Last I checked, prices in Arcadia have dropped from the peaks in 2006/2007 so they are not holding up the prices. I don’t argue that easy money from the far East was used to purchase McMansions in the SGV, but I would argue that that buyer group alone will not be able to sustain these ridiculous RE prices. The bubble may have contributions from these corrupt nouveaux rich folks from Asia, but it was mainly fueled by RE purchases from every buyer group across all social and economic lines. That was made possible by the lax lending standards and now that is removed, so has the buyer pool that benefited from it in years past.

On a side note, if what you say will happen (i.e. corrupt rich Asians buying up most of the Arcadia RE inventory to keep prices afloat), then you can count me out of the local buyer pool because I don’t think I’d want them as my neighbors.

Point well taken. I am Chinese myself and most of my friends are Taiwanese.

Asians of all descents; whether Chinese, Taiwanese, Cantonese or even Vietnamese, have all argued that Asians will rescue Arcadia and the rest of SGV from this housing crisis.

There is still a large non-Asian community along with existing Asians in the area and people tend to forget that it is the general demographic who will have the largest impact on the local economy. For every McMansion purchased by a foreigner, there will be a dozen condos and starter homes trading hands between low to mid income people earning anywhere from $40-80k per year.

Thanks for stopping by AHB. We appreciate your input and look forward to hearing more of your thoughts.

Hmmm…there is a prison up in Lancaster. Want to live there? Haha

I don’t think there’s a debate, at least none from my side. I was saying that CancerDoc need not worry that the general population will misunderstand all Asians to automatically equal to foreigners. I also said the concept of Foreign Rescue/Money was exaggerated by those trying to keep demands high and while it is true for a handful of instances, it’s more of an exception rather than the rule. Here’s the point where I’d debate. I don’t think it would prove anything to compare working class, albeit educated with BAs, MAs and even PhDs, ABCs versus (educated) foreign born Chinese. Both parties are looking for value and at no time did I imply the foreign born would have more or less money than the ABCs. I hope that clears it.

Jet Li moved to Beverly Hills several years ago and may have moved further West to Brentwood.

UCLA did a profile of Asians in Calif about 3 years ago. Approx 65% of Asians are foreign born. So approx 65% of 75% of 45% of Arcadians are foreign born.

Now of that population, how many of them are truly foreigners? Take my parents. They’re both foreign born, but both have been in this country for over 40 years. They’ve both lived in the US far longer than they had in Asia.

Also roughly 20 to 25% of US born Asians hold degrees beyond a BA or BS. Are you going to tell me that there are many foreigners to have more money or a higher net worth than my ABC friends? I think not…