costs in the OC are a joke. My wife, son, and I moved here about a year ago thinking we might be able to afford a little old 2 bedroom townhouse on my grad student loans. We promptly gave that up when we didn't see a price tag under half a million. I can only guess what a house costs around here.

[Roundabout]

Yeah, I used to live in Orange Co., for about 25 years. I bought a dumpy, termite ridden 1000sf 45yr. old house in 1986 for $87,000. Sold it in 2001, just my luck, before the huge run-up in prices. I got about $130k for it. Now it would be $300k easily. *sigh*

Moved to Vegas, big mistake, weather sucks. Dry, hot, windy, dusty. Made my allergies go nuts, so I sold and left within a year.

Now in San Berdoo Cty, where prices are a little lower than OC, but still sky high. Bought this house brand new just over a year ago for $225k, now it's up to about $415k for the same home. And that's in just over a year! Prices rose here faster than even OC, because it's still "afforable" and has more room for prices to increase. I believe they went up about 30% on average since last year (could be more).

I would suggest anyone thinking about moving to CA to rethink it. Prices here are totally outrageous, beyond all reason. Maybe when interest rates finally go up, we'll see a drop in prices, but it's gonna take time.

I've seen the market crash here before, though - twice since I've lived here. Last time in or about 1990 or so (not exact) the prices went down about 40% across the board. So much so, that the counties had to lower property assessments, which they dragged their feet on.

They didn't count on prices going down, causing a decrease in tax revenue. They have no problem raising them constantly, but lower? Huh, wait in line.

Prop 13 has caused such a disparity in taxes, that it's totally unfair now. A guy down the street from me when I lived in OC was paying only $110 A YEAR in property tax, while I was paying over $1000 a year for the exact same house in the same neighborhood. The situation has become even more extreme now. Someone who would buy my old house today would pay about $3000 in tax, while that guy down the street will still be paying just slightly more than he was 10 years ago.

I hope one day the ripoff known as Prop 13 will be repealed. Too many people are getting a free ride on the backs of new homeowners, and anyone who is foolish enough to sell their home and move to a new one.

The other problem is just that, because of Prop 13, and the free ride, no one wants to sell, artifically driving up prices because less homes are on the market. No one wants to move.

Until we see some prices drop, dramatically, we will continue to have the problem with unafforable homes and people being gouged on taxes. Too many aren't paying their fair share, and no one is doing anything about it: it's the political "third rail" that no politician wants to touch.

Welcome to California. Now go home.