Renting vs Buying a Home in Los Angeles, CA

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This is not really a rant, but more of an observation…

but it seems that those who either grew up in LA or have lived here for a long time can’t afford to buy a house. You either have to move really far away or suck it up; and by suck it up I mean you continue to rent the house or apartment you live in so you could have an easy commute to work and be close to the places you enjoy frequenting. It all boils down to comfort, convenience and sentimental value – you just love that area and don’t see yourself living anywhere else.

But everyone always says it’s better to buy than to rent. My parents were drilling this into my head before I even understood the concept.

Now that I’m a little bit older, I’ve been thinking more and more about buying a house. I’ve talked to others around my age (the 35-45 something crowd) and they want to buy a home too, but none of us can afford it. The prices of homes in certain neighborhoods are going up and a lot of these homes are really just somewhat average.

It’s as if locals are getting pushed out farther and farther out.

I’ve been thinking about how far do I want to live just to have the house I want. But other factors fall in too like will I like the area/neighborhood, how far am I willing to commute to work, etc.

In the meantime, enjoy this beautiful contemporary house I saw during one of my hikes/walks a while back. A bitch can dream, right?