Author: SavedbyGrace
February 2, 2008
Since I am the primary author for this blog, I owe it to my readers to disclose (at least in part) my background. First and foremost, privacy is paramount. I will share the following facts about me, but fully intend to remain anonymous mainly for self-preservation and safety concerns.
I have lived in Arcadia and its surrounding cities since 1990 and know the area like the back of my hand. Currently a renter in one of the neighboring cities, I hope to buy in Arcadia when the price and time is right. I carry no credit card debt, save over 50% of my net income every month, have one small consolidated student loan at a low interest rate and a 800+ FICO score. I am female and taken.
As a young, mechanical engineer, I currently work for a Fortune 500 company as a product development engineer in the medical device industry. While my line of work has nothing to do with the financial and/or housing markets, I am intrigued by its trends and movements enough to follow its past, present and future events. Over the past few years I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with the socal housing craze. I’ve chosen to rent, save and invest my savings instead of take part in the bubble because prices were significantly over-valued. I’d be damned if I were to pay over $1million for a 1300 sqft fixer-upper near Monrovia.
Despite my bearish views, I am looking to buy in the future. For the most part, I will be a rent-saver buyer when the time is right, but I will also be looking for killer deals. With the way things are going, I am expecting at least several more years of decline.
Evidently, this is going to be a housing bear’s blog for the foreseeable future, but as with all cycles, that will change as the market turns. My goal is to get information out to as many readers as possible about the state of the housing market so that people can make their own informed choices about buying, selling and/or renting. I have no incentive to promote or condemn any particular view or property as I am completely outside of the RE industry. It hurts me to see people’s lives left in ruins from bad financial decisions and it is my intention to save as many as possible.
SavedByGrace – a roaring housing mama bear.
It is a pleasure to meet you SavedByGrace. I am an electrical engineer; perhaps it is our professional interest in unstable systems that drives us to follow the housing crash. My wife is aching to get back to SoCal. I don’t know how I am going to do that exactly, since I have a good job now out in North Carolina, but when the wife is unhappy, everyone is unhappy.
Keep up the good work. I enjoy this blog especially since we may at some point be relocating to the SGV (or West LA, South Bay or OC)
Carl
It’s hard to leave a good job, but I understand your situation if she misses Southern California so much. Ask your wife to be patient for now and see how things go. A lot can change in a few years.
In the meantime, you can keep up with what’s going on in the local market here at AHB and other socal housing blogs. All the best to you and your family
i just came across your site from the IHB and always wanted someone to start one for arcadia.
i grew up in arcadia so it’s quite interesting to be able to recognize where these houses are and how the area is like personally.
i’m a bit opposite of you as I’m probably going to try to get out of Arcadia haha (hence my visits to the IHB).
Keep up the good work!
[...] SavedbyGrace and I started this blog to analyze the state of our local housing market and share this information with all future and current homeowners out there. Although I believe that everyone should strive for a piece of the American Dream; risky financing, unmanageable debt and reckless financial decisions is not the way to attain it. [...]
SavedbyGrace and TheArcadian
Thank you for starting this blog. I’ve been in Arcadia since’93 and now our family has outgrown our current place but prices are still out of reach for people like us ready to moveup.
Anyway, I’ve lived here as a single person, married, and now married with kids. Shoot me an email if you need a friend to help navigate through it all.
I’m so glad I found you through LA Land. I spoke to a local real estate agent last week and he sounded like a an android when I told him that prices in Arcadia were still too way high. His response “Our office sold 46 houses last month. I appreciate your opinion but this is a very good opportunity and I get many properties that are not publically listed and could get you a good deal.” HA! Good deal for who?
Best regards to my fellow bears
Welcome capbreeze
Just curious, what was your response to that realtor’s comment? I find it very difficult to keep my mouth shut when speaking to such “androids” because you just can’t reason with unreasonable people.
Thank you for sharing your story with us here and I hope you return to share more experiences in the future.
Well, before he said that to me, I had told him my reasons for believing the Arcadia market is STILL so out touch with reality such as that there’s no basis for the price exaggerations compared to incomes, market growth, inflation and that there is too much flux in the financial market, home mortgage rates have jumped .75% in the last month, etc. So by the time he said that to me about how well his office sales were, I felt like I didn’t want to waste anymore brain cells on him. I returned a well deserved polite brush off statement that “I would keep him in mind for the future”.
Yep, I wanted to let loose, but the reality is, Arcadia is not that big and I do want to buy a house someday so I thought it best to keep it civil.
Nice to meet you SavedByGrace. It seems I am in the same financial boat as you and I think that is what keeps me out of the market. We think of the home as our money, not just a payment. I am very analytical and when crunching the numbers buying an overpriced house is not currently a good idea.
Thanks for this blog, much of reinforces how I feel about the current market. I too would like to own in Arcadia or the surrounding areas but I am not willing to put all of my money into a house to call myself a homeowner. Because until it’s paid off you don’t own it, the bank does. And for many people that is going to become very clear the next few years.
Looks like I’m in good company. Nice to meet you too Sean and I hope you enjoy your time here at AHB.
Hi there,
I thought you might be the person to ask. Do you happen to know a reputable site for foreclosure listings in the LA area? Most websites have a fee, am I just not looking to the right places? Any insights would be appreciated. Thank you.
Sparkling,
Similar to how MLS data is slightly different from provider to provider, REO sales/auctions are the same.
As a reader recently pointed out, hotpads.com seems to be an excellent resource to get started on.
http://hotpads.com/map/cities/CA/Los_Angeles.htm#lat=34.1325240092259&lon=-118.045083045959&zoom=22&previewId=RE644476_PostletsForSale&previewType=listing&areaBorders=heatMapForclosuresPerCapita&listingTypes=foreclosure&pricingFrequency=once&loan=30,0.0642,0
http://www.foreclosure.com/state/CA.html
As you will notice, most free sites will only provide you with a street name and map of the REO. No specific address. Just head over to Redfin or ZipRealty.com to pinpoint the REO sale.
I hope this information helps.
Yes, very helpful. Thanks so much
Great site.. lots of arcadia/pasadena specific info.. glad I stumbuled upon this site.. Just started doing my research to buy a home in that area around summer 09. Boy.. looking at those dropping prices, I think i better wait till the end of 09 for a better bargain…..anyway, thanks for ur hard work & hope to be a proud homeowner one day!!