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 🙂