If you think that it’s expensive to buy a home in Oregon, particularly in Portland and Bend, take a look at the listing for the Hollywood house that my daughter, Celeste, and her husband are in the process of buying.
$849,000. Two bedrooms, two baths. 1300 sf. Built in 1922. Whew!
And they’re happy to have found it. As they should be. It’s a cute house, nicely redecorated by the current owners. It’s just hard for me to get my head around the idea that this Hollywood house is selling for quite a bit more than double the assessed value of our 3,000 sf South Salem home that sits on five rural acres.
Portland home prices appreciated 11% last year. But that’s nothing compared to what’s happening in L.A. Last night Celeste told me that the Hollywood-area condo they bought three years ago has sold for 74% more than they paid for it. That’s amazing: an average of almost 25% a year.
I hope the southern California housing boom isn’t about to go bust. But even if it does, Celeste and Patrick were able to sell at the peak and buy at the peak. Plus, they’ll be living in their house, no matter what. It’s short-term speculators who likely will be hurt the most in a housing crash, not long-term homeowners.
Best of all, Celeste told me that "It's only two minutes to the hottest clubs!" If they ever get depressed about sinking LA home values, they can easily drink and dance their worries away.
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